Happy Secession Day!

From Third Palmetto Republic:

Happy Secession Day!


On July 4, 2010, in Secession, by Tom ....

On July 4th, 1776, the founding fathers declared the independence of the colonies from the British Empire, in what is probably the best and most morally justified government document in history. Most everyone is familiar with the second paragraph:



We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, 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 to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…..



link: The Declaration of Independence



However most people forget about the closing paragraph of the document, which comes after the list of abuses, but is the most critical piece of the entire thing:



We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.



link: The Declaration of Independence



Indeed, for the first twelve years after the Declaration we existed as free and independent states, held together by the Articles of Confederation, which was really little more than a treaty that allowed for free trade and common defense. Unfortunately, in 1788 we adopted the Constitution, at the urging of several statists and mercantilists misleadingly referring to themselves as “federalists,” and we lost the freedom and independence that we had fought for against the British.



In fact, just about all of the calamities of the last 200 years can be attributed to the fact that we are ruled by a far off centralized government in Washington, DC instead of being a loose-knit collection of independent states. Without a behemoth US government, we would have had no navy to enforce the African slave trade, which the United States did up until the late 1860′s. Without the massive centralized government, we wouldn’t have had any of the tariffs or taxes that hurt people in one state while helping favored interests in another. Without the Federal government, we wouldn’t have had the “manifest destiny” to slaughter the indians of the west to make way for “civilization” (well connected railroad executives,) or to invade sovereign nations around the world (Mexico, the Phillipines, most of South America, etc). Without the constitutionally created empire, there would be no Federal Reserve, which caused the Great Depression and every other boom and bust cycle since then. The list goes on and on, but the point is this: free and independent states wouldn’t have been able to do any of these things, and they wouldn’t have wanted to anyway, because the cost would outweigh the benefit. However, when you have a massive central government that can force everyone to pay taxes and force everyone to serve in the military then the limits to what they can do and the atrocities they can commit are non-existent.



So it is clear to see that the Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence were right, and that we ought to be free and independent states. On this July 4th, go celebrate and enjoy friends and family, but please remember that this is Secession Day, where 13 free and independent states seceded from the British Empire:



Each colony was considered to be a free and independent state, or nation, in and of itself. There was no such thing as “the United States of America” in the minds of the founders. The independent colonies were simply united for a particular cause: seceding from the British empire. Each individual state was assumed to possess all the rights that any state possesses, even to wage war and conclude peace. Indeed, when King George III finally signed a peace treaty he signed it with all the individual American states, named one by one, and not something called “The United States of America.” The “United States” as a consolidated, monopolistic government is a fiction invented by Lincoln and instituted as a matter of policy at gunpoint and at the expense of some 600,000 American lives during 1861–1865.



link: Happy Secession Day by Thomas DiLorenzo