Too Late to Secede from the United States of America?

In recent weeks we've seen post-election fall-out (G.O.P. whining), escalating discontent (social media racism), and murmurings of secession (citizen petitions on We the People). I have monitored the 10th Amendment / secession movements on-and-off since 2004. Secession is a concept I find fascinating on the simple grounds that while we, Americans, theoretically have secession as a state "out," no state has ever successfully seceded. In fact, our ancestors fought one of the bloodiest civil wars in history to conclude that we are indeed the "United States of America" and no, the South can't secede. From the Revolutionary War, through Slavery, Civil War, Reconstruction, McCarthyism and Jim Crow, by genocide of indigenous tribes and through assimilation of immigrants, from Stonewall to San Francisco, our dear lady Liberty, herself, has bled and wept o'er our lost generations.

We've struggled on striving to create a society that more closely resembles the society our founders dreamed up, we dreamed up. We fail at every turn, but we get up and keep working towards it. Every American, in every generation, has paid for the American dream, sweated for the struggle, and fought against tyrants to exercise their rights as individuals, as human beings. Polarized, categorized, stereotyped, and dichotomized into pasts vs. futures, yesterdays vs. tomorrows. Progressives so ready for the future they forget the lessons of the past. Traditionalists so afraid of the future they idealized the past. Neither looking out of the box, beyond their own limited time-preferences. Neither seeing the reality of NOW, that ever-fluctuating, never-changing, single point through which all time flies. What are you going to do now?

The ignorant call "to return to traditional family values" fails to realize the slow evolution of marriage from a communal or familial obligation to an individual obligation. An examination of "traditional [American] family values" exposes masculine superiority complexes directly related to the assumed superiority of  males within patriarchal societies. Women, conversely, experience inferiority complexes. This call blatantly ignores the quality of life that persisted for women during this supposed golden age of "traditional family values." In fact, to return to the traditions espoused by the radical right, would be to return women to the societal dark ages. Additionally, if we follow the various historical traditions of "family values," we'll be forced to return to a day where lovers cannot marry for love because both are property of their respective families and negotiations must be conducted. How many cows and chickens is your daughter worth? For the tradition argument to be valid, proponents would need marriage to return to its original place as a contract between families meant to increase their holdings, wealth, and reputations. Such a return to "traditional family values" would be a reversion of the progress our society has made in the area of an individual's right to decide their life partner.

Interestingly, within the historical origins of marriage we also find a great argument for legalizing gay marriage: the marriage contract is an economic contract. Gays are a part of the economy. The modern marriage contract is not between families, neighborhoods, cities, counties/parishes, states, or even nations. It is between two people; regardless of what the "traditionalists" spout. Approving gay marriage is a step towards economic and social equality that also financially benefits the city, state, and federal governments. In our current broke-ass state of the union, acknowledging that families come in various shapes and sizes is more than important, it is essential to healing division, fostering acceptance, and to growing our communities. Not only is it the right thing to do for liberty's sake, it's also the smart economic move. But, some Americans wouldn't know the right thing nor the smart thing if it were a pissed-off pimp waiting on a prostitute's past-due payment.

Many people consider themselves cream-of-the-crop, top-of-the-line, quality A-1 Americans. They're not. These are the same blowhards that insist on fascist clothing ordinances that turn crime prevention police into fashion police. Any move towards fascism is a leap away from liberty. Issuing citations for clothing is fascist. That said, my "favorite" example of American fascism will always be the Virginia Beach police department's use of police chaplains to issue speech tickets for cussing in public. To which I call "Bullshit!" Va. Beach, you ever hear of the First fucking Amendment? Americans that push for laws that prevent free speech or that determine what is and what is not appropriate fashion, well, those people are not American in spirit. There. I said it. They may be American citizens, but they are not the best we have to offer, they are the worst. These fanatics stifle creativity, ignore reason, and hate genuine inclusivity. They don't want equality, they want some fantasy world where whatever they say goes and to hell with everyone else. They bask in their ignorance as if it were the most noble calling, willfully blinding themselves to true liberty so that they can continue to spread bigotry and hatred.

Today, social scientists use algorithms to follow social media trends, including trends in bigotry and hatred. Studying social media trends offers real-time glimpses into the current levels of discontent (as well as other emotional levels). An undercurrent of discontent is normal and expected in any society, regardless of government "type." Even so, some governments, by their very design, propogate excessive rises in discontentment. Such governments long for realization of the mythical Iron Curtain that idealized and impossible complete blackout. It ain't happening, but they can try. Thus, trends must be watched regularly. The oscillations expose the constantly beating pulse of the nation and can signify great changes. One expects an erratic pulse when receiving competing inputs from 300 million people. When opinions begin to synchronize and the erratic pulse becomes cohesive, well, that's when the observant person recognizes that a climax is coming. How can the quality of that climax be accurately judged? Will the end result be progression or regression? That's where social scientists fit in. That's where we all fit in.

I'm not a social scientist. I'm a writer. I look at studies that social scientists conduct and I compare them with news from both the main stream and the underground. Truth is lost somewhere in the quagmire of memes, anecdotal tales, peer-reviewed studies, and investigative journalistic pieces that combine to create the broad fabric of discourse among social contemporaries deep within the "cloud." Is it just me or is this beginning to sound like Aristophanes' Cloud Cuckooland? Regardless of how bizarrely sci-fi life gets, regardless of how fanatics stay fanatical, regardless of traditionalists spouting traditionalism, regardless of progressives progressing, there will always exist opposing forces within human communities. Forces bent on dividing, deriding, and dehumanizing face-off against forces bent on uniting, uplifting, and humanizing the peoples and governments of the world. Of course, nothing is ever that simple. Nothing is ever truly two-sided. That's the complicated reality of humanity. We come with shades of gray.

These many hues preoccupy my thoughts when secession is brought to the fore. I think of where we came from, where we've been, where we are, and where we're headed. I think about the violent opposition we've all faced just to get here, then I think of where we have to go and the violent opposition we'll face getting there. I think of the "civilization" that we daily struggle to create and the barbarism that actually exists. I think of the ideal of liberty we've been indoctrinated to defend with our lives and the fact that no one alive has ever actually lived within the ideal libertarian society. I think of Utopia's elusiveness and the logical fallacies that drive secessionists to scream for a new and separate government. I watch and laugh at the fruitlessness of such a request. We're the only bastards in the world that know for certain our government is capable of dropping atomic bombs onto cities full of civilians. Any chance for secession ended the first day nuclear weapons were successfully detonated in New Mexico. Never forget that we burned our own cities during the Civil War, we didn't even have napalm then. Should we ever enter a second civil war, we are the same assholes who would use nuclear weapons on our own soil, we already have--just not in town. And, much like the South after Reconstruction, the fall-out zones would be a future lesson to any others who think to repeat the process a third time. Think about it.