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So Your State Has Threatened To Secede...
So Your State Has Threatened To Secede... We've been hearing since we were , "America. Love it or leave it." In 2004, many took that to heart and petitioned Canada in hopes of immigration. However, this time around, with the fear mongering that has continued thanks to outlets such as Faux News, entire states are threatening to leave. A few months ago, the Georgia Senate voted 43-1 to threaten to secede, as they feel their rights to free speech are being threatened all of the sudden. I guess they were asleep the previous eight years, as all but the fourth amendment was being eaten away at. There has been a similar vote here in Oklahoma. But this is where the Wild West meets Ozzie and Harriet, while ignoring the fact Ricky Nelson grew up to be a cocaine snorting wife abuser. But hey, if he beat his wife, the bitch deserved it. That is the typical Okie mindset. Not to mention we have Sally Kern, who makes Katherine Harris and Rick Santorum look like they were sane. Nuff said. But of all the threats, Texas keeps threatening. Well, Governor Rick Perry, at any rate. One second he's threatening, the next he's saying "lead, not secede," and then there are murmurs that he is threatening yet again. Now, I've always thought Texas was another country to begin with. No offense to any Texans here, but you've got to admit, Texas is unique. Now, secession sounds great to the teabaggers. (Did they even think about that term before they came up with it?) No more Obama, no more Liberals, God will be free to roam the land. Guns for everyone, God in schools, a right wing government for all, with a perfect theocracy. So what if your government ends up looking like Iran's when you're done? It's not the same thing! They worship the wrong Abrahamic god! Well, I've decided to write a little guide for secession. Sure, it might sound good, but there's a lot to it that you probably haven't thought about. First, you have to have your own currency and the gold to back up the value. So as a resident, get your money out of any state owned banks and into a United States bank. The value of your dollar isn't going to be worth much to start. United States currency will be valued, if you have any left, just as it gets you further to use US dollars in Mexico. But you will have to set up currency exchanges and have the GNP and gold to back up your currency. And, you're going to have to think up a name for your currency. It is not as easy as just minting your own money. I mean, Confederate dollars might fetch big bucks as collector's items now, but those Southerners who found themselves with nothing but Confederate dollars after the Civil War were kind of out of luck financially. A bar of soap by the end of the Civil War cost $50 in Confederate currency, it was so worthless. So have the gold to back up your currency. So if you're a resident of a state that is serious about secession, hide it somewhere. Governments do have the legal right to seize your gold to back up their currency. You're also going to need your own postal service. You will no longer be part of the United States, so the USPS is no longer obliged to have offices in every town in your new country. Which means you have to pick up the tab for postal workers who decide to stay, instead of immigrating to the United States to protect their pensions. You will have to come up with rates for stamps, packages, etc. You're going to have to hire people who know what they're doing, so you're going to have to pay them a living wage too. So the price of a stamp will probably go up in your new country. You will also need postal inspectors for all those packages that are arriving from outside of the country, figure out the duties for things ordered from outside the country, such as Amazon. It is no longer domestic shipping on your orders either, you now have to pay extra shipping charges and you are responsible for the duties on anything you order, just the way you are if you order something from Canada now. Even if it's from that popular auction site. Next, you're going to need a passport to leave your new country. You are no longer a resident of the United States. You might not even be a citizen anymore, considering how hardline the secession is. If you declare yourself a citizen of your new country, you're going to need your new country's passport. Even if you are allowed to travel on your old United States passport, you're going to want to use your new country's passport, as you will want to support your new government and a good way to do that is through the revenue raised through these new passports. With the passports and now being a new country, you are going to need your own border guards. Using Texas as an example, well, no more United States border guards to patrol the border with Mexico. You will be on your own, as you are no longer part of the United States. So, you will have to patrol not only the Mexican border on your own, but the borders with Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana. All those highways and secondary roads are going to have to be watched. People will have to be stopped at the border, their passports stamped, etc. It's going to be a massive traffic jam. Now, you're going to need your own military. Army, Navy, Air Force at the very least. Mexico might see your secession as a chance to reclaim the state from the people who stole it. Or do you not remember the Alamo? Santa Anna won, if you forget. It was not a victory for Texas in any way, shape or form. Sam Houston had his troops retreat when word came down. The so-called war on drugs? You're on your own. Of course, with the new border patrols, far less Oklahoma meth is going to make it into Texas, right? Well, maybe. You're going to be cash strapped with all these new borders to patrol and let's face it, you can't stop Mexicans from swimming the Rio Grande and getting into the state. So forget the DEA helping you out here. You already know you're a shipping route between Mexico and the Midwest for marijuana. You're not doing a great job of keeping it out of the country as it is. Next, let's discuss imports and exports. Just about everything is going to be an import now and governments all have tariffs and duties on imports. Yours, in it's need to raise revenue will be no different. So that 50c candy bar is going to go up in price, as now it is an imported good. Clothing is going to be more expensive. Your guns and ammo are going to be more expensive too. Except for Derringers, as they are made in Texas. Just about everything is going to