Business of Secession

 

I have been reading about the growing number of people who believe that we should break up our union, into blue states, and red states. There has been talk from Georgia through Texas to California. So, what is this talk of secession? Conservatives are upset with the federal government, and some Liberal Western States are also upset with the government all for different reasons. For the record, I am NOT in favor of secession. There are too many problems that would be created, and too few problems solved. There will be unintended consequences to that action.

The reasons given mostly for secession have to do with states not liking the direction of the federal government. The liberal western states are having a problem with the federal government's land grab from the states. Land usage and water rights are at the forefront of the Western states' concerns. In Oregon, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) takes land that was farmed and ranched for 6 or 6 generations of families. They take the land, and they take the water and leave private owners no recourse but to sell out to the government. 60% of land in Oregon is government-owned. In Arizona, 56% of the land is government owned. With the drought conditions in the western U.S. water is scarce and a whole other issue. In the Conservative rural bible belt part of our country, the issue is politics. They don’t like the progressive way of doing things. They want society to stagnate, like those states have. Let us take a hard look at the secession business. That is what I am going to call, the Business of Secession. I am going to go to a hypothetical state that has already seceded. To show the unintended consequences. With secession comes, political upheaval, economic upheaval, social upheaval, and Anarchy.

Let’s start with political upheaval. Upon secession, all military installations are retained by the Federal Government. None of the units or hardware will be in the States. If the state wants to try and take the military installations, and hardware by force with the guard, that will be on the table. Habeus Corpus will be suspended on a federal level, and the U.S. Constitution no longer governs the police, The country of Arizona must govern under their state constitution. Then a fence will have to go up around the state, as a line of demarcation, for trade. Only civil rights given to the citizens are state ones. Arizona becomes self-governing. No federal tax money, and no federal protection. The Arizona Guard has that duty now. Next comes the economic upheavals.

The economy of Arizona will change. The border with New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Utah, became international borders. Anything coming in or going out will be charged a tax. People will have to use passports to go to one of the states. Taxes on imports and exports will be higher. Arizona will have to use its resources to survive. No more federal money to build, or maintain highways, and other infrastructure. The power grid, unless self-sustaining, will have to be bought from some other place and will raise the cost. The cost of all goods and services will go up. Arizona will have to figure out its own money or just use the dollar. That will cause inflation. With all that comes the social upheaval.

The social upheaval will be people not having to get along, and getting what is good for them. People not helping each other, because there will be no social structure, or rule of law. The state will be ruled by one party, person, or family. The basic services that society provides will be suspended, then everyone is on their own. When that happens, anarchy has arrived, and by then we are quite a way down the rabbit hole of needless rebellion.

 

These are some of the unintended consequences of secession. Is this what we want? Are the problems we are going to create going to be worth tearing the country apart over? Or should we try a little harder to figure out a way we as a free and sovereign people can live with our Constitution, and the rule of law, together, and act like civilized people, rather than the fractured factions we have right now? Secession is never a good idea. It is bad juju and will do irreparable harm to our Republic and the Democracy that supports it. The Business of Secession is bad business.