A petition that transcends politics; and gives liberals and conservatives, alike, a great reason to sign!

Spread the word! Vote it up, and comment, here! Let's make this thing go viral!

Click here to go straight to the petition: Peacefully remind the new secessionists how their petitions so dishonor those who died in the American Civil War  

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As of today, 14 November 2012, there has been, some say, a secessionist petition created and signed by at least someone in pretty much every US state -- all 50 of them -- on the White House website, most of which are worded thusly:

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Peacefully grant the State of [state's name here] to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.

That they are all so similarly-worded speaks to how well-organized it has become among far-right Republicans during the past few days.  What started-out as a petition from Texans earlier this week, which became newsworthy to at least some a couple of days ago because it quickly reached the 25,000-signature threshold which qualifies it for mandatory review and consideration by White House staff...

...has now blossomed, in pretty much only one or two days, into a petition on the White House website from all 50 states -- yes, even the blue ones (because, after all, there are far-right Republicans in even the blue states) -- making a similar request.

Those ignorant, on the right, are touting the speed with which it's happening as a first-time-in-history indication of how badly Americans want it.  Never mind that it's also one of the first times in US history that the Internet and its worldwide web has existed during and after a hard-fought and contentious presidential election when so many petition sites have also existed; and so, then, with the speed of electrons flowing across the Internet backbone, momentum for such things can be built in hours to days, rather than history's past's typical weeks to months.  

Never mind, also, that even if all the signatures from all the petitions are added together, they nevertheless account for only a tiny fraction of all who voted last week; and an even more tiny fraction of all Americans.  It is, by any measure, the work of a far-Right and fairly lunatic fringe.

Sadly, the response from many of my fellow liberals/progressives has been to suggest that they should be allowed to do it.  Jason Easley, in his yesterday's posting on the PoliticusUSA website, headlined, "Screw negotiations, avoid the fiscal cliff by letting the red states secede," makes the point, based on an article by Mother Jones's Dave Gilson, that the dark red and blue states, on the map at right, "received $1 more of federal tax money back than every dollar they contributed."

He then points out that "the top states that want to secede also received the most federal tax dollars (the exception is petition leader Texas, but they have their own reasons, besides Obama’s win, for believing in their own independence)."  Easley then delivered his punch line:

The fiscally conservative House Republicans should be jumping for joy at the prospect of cutting some of the most dependent victims who are mooching off federal dollars from the budget.

The problem is that the majority of the top petitioning states are the base of the Republican Party. If these freeloading red states were allowed to secede, not only would America’s deficit issues be resolved, but the Republican Party would never win another national election on their own.

The greatest irony of the 2012 campaign came when red state voters were defending Mitt Romney’s 47% comments. What these red state GOPers don’t get is that Romney was talking about them.

After failing to elect the candidate who would have cut off their economic lifeblood, red states are trying a different path to self destruction.

They are dreaming of world where Obama isn’t their president. A collection of states where their freedom will only be matched by their lack of economic self sufficiency.

Red state Republicans are dreaming of a Confederacy of Poverty, and I say President Obama should make their dreams come true.

While I appreciate Jason's deftly-crafted points, I could not more disagree with him -- and the many others, out there, today -- who are saying, in effect, "go ahead... secede... we're better off withoutcha'!"  Yes, I realize, that they're saying it because they know that there's no possible chance that it'll go anywhere; so they're using the opportunity to mock and ridicule what they perceive -- and understandbly so -- to be far-right nutjobs who won't be taken any more seriously, as a group in this secession silliness, than they were on election night.  I get that.

However, as I've written in several places, today, I'm deeply bothered by the very notion of anyone even half-seriously considering secession, or even only using it as a way to make a point...

...or, far worse, no one calling them on it, and its inherent repugnance.

And so, now, that's what I'm doing: Calling them on it; and I invite you -- and everyone you can think of to tell about it -- to help me with a petition on the White House website which I've just created, and is worded thusly:

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Peacefully remind the new secessionists how their petitions so dishonor those who died in the American Civil War.

