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The petition campaign for secession launched in several US states is gaining momentum. A day ago, Texas succeeded to collect more than the 25,000 signatures needed for the petition to receive a go-ahead. At the moment, there are already seven states where the number of signatories has exceded the needed threshold besides Texas, they are Louisiana, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida.
And although in any foreseeable future the secessionist move by the above states (and an unknown number to follow) is unlikely to bear fruit in terms of real secession, the move should be regarded as a signal that the question is being included into US political agenda.
The US constitution does not presuppose any possibility for any state to secede from the Union. The memories of the Confederation of 11 Southern states and the Civil War that followed are still fresh in memory. Probably no one in the US would like to repeat that experience, although in popular perception (most overtly expressed in "Gone with the Wind") the southerners are still regarded as people of honor defending the core values of a free society.
The only state that is formally exempted from the constitutional provision banning secession is Texas which joined the Union as an independent state and is still nicknamed a "Lone Star State". It is hardly surprising that the deeply conservative state was the pioneer of the current secessionist campaign and was the first one to exceed the 25,000 threshold. It has collected more than 100,000 signatures. But even Texas, legally speaking, is highly unlikely to be granted independence as far back as 1868, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White case that states lacked the power to unilaterally secede from the Union.
Some critics of the petition campaign point out that the underlying reason for it is purely political and that this is nothing more than just a reaction of Mitt Romney supporters to their electoral defeat. In this sense, the campaign is compared to the proclamation of the Confederation in 1860 as a reaction to Abraham Lincoln's election. But it should not only be noted that Barack Obama is far from being a second Lincoln, but also one small fact should be taken into consideration. Among the seven states that have so far collected 25,000 or more signatures, Florida is thestate where Obama defeated Romney on November 6.
Other critics say that the secession of the states seeking it would serve the Union and badly affect the states themselves. According to this point of view, the states seeking secession are among the weakest ones in terms of economy. "The Confederation of Takers" is what the Washington Post commentator Dana Milbank called the possible (or, rather impossible) future composition.
"If Obama were serious about being a good steward of the nations finances, hed let them" secede, writes Milbank further including into the Confederation such relatively poor states as Alaska, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. Well, the above states may be relatively poor, but among them, only Tennessee is among the seven that have collected the needed amount of signature. And definitely the label of a "poor state" cannot be applied to states like Florida, and even less so to Texas, whose economy is booming due to vast oil reserves, and who would become the world's 15th ranking economy in case it succeeded in gaining full independence.
But again, all such considerations for the time being do not constitute anything more than wishful thinking. Still, the very idea of secession may not be ripe, but the seeds have definitely been sown.
Back in mid-90s, I saw a map published in one of the US newspapers depicting the country in 2017. Apart from the Lone Star Texas as an independent, it showed sovereign entities like the Dixieland Confederation, Theocratic Kingdom of Utah, the Wild West and New England Republics, and some others.
But seriously, even if for the time being the idea of secession may be disregarded, one should not exclude it altogether. Remember what enthusiasm surrounded the enlargement of the European Union some eight years ago, in May 2004. And what has become of the European integration now? Better not dig deeper into it in order not to frighten the Americans.
And last. Supporting secessionist movements in countries that are not eager to follow in the wake of US policy has become one of the basic principles of Washington's attitude towards global issues from Kosovo and other parts of former Yugoslavia, to Baloch separatists in today's Pakistan. Maybe Washington strategists should remember the old maxima "the one who lives in a glass castle should not throw stones"?
Boris Volkhonsky, senior research fellow, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies
Texas, Louisiana get enough signatures on secession petition to force Obama response
Residents of at least 31 states have started petition drives to secede from the United States after President Obamas reelection triumph. Texas leads the pack on the White House site with 62,630 signatures. This is far more than the 25,000 signatures needed to elicit an official response from the U.S. government. Louisiana also passed the 25,000 threshold with 27,028 signatures.
Since the White House We the People program gives any citizen the power to start a petition drive, any disgruntled Republican in any state has the ability to embarrass his or her state with impractical calls to secede from the U.S. As might be expected, the state of Texas leads the pack on the White House site. As of 8:45 this morning, the site had 62,630 signatures. This is far more than the 25,000 signatures needed to elicit an official response from the U.S. government. The signatures on the Texas petition mean that some unfortunate White House official will now have to craft a response from the Obama administration, as explained in the following statement:
The right to petition your government is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. We the People provides a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country. We created We the People because we want to hear from you. If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure its sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.
Louisiana also passed the 25,000 threshold with 27,028 signatures. Behind Texas and Louisiana, the other leading secession threats are:
South Carolina, 13,888
Arkansas, 13,207
Georgia, 17,807
Tennessee, 17, 356
Colorado, 13,171
Alabama, 17,897
Florida, 19,135
North Carolina, 16,794
AtlantaBlackStar.com
Those who want to secede from US should write to Obama
Andrey Fedyashin, Vitaly Radnayev
It is hard to believe but the number of Americans who would like their states to secede from the US is rapidly growing. After the elections on the 6th of November, the number of such people exceeded 100,000 on a special White House website We the People. This does not mean that the US is swept by separatist moods. The majority of the population believes that a divorce is required to escape from the yoke of the Federal Government. Americans dislike official Washington, so the growing number of rebels is something like an amusing way of expressing popular protest, which began as a joke.
