By Michael Avramovich
Our recent election showed that the United States is deeply divided. Out of the votes cast for President Obama, he received 50.61 percent of the total. So, not quite an overwhelming mandate, though some politicians shall try to make that contention. Whether the topic is abortion, marriage rights for homosexuals, religious liberty, or any of the other innumerable issues that face our nation, there is a deep divide, perhaps as deep as any since the Civil War.
Equally as troubling is a deep intrusive and overweening federal government and bureaucracy that seeks to control every part of our national life. I have written previously on these pages about the excessive level of governmental regulations, but as of late last week, the Obama administration has posted 165 new regulations and notifications on its www.regulations.gov website. In just the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regulations and notices, an average of 68 each day. (Incidentally, for those of you who eat canned ackee, frozen ackee, and other ackee products that contain hypoglycin A, you may be happy to know that there is a proposed FDA rule for these products. As you know, ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica, and unripened and inedible portions can be toxic. But I digress.)
For those of us who believe that our nation’s Founders sought to create a republic with a weak centralized government and great personal freedom, each day brings new rules and regulations that are destructive to the creation of prosperity in this country. Further, despite the huge number of regulations, the federal government has been deeply remiss in many of its enumerated powers, such as fiscal probity in its affairs, and protecting our nation’s borders. And can this divided nation be reconciled?
Dick Morris wrote after the election:
Demographic voting is the new norm in America. You vote based on who you are, not where you live or how well each campaign has articulated its case. 93% of blacks, 70% of Latinos, 60% of those under 30, and 62% of single people, voted for Obama. And white married couples over 30 years of age voted for Romney. Not much else matters. A president who was elected and re-elected through identity politics has brought about a state of affairs where demographic voting determines the outcome. Our votes are predictable based on our race, ethnicity, age, and marital status well before anybody does any campaigning.
One could think that some of the American people are over-reacting to last Tuesday’s election results, but given that we are so evenly divided in the views, should a peaceful partition of the United States not be seriously considered? After all, did not our Founders write in the Declaration of Independence:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. . . .Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government…
One unexpected and surprising development following the election is the large number of petitions that have been filed with the White House seeking a peaceful secession from the United States. On Nov.7, the day after President Obama was re-elected, the White House’s website received a petition asking the administration to allow Louisiana to secede. According to the published rules at the White House’s online “We the People” program, if 25,000 people sign the petition by Dec. 7, it will “require a response” from the Obama administration. However, in one week after the Louisiana petition was filed, it has collected more than 34,000 signatures. A separate effort from Texas has more than 100,000 supporters. Similar petitions from the other 48 other states began arriving Nov. 9. According to a news report in the Daily Caller, there are at latest count 896,985 signatories for the various petitions.
Yes, Governor Jindal of Louisiana has stated the secession petitions are “silly.” Texas Governor Rick Perry has come out against secession, but he also said that he shares the frustration that many Americans have with our federal government.
You can read a sample of the secession petitions here: Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas , Colorado , Florida , Georgia , Indiana , Kentucky , Michigan, Mississippi , Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Three states, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina are each represented by two competing petitions.
We are a nation founded upon Judeo-Christian principles. If our neighbors want to establish another form of polity, should we really seek to impose our morality upon others? After all, isn’t that what we have always been told? Is there actually any reason to think that the United States has become a Hotel California where “you can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave?”
—Michael Avramovich
James, I do not worry very much about the United States breaking apart during the next four years, but your post unleashed the side of me that loves utopian films and novels.
In Prayers for the Assassin, Robert Ferrigno imagines much of Blue America (and a good bit of Red America) becoming an Islamic republic after a few nuclear blasts.
This darkly humorous map imagines the regions that refuse to comply:
http://is.gd/TWjQlJ
“Is there actually any reason to think that the United States has become a Hotel California where “you can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave?”
Just that pesky civil war, otherwise, not really.
On a side note, I did some back of napkin math on the number of votes cast, the total US population, and the census numbers for those under 18 (unable to vote). The numbers show that while those who voted were evenly divided, roughly half of those who COULD vote didn’t even bother. So the country isn’t evenly divided at all. Only 25% of the the adult population voted for either candidate. Who knows what the rest think,
It’s disappointing when losers act like spoiled brats instead of being gracious. ALL Americans get to vote– not just older whites. And the losing side in New York and New Jersey thinking they’re entitled to force everyone in their states to secede when their states went so overwhelmingly for Obama??? Seriously??? That is incredibly selfish and self-indulgent thinking!
Thanks Jim. It is good to see Christians caring about their country. It is a given that everyone is at a different place on getting informed, but it is never too late to make a start, especially me.
The last two elections were very discouraging. I think the election system needs changes so good people have a better chance to serve and new parties can become viable. As is, the election process is corrupted to the point where things will not get better. Even voicing willingness to vote neither party leads to being looked at like an ET. One friend looked at me and said “You threw your vote away.” I looked right back and said “So did you.” It is an old fashioned idea to even try to vote your conscience. Why?
Maybe the next generation can fix it. The apathy of the 40+ generation resembles horse blinders.
@Katie, It’s called a protest and a rather mild one at that. They know they lost. The statement, I suspect, is intended to be existential, i.e. “We’re still here.” The bigger question here is, why are you taking it literally? Victors are generally expected to be magnanimous. Do you not consider yourself on the winning side? Or are you of a Hyborean frame of mind?