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 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 545, November 22, 2009 "Socialism is Death"
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Who Will Be the New Founding Fathers?
Special to The Libertarian Enterprise
I've been writing about secession now for a while. Recently my articles have been featured on the LewRockwell.com website. Every time that a new article is posted, I get tons of emails from readers that I dutifully answer. I figure if they took the time to write to me, it would be discourteous of me not to answer. Plus, hundreds of new readers look over my secessionist website at www.DumpDC.com. It's all good. I learn so much from the writers. They ask the most penetrating questions that make me think deeply about what I write. Most of the messages are positive and complimentary. I always get a couple that inform me that I'm a raving idiot who knows nothing. Curiously, those e-bombs are always from north of the Mason-Dixon Line. But after the last posting, "State Secession: Trying To Beat the World's Worst Record," and reader's comments and questions, I've started to re-think some of my secessionist ideals. I've held the hope that the push for state's rights and secession, with the goal of forming a new nation, would come from the people duly elected to various state House and Senate positions, and from the offices of governors. That's what happened in 1861. But I'm starting to wonder if there is ANY leadership in the state governments. I'm beginning to seriously doubt if secession and the desire for liberty truly beats in the hearts of any state politicians anywhere. Where are the articles about secession written by state legislators and governors? When the Framers of the Constitution sought to convince Americans to ratify the new document, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison wrote 85 detailed articles that appeared in newspapers. Those articles are now known as The Federalist Papers. Are there no politicians willing to make a policy statement about secession? No matter if the articles would be pro-secession or anti-secession, the paucity of position papers written by state politicians is an object lesson we'd better notice. You might try to correct me by pointing to the thirty nine states have passed legislation or resolutions asserting their Tenth Amendment rights. A few have passed legislation that asserts their Second Amendment rights, specifically that Federal gun laws and BATF regulations do not apply to firearms manufactured within a state's borders. Why haven't at least SOME of the sponsors of the legislation, or the guys writing the resolutions, gone on record in writing with articles posted at widely-read forums like this one? Getting a resolution passed has nothing to do with winning hearts and minds out there in the citizenry. I guess it's possible that I've missed those articles. I know I didn't read the local papers in Montana and Tennessee, two states that passed the Second Amendment bills. But I live in Georgia, and the Georgia Senate passed and adopted SR 632 on April 1, 2009, which is self-titled "A RESOLUTION affirming states' rights based on Jeffersonian principles." I did not know about this Georgia resolution until about a month ago, and I live not 25 miles from the State House. The sponsors of the Georgia resolution introduced this onto the Senate resolution calendar on the 39th day of a 40-day legislative session. Most senators, in a rush to complete their work in the final hours, didn't even read the 6-page bill, and it passed 43-1. So while it was nice for the sponsors to introduce and shepherd the resolution, the back-door tactics don't appear to champion the cause in a forthright manner. A writer in the Atlanta Journal Constitution called it "lend(ing) aid and comfort to radical causes and fringe groups."1 Yeah, baby. Secession is pretty radical. In my article "Cowardice In State Government", I ask this: "But where is the state legislature and Governor that will notify Washington that there is a new "nullification sheriff" in town? When will some state begin nullifying the laws coming out of Washington, and refusing to allow them to be obeyed in that state? When will a state refuse to enforce Federal legislation? When will a state slap the cuffs on a Federal law enforcement officer who is trying to enforce Federal law in a state that has nullified Federal law? Where is that state that will be true to its origins, and allow nothing but gold and silver coin (specie) as tender in payment of debts (Article I, Section 10)?" None of the state politicians would even have to breathe the word "secession" to assert their powers of nullification, would they? I even make the suggestion that states could begin now collecting their tax revenues from their own citizens in silver and gold. The process would begin to teach citizens what true money is before they are plunged into a worldwide currency collapse and are forced to learn the hard way. State politicians could even make speeches against secession and still collect their tax revenues with real money instead of Federal Reserve Notes. Then I think back to the days before the formation of the Confederate States of America. In those days, eleven individual state governments actually passed legislation that a Governor signed, and eleven individual states formally seceded from the united States of America. In Charleston, South Carolina, on December 20, 1860, the first vote for secession at the Secession Convention was 169 to zero. On January 9th, 1861, Mississippi joined South Carolina. Florida joined the secession ranks the next day on January 10th. Alabama followed on January 11th. Georgia seceded on January 19th. Louisiana left the Union on January 26th. Texas was seventh to leave on February 1st. Those seven new sovereign nations sent delegates to Montgomery, Alabama to draft a confederacy. They ratified the provisional Montgomery Constitution on February 8, 1861, and elected Jefferson Davis as President the next day. Virginia defeated a vote for secession on April 4th. But on April 17th, two days after the attack on Fort Sumter and Lincoln's call for troops, Virginians voted to secede. Arkansas and Tennessee seceded on May 6th. On May 20th, North Carolina joined the Confederacy. I do not know if those 1861 state-elected representatives and governors wrote and published their positions. But they understood state's rights and nullification, understood the US Constitution, and voted in favor of secession in sufficient numbers that seven states could leave the US peaceably and form a new nation. Shamefully, the North did not want peace. The differences between the politicians of 1861 and 2009 are so stark that comparison is almost laughable. There was no "groupthink" back then. There was no mass communication media that drowned people in entertainment and info-tainment. The simplest news item took days or weeks to become known by the populace. The closest thing to fast news was Samuel Morse's telegraph. Today's world is a constant din of instant info-noise. Today's state legislator or Governor is well trained in the ways of Washington plunder and bound with the heavy chains of Federal money. States suckle and cannot stop. They are willing participants in the economic rape of America. If they weren't, they'd stop it. So, the questions become obvious: Is it reasonable to believe that men and women in elective State offices who have a Federalist worldview will forsake that worldview and embrace a completely new worldview of nationhood for their state? Should we look to our state houses and governors' offices for leadership when the poop hits the fan? Should we have any faith in state politicians to protect their own state's economic health? I am beginning to believe that the new Founding Fathers and Mothers will be men and women whose names you've never heard before. The present crop of state politicos may have to be shoved aside and considered obstructionists. The visionaries who actually bring new nations into existence will rise from obscurity and their names will eventually be found in history books. So, as I close, I'd like to issue two challenges. Challenge Number One: Politicians of the Fifty States, I challenge you to write articles either in favor of secession or in opposition to secession. Your constituents have a right to know your position in this matter. I will post your articles at www.DumpDC.com for the world to see. I cannot speak for others, but I'm guessing that other important websites and blogs will pick up your articles and post them far and wide. Challenge Number Two: Readers, print this article and send it to your state representative, state senator and governor. Then watch to see if they accept the challenge. Finally, remember Matthew 7:18-20: Jesus said "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
1. Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 16, 2009, "Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA," by Jay Bookman.
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