Up until recently, the list of states that wanted to secede consisted of 20 names. Some of them were large, such as Texas and New York. The list also included New Jersey, both Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and others.
On the 13th of November, eight other rebels were added to the list, among them California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Still, this kind of protest should not be taken seriously, Vice President of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations Artyom Malgin believes.
This kind of information actions during election campaigns should be understood as political jokes that would have no consequences at all. In any country, any foolish idea could be offered to the population and there would be some eccentric individuals who would support it.
The problem is, though, that this action is slowly acquiring the status of a not exactly clever idea. The White House initiated the website We the People (these are the opening words of the US Constitution) with the best of intentions, to be more exact, to give Americans direct access to the Presidential Administration, so that the Administration could see what American people would like to be changed. Barack Obama promised to make his Administration unprecedentedly open already before the election of 2008 and he has been as good as his word.
The website turned 1 year recently. Any American aged over 13 can send a petition. If it has 150 signatures it is entitled to being posted on the website. With 5,000 signatures, as the White House promised, it turns into an official document and should have a response, sometimes even a personal response from the US president.
The number of signatures under some petitions of secession exceeds 10-15,000. What originally looked like an innocent frolick is turning into something serious. A week has passed since many of the petitions were received but still there has not been any official response. Obviously, the White House did not realize what it was bargaining for.
18 states filed petitions to secede from the U.S.
One day after the presidential election had taken place, a Louisiana resident filed a petition requesting that Louisiana be allowed to secede from the United States to create [their] own new government. Now 18 states have already made similar requests. Experts say these petitions are a physical symbol of the deep resentment for the direction in which the United States is moving under the Obama administration.
The Louisiana petition created on November 7 has obtained more than 12,000 on-line signatures already.
On November 9 Micah H. from Arlington, Texas, filed his petition at the White House We the People site requesting the same for Texas in order to protect the standard of living Texans now enjoy. Over 15,000 Texas residents have already signed the petition.
On November 10 Kristopher W of Tillamook, Oregon, opened his petition saying the people of Oregon would like the chance to vote on leaving the Union immediately. He explains: The Federal Government has imposed policies on Oregon that are not in Oregon's best interests. The petition has less than 3,000 on-line signatures by now.
Other petitions were filed from 13 states.
Now each petition has 30 days to reach a threshold of 25,000 signatures in order for the Obama administration to consider the request.
Voice of Russia, Digital Journal
And although in any foreseeable future the secessionist move by the above states (and an unknown number to follow) is unlikely to bear fruit in terms of real secession, the move should be regarded as a signal that the question is being included into US political agenda.
The US constitution does not presuppose any possibility for any state to secede from the Union. The memories of the Confederation of 11 Southern states and the Civil War that followed are still fresh in memory. Probably no one in the US would like to repeat that experience, although in popular perception (most overtly expressed in "Gone with the Wind") the southerners are still regarded as people of honor defending the core values of a free society.
The only state that is formally exempted from the constitutional provision banning secession is Texas which joined the Union as an independent state and is still nicknamed a "Lone Star State". It is hardly surprising that the deeply conservative state was the pioneer of the current secessionist campaign and was the first one to exceed the 25,000 threshold. It has collected more than 100,000 signatures. But even Texas, legally speaking, is highly unlikely to be granted independence as far back as 1868, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White case that states lacked the power to unilaterally secede from the Union.
Some critics of the petition campaign point out that the underlying reason for it is purely political and that this is nothing more than just a reaction of Mitt Romney supporters to their electoral defeat. In this sense, the campaign is compared to the proclamation of the Confederation in 1860 as a reaction to Abraham Lincoln's election. But it should not only be noted that Barack Obama is far from being a second Lincoln, but also one small fact should be taken into consideration. Among the seven states that have so far collected 25,000 or more signatures, Florida is thestate where Obama defeated Romney on November 6.
Other critics say that the secession of the states seeking it would serve the Union and badly affect the states themselves. According to this point of view, the states seeking secession are among the weakest ones in terms of economy. "The Confederation of Takers" is what the Washington Post commentator Dana Milbank called the possible (or, rather impossible) future composition.
"If Obama were serious about being a good steward of the nations finances, hed let them" secede, writes Milbank further including into the Confederation such relatively poor states as Alaska, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. Well, the above states may be relatively poor, but among them, only Tennessee is among the seven that have collected the needed amount of signature. And definitely the label of a "poor state" cannot be applied to states like Florida, and even less so to Texas, whose economy is booming due to vast oil reserves, and who would become the world's 15th ranking economy in case it succeeded in gaining full independence.
But again, all such considerations for the time being do not constitute anything more than wishful thinking. Still, the very idea of secession may not be ripe, but the seeds have definitely been sown.
