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Please, just leave

Right-wing crackpots plot to abandon the union
By MIKE MILIARD  |  March 19, 2009

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A NATION DIVIDED: with some of it controlled by China, as per Igor Panarin.

Cracking up: State legislators across the country are filing resolutions declaring state sovereignty - and threatening to secede - just as they did the last time a Democrat won the White House. By David S. Bernstein.
"What kind of revolution appeals most to you?" read the now-deleted poll question on Sean Hannity's message board: "Military Coup, Armed Rebellion, or War for Secession?"

The next four to eight years are gonna be some fun!

Barely two months into the Obama administration, wing-nuts across the land are frothing at the mouth, talking feverishly of secession, violent revolution, tax revolt, "going Galt," and national divorce. It would be hilarious if it weren't so creepy.

We all had a good laugh this past December when Igor Panarin, dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry's academy for future diplomats, predicted that the financial crisis would eventually lead to widespread unrest, martial law, and, by 2010, a civil war in the US — the end result of which would be a motley collection of rump states like "Atlantic America" and the "Texas Republic," that then glom onto countries such as Canada and Mexico. It's an absurd idea.

Or is it? Perusing some of the sheer insanity spewed on rightist blogs, message boards, and comment threads — the pitchfork-shaking anger directed at this so-called socialist government — one has to wonder just what's percolating in this country. Maybe the big break-up is coming sooner than we think?

Obama talks a lot about his affinity for Abraham Lincoln. Let's just hope he doesn't end up having too much in common with the guy — that in addition to saving the economy, winning two wars, and curbing global warming, he doesn't find himself having to preserve the Union, too.

People are pissed. New faux-populist hero Rick Santelli has been enjoining citizens to register their disgust with the stimulus plan and budget by bombarding the White House and Capitol with tea bags — get it?! (The phenomenon has apparently caused headaches for workers charged with the safety screening of DC mail.) Meanwhile, 4000 people gathered this past Saturday for a so-called "Cincinnati Tea Party." Read one sign: HONK IF I'M PAYING YOUR MORTGAGE.

But protests do only so much. More and more, it seems, nothing less than outright secession will satisfy some of these cranks. The right-wing Web is all atwitter over a recent open letter, spreading from blog to blog like a hanta virus, by one "John J. Wall, Law Student and an American." In it, Wall puts it plainly: he wants a divorce.

"Let's just end it on friendly terms," he writes. "We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. . . . Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military." (What they'll do with all the guns he doesn't say.)

Ironically, when not busy fomenting revolution or concocting a plan to carve up the continental US, conservatives act a lot like the "hippies" that Wall went on to lambaste in his letter — thumbing their nose at authority and threatening to drop out of society.

It was reported on military.com last month that a soldier, First Lieutenant Scott Easterling, who is stationed in Iraq, has balked at following orders: "Until Mr. Obama releases a 'vault copy' of his original birth certificate for public review," he declared, "I will consider him neither my commander in chief nor my president, but rather, a usurper to the office — an impostor."

And the latest bit of in(s)anity making the rounds in conservative circles in is the notion of "going Galt," in which angry rich people protest Obama's fiscal policies by following the lead of John Galt übermensch protagonist of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and removing their ostensibly valuable productivity from society.

Why? Because "a general strike among the wealth producers," as Michelle Malkin calls it, will help keep that wealth out of the grubby hands of the lower classes — those "moochers who claim your product by tears," in Rand's piquant description. Sigh.

Are we fated to fracture into Jesus Land and the People's Republic of Massafornia? Probably not. But maybe! Until and unless that day arrives, however, ours remains a riven nation. But if Malkin and their ilk want to "drop out" in the meantime, more power to 'em. It'll be nice, frankly, not to have to hear them talk for a while.

