I've been reading through the material on the recent wave of secession petitions, the last count being 45 with the addition of Alaska. It is important to note that these are all being submitted on the new website the President set up to "hear the people". They are not actual bonafide petitions but they are an indicator of the dissident thinking of a growing portion of the population.
However, the responses to all of this on the internet seem to be overwhelmingly negative with comments to the supporters of these petitions ranging from things like "being spoiled brats" and "sore losers," to "stupid idiots". You get the picture. In light of the preponderance of negative comments displayed, one could wonder if the media is trying to downplay this movement by only showing the negative. It seems to me the naysayers by and large are exemplifying what they are accusing the dissidents of being. Name calling is never appropriate.
One could wonder if the war between the states didn't somehow start just like this--with petitions.
Will President Obama ignore all this? It hardly seems like a very wise choice. If he chooses to recognize the growing unrest within the populace, how will he deal with it? The 'dissidents' are going about this process peacefully and legally at this point. They have a right to have their concerns heard and addressed in an appropriately sober and serious way.
One can't help but wonder if the foreign vultures aren't waiting impatiently upon the fence, avidly looking for opportunity to use our inner squabbling to their advantage. There are consequences for everything. Just exactly how those consequences will play out is anybody's guess at this point, but I hope that the government and those pushing the rebelliousness will give due thought to their words and actions.
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana
I hold it, that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. - Thomas Jefferson
If we should promise people nothing better than only revolution, they would scratch their heads and say, 'Isn't it better to have good goulash?' - Nikita Khrushchev
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken
The overwhelming pressure of mediocrity, sluggish and indomitable as a glacier, will mitigate the most violent, and depress the most exalted revolution. - T.S. Eliot
It is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul, and lay the foundation for that empire's fall or its regeneration. - Mahatma Gandhi