Remind far-Right Republicans from the states which have launched and signed, here, petitions to secede in the wake of President Obama's decisive re-election, that their so cavalierly doing profoundly dishonors the memory of the three-quarter-million men -- and Republican president Abraham Lincoln, too -- who gave their last full measure of devotion for the imperative of preventing the disintegration of the Union during the American Civil War... the divisive tentacles of which extend to affect us, still.

May they thoughtfully read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which still-relevantly prays the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Seek them, not, the confederacy of poverty and self-destruction for which their petitions insensibly yearn.

Created by Gregg L. DesElms on Nov 14, 2012 

Issues: Civil Rights and Liberties, Government Reform, Human Rights

Click here to view and sign this petition, and send a powerful message to the secessionists.

Short URL (so you can Tweet, Google+ and Facebook it):  http://wh.gov/XgXw

Please tell others about it, and ask them to sign, in emails, texts and phone calls; and on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and even MySpace; as well any other social media websites of which you can think.  

Get the word out by any and all means!  Please help make this go viral!

Let's counter, with this petition, the entire collection of secession petitions -- each with only a few thousand signatures on them -- with this one whopper of a petition that contains hundreds of thousands of signatures, and puts to rest the entire matter, once and for all, for the most honorable of reasons:  Not dishonoring that for which those who died in the Civil War so valiently fought.

Show the feckless knuckleheads on the Right what real organization looks like... because, apparently, last Tuesday night wasn't enough to convince them!  Let's drive-home this salient point!

Thank you, PoliticusUSA's Jason Easley, for reminding me of the "confederacy of poverty" phrase first used in Alameda, California's Argosy University newspaper, back in the 1970s; then repeated on the New Orleans The Times-Picayune's website; then used again, more recently, in Chuck D. Pierce's 2011 book, "Time to Defeat the Devil: Strategies to Win the Spiritual War."  The phrase has, of course, also been used by many others, many other times, for various reasons; but Jason's use of it in his piece, yesterday, reminded me of how good it is... and so I shamelessly used it in my petition!

Those who question my "three-quarter-million" (750,000) number of men who died in the Civil War, please read this.

Filmmaker Ken Burns has so often made the point, and he so deftly helped Americans to understand, as never before, with his stunningly magnificent "The Civil War" TV series -- first aired in 1990, and, to this day, the most-watched program in the history of PBS -- that the tentacles of that great war extend nearly 150 years to the present day; and affect the lives, still, of literally millions of Americans, and the very culture that is America's south.

The day after the election, on November 7th, the surprisingly-good little Sarasota, Florida Times-Herald newspaper wrote, on its editorial page:

Eventually, the disputes over voting will be settled and it will be time for the federal government, its elected officials and the American public to move on.

But will they?

The general election of 2012 not only presented Americans with a choice between two divergent views of governance; it targeted the public with an endless barrage of negativity and personal attacks. The character and veracity -- and more -- of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were intensely challenged by the opposition. What's more, the candidates in many congressional races tended to nationalize their elections by campaigning against the presidential nominees.

The United States has overcome such divisions before -- sometimes in the united response to a natural disaster or an enemy attack. We hope that it will not take the occurrence of some horrible event to rally bipartisan efforts and produce progress in this post-election era.

The stakes are high. The world remains dangerous and, at home, the federal deficit and debt -- and tax policies and social programs -- require thoughtful examination and bipartisan agreement on solutions. To be effective, those solutions will also need support from the American people.

A divided government of a divided people can push the system toward stalemate. But it can also force politicians and the public to make principled compromises for the common good.

As a nation, the choice after the election is between deadlock and positive action.

Indeed.  Well-said.  The new secessionists would appear to have chosen.  Shut them down with my petition.

Must-see TV:  Ken Burn's award-winning "The Civil War" series will be re-broadcast in 2013 on PBS, starting Sunday, April 3rd thru Thursday, April 7th, from 8:00 to 10:00 PM. Check your local listings for precise channels and times.  If you, or anyone in your family, hasn't yet seen it -- or even if you or they have -- it's well worth making a family appointment to gather in front of the TV, with snacks, for five consecutive nights of television that really and truly is best-of-breed.  Please watch!  I promise you won't regret it.

Thank you, one and all, for your help!

Peace.

Gregg DesElms
gregg at greggdeselms dot com