Related: Rise of the political bogeyman, Star crossed, Toxic talk: Hating Obama, More more >
  Topics: News Features , Abraham Lincoln, Ayn Rand, Barack Obama,  More more >
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Comments
Re: Please, just leave
 With the exception of the juvenile and unnecessary name calling, I think you've done a pretty good job of capturing the mood of the country.  I'm 62 years old, am ex-military and have been a strong supporter of the American way all of my life.  While I wasn't always happy with some of the liberal leadership we've had, I've been able to live with it in relative peace.  Now I'm just plain scared.  No, not for me - for my children and grandchildren.  Twenty-two states have prepared sovereignty legislation and Texas is preparing special legislation to block the central government from forcing the state to take stimulus funds - funds which will inevitably come with strings that States simply can't afford.  We're being accused of supplying full-auto assault weapons to the Mexican cartels when even we honest, God-fearing American citizens can't get that kind of hardware thanks to existing infringements of our God given right to keep and bear arms.  We just had a serious scare when the DoD decided to scrap military brass rather than sell it to re-manufacturers; a move that would have gutted the 2nd Amendment and there is ongoing talk of bringing back the unconstitutional 'assault' weapons ban and making it permanent.  When they get serious about infringing our 2nd Amendment rights and taking away the guns, you've very likely to see that bloody revolution you laugh about above. We have a egotistical, power-hungry usurper and Marxist in the White House who is clearly working to destroy the economy and the country in favor of an acknowledged New World Order.  God help us. One final thought.  We are the most powerful and profitable and freeest country in the history of the World.  We got here because our forefathers were intelligent enough to leave us with a Constitutional Republic. There are LOTS of countries that pretty well fit the bill for the leftists in this country - China, Russia, Cuba and dozens of others.  Please pick one and leave THIS  country alone. Once you're gone, we will teach the poor how to fish and I promise they'll be just fine without your 'generosity'.
By prsmith on 03/18/2009 at 7:47:00
Re: Please, just leave
Well said, prsmith. Unlike the hippies, who dropped out of a healthy society to pursue hedonistic pleasures, the Galtists are dropping out of sick society to  escape the pernicioius effects of Gramsci/Franfurt School nihilistic relativism. In essence, they are bailing out of a suicide pact.    
By mrmagoo on 03/19/2009 at 8:41:48
Re: Please, just leave
Bravo smith & magoo..Obamatons such as Mr. Miliard follow the same patterns : freeze it, personalize it, ridicule it-ala Saul Alinski ''Rules For Radicals''. So predictable.., as are his lies, to wit:WHAT two wars has Obama won? What economic disaters has he averted? Miliard is correct about people being pissed.What course they take no one knows, although I feel that the 10th Amendment movement is the opening shot to what may become a VERY bloody affair. Make no mistake Mr.Miliard- there will be no secession nor divorce nor anything resembling our Revolution when generous offers were given to Tories ( also known as traitors-who says history doesn't repeat itself?) I fear what you will see is something on a scale of the French Revolution. When the proverbial crap hits the fan, good luck to you, Mr Miliard and to your ilk. Be sure to keep us informed on how you're doing...         
By tpaine on 03/19/2009 at 11:35:11
Re: Please, just leave
The fact is people already do "go Galt" under eras of statism. "Going Galt" has nothing to do with sharing money. It has to do with people not wanting to work for other people BY FORCE.  They hide their income by investing it outside the country, or working off the books, working less, or not starting businesses; they move from less free states to freer areas. It happens almost naturally.
 
By jmchugh on 03/19/2009 at 12:07:52
Re: Please, just leave
I'm curious: why is this piece in the "News" section? This is clearly an editorial, and as an editorial, I can only respond with: Whatever. But please do link me to the story you wrote with equal disdain for all of the wacko Leftist groups who were convinced that Bush was the Antichrist. As a news piece, however, all I can say is: this is why the mainstream media is going out of business. And good riddance.
By wynand32 on 03/19/2009 at 12:15:51
Re: Please, just leave
 Yea. Actually, weren't many people going to flee to Canada at George Bush's 2004election?
By jmchugh on 03/19/2009 at 10:19:25
Re: Please, just leave
What a pseudo-intellectual Snob this Mr Milard is, and we should leave ?, no he should leave, since we are the only ones left standing behind our Constitution, which happens to be the law of the land.I think I will save this article so that in 5 years when Mr Milard is out of a job and whining about how he lost his home, I can repost this article and let him wallow in his own sorrow. BTW, i'm so glad to see some of the readers comments on this page, it is alway nice to know that most of us still believe in freedom, the right to be creative and pursue a life of happiness.
By lowglow on 03/19/2009 at 11:17:12

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