Back in mid-90s, I saw a map published in one of the US newspapers depicting the country in 2017. Apart from the Lone Star Texas as an independent, it showed sovereign entities like the Dixieland Confederation, Theocratic Kingdom of Utah, the Wild West and New England Republics, and some others.
But seriously, even if for the time being the idea of secession may be disregarded, one should not exclude it altogether. Remember what enthusiasm surrounded the enlargement of the European Union some eight years ago, in May 2004. And what has become of the European integration now? Better not dig deeper into it in order not to frighten the Americans.
And last. Supporting secessionist movements in countries that are not eager to follow in the wake of US policy has become one of the basic principles of Washington's attitude towards global issues from Kosovo and other parts of former Yugoslavia, to Baloch separatists in today's Pakistan. Maybe Washington strategists should remember the old maxima "the one who lives in a glass castle should not throw stones"?
Boris Volkhonsky, senior research fellow, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies
Texas, Louisiana get enough signatures on secession petition to force Obama response
Residents of at least 31 states have started petition drives to secede from the United States after President Obamas reelection triumph. Texas leads the pack on the White House site with 62,630 signatures. This is far more than the 25,000 signatures needed to elicit an official response from the U.S. government. Louisiana also passed the 25,000 threshold with 27,028 signatures.
Since the White House We the People program gives any citizen the power to start a petition drive, any disgruntled Republican in any state has the ability to embarrass his or her state with impractical calls to secede from the U.S. As might be expected, the state of Texas leads the pack on the White House site. As of 8:45 this morning, the site had 62,630 signatures. This is far more than the 25,000 signatures needed to elicit an official response from the U.S. government. The signatures on the Texas petition mean that some unfortunate White House official will now have to craft a response from the Obama administration, as explained in the following statement:
The right to petition your government is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. We the People provides a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country. We created We the People because we want to hear from you. If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure its sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.
Louisiana also passed the 25,000 threshold with 27,028 signatures. Behind Texas and Louisiana, the other leading secession threats are:
South Carolina, 13,888
Arkansas, 13,207
Georgia, 17,807
Tennessee, 17, 356
Colorado, 13,171
Alabama, 17,897
Florida, 19,135
North Carolina, 16,794
AtlantaBlackStar.com
Those who want to secede from US should write to Obama
Andrey Fedyashin, Vitaly Radnayev
It is hard to believe but the number of Americans who would like their states to secede from the US is rapidly growing. After the elections on the 6th of November, the number of such people exceeded 100,000 on a special White House website We the People. This does not mean that the US is swept by separatist moods. The majority of the population believes that a divorce is required to escape from the yoke of the Federal Government. Americans dislike official Washington, so the growing number of rebels is something like an amusing way of expressing popular protest, which began as a joke.
Up until recently, the list of states that wanted to secede consisted of 20 names. Some of them were large, such as Texas and New York. The list also included New Jersey, both Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and others.
On the 13th of November, eight other rebels were added to the list, among them California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Still, this kind of protest should not be taken seriously, Vice President of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations Artyom Malgin believes.
This kind of information actions during election campaigns should be understood as political jokes that would have no consequences at all. In any country, any foolish idea could be offered to the population and there would be some eccentric individuals who would support it.
The problem is, though, that this action is slowly acquiring the status of a not exactly clever idea. The White House initiated the website We the People (these are the opening words of the US Constitution) with the best of intentions, to be more exact, to give Americans direct access to the Presidential Administration, so that the Administration could see what American people would like to be changed. Barack Obama promised to make his Administration unprecedentedly open already before the election of 2008 and he has been as good as his word.
The website turned 1 year recently. Any American aged over 13 can send a petition. If it has 150 signatures it is entitled to being posted on the website. With 5,000 signatures, as the White House promised, it turns into an official document and should have a response, sometimes even a personal response from the US president.
The number of signatures under some petitions of secession exceeds 10-15,000. What originally looked like an innocent frolick is turning into something serious. A week has passed since many of the petitions were received but still there has not been any official response. Obviously, the White House did not realize what it was bargaining for.
18 states filed petitions to secede from the U.S.
One day after the presidential election had taken place, a Louisiana resident filed a petition requesting that Louisiana be allowed to secede from the United States to create [their] own new government. Now 18 states have already made similar requests. Experts say these petitions are a physical symbol of the deep resentment for the direction in which the United States is moving under the Obama administration.
The Louisiana petition created on November 7 has obtained more than 12,000 on-line signatures already.
On November 9 Micah H. from Arlington, Texas, filed his petition at the White House We the People site requesting the same for Texas in order to protect the standard of living Texans now enjoy. Over 15,000 Texas residents have already signed the petition.
On November 10 Kristopher W of Tillamook, Oregon, opened his petition saying the people of Oregon would like the chance to vote on leaving the Union immediately. He explains: The Federal Government has imposed policies on Oregon that are not in Oregon's best interests. The petition has less than 3,000 on-line signatures by now.
Other petitions were filed from 13 states.
Now each petition has 30 days to reach a threshold of 25,000 signatures in order for the Obama administration to consider the request.
Voice of Russia, Digital Journal