be more expensive. Because it will all have those tariffs and duties. Pray the United States is still willing to import your beef, which means you'd best not have even one case of Mad Cow, or they will cut you off as a beef exporter. You're going to have to give the oil companies a cherry deal for them to stay in Texas. Because they get nice deals from the federal government and have lots of lobbyists in Washington. Think they're going to give up all those years of work in D.C.? They're going to want United States headquarters, so they can still get those sweet, sweet deals, instead of having to deal with imports and exports. All those refineries are now in danger of being moved to the United States. Next, Social Security. You're going to have to come up with some way to take care of your elderly, because once you live outside the United States for six months, you are no longer eligible to collect. They cannot be started again until you return to the United States and stay for an entire calendar month. I do mean from the instant the clock hits midnight to start the first, until the click ticks off midnight to end the last day of the month. This also applies to who are collecting a dead parent's Social Security. So, if you're a Texas widow or widower with relying on that money for your in any way, you might want to move. To even get your check outside of the United States, the Social Security Administration is going to have to strike a deal with the new country Texas becomes. You can also say goodbye to Medicare and Medicaid. So if you're elderly or poor, you'd better not get sick. Ever. Medicare and Medicaid do NOT apply outside of the United States. So all your elderly who need oxygen, dialysis, operations... You're going to have to think up something for them, as they will no longer have health insurance. Speaking of insurance, just as with other corporations, companies are going to have to decide on if they want to do business in your new country. What are the new regulations going to to be? What sort of tax breaks are you going to give them to stay in business in your new country? Now, in a state the size of Texas, there will be a permanent population, which is a requirement. The state government is already in place. The territory is defined. Which leads to the good neighbor clause. Ever hear of the Montevideo Convention? No? You might want to study up on it. It has those four conditions if you want to form a country that is recognized as legitimate in the international community. The good neighbor clause, as it is called, says you are able to interact with other countries like adults. Instead of continuing to perpetuate the childish nature of the teabag crowd. Unless of course, you join the United Nations. Then you can fight in chambers and be as much of an unruly spoiled brat as you want. Now, you are no longer getting federal dollars from the United States government. "Cool," you're thinking to yourself, "no more federal income tax!" Not so fast there, Skippy. No federal dollars means no more federal dollars for police, schools, natural disasters, construction, fire fighters, road construction and repair and a host of other things. Which means, that money has to come from somewhere. Watch your property taxes skyrocket as they are used to find schools, police and libraries. Your state tax is now your country tax. So you're going to see the sales tax go up and... You will now most likely discover they will have to institute a Texas income tax. They are going to have to recoup the lost federal funding somehow. Remember what Katrina did to the oil refineries in Galveston? You are now responsible for rebuilding after your own disasters. And remember, that wasn't nearly as bad as the storm that hit in 1900. So you will have to pray that hurricanes stop hitting your state. Now, let's turn back to crime. Texas has at least 10 federal prisons. Prisons are big business in Texas. You even have a federal Supermax prison. Well, say goodbye to all the jobs and to the prisons. Those are federal prisoners. So they're going back to the United States, they're not going to be staying in the new country of Texas. Think the Beaumont area is going to be able to stand that blow? The poverty level in Port Arthur is going to rise even higher than 25% when that Supermax is gone. But that poverty is going to be getting worse, as no while your Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are going to be gone, so will Welfare, food stamps, home energy assistance... All of these are federal programs and many low income families would starve to death without food stamps. Not to mention die of hypothermia in winter without home energy assistance. So your new country is going to have to figure out how to take care of their elderly and their poor. Hey, remember the 70% tax bracket that we used to have in this country? You just might be bringing it back! These have just been the major points in forming your own country. There are many other things to consider, such as censorship and various laws. But one thing is certain. Your tax burden is going to go up in a big way, as you will suddenly be responsible for your own people. After a few years of this, you're going to wonder why you bothered. That is, if you haven't moved to protect your federal benefits, that you feel you're entitled to, but other people aren't. That is, if the United States allows you to immigrate. Move to Oklahoma without following proper immigration law and you're suddenly going to find yourself... An illegal immigrant. Funny how that works, isn't it? |
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No offence to anyone in Georgia, but there's something really pathetic about a parliament voting to threaten to secede. It sounds like the very definition of an empty threat. Now if you pass a motion that says "We will secede if A, B and C don't happen" and A, B and C are clearly defined (and to be honest, I haven't done any research into what the Georgia senate have passed so maybe this is what they did?), then that's clearly a meaningful threat. But if it's just a vague windbag motion that wouldn't compell the state to go through with it...
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Great post, Miss Ann! Remember what Katrina did to the oil refineries in Galveston? You are now responsible for rebuilding after your own disasters. And remember, that wasn't nearly as bad as the storm that hit in 1900. So you will have to pray that hurricanes stop hitting your state. I remember what Katrina did as well as Ike and Rita and I even have a faint recollection of Alicia (1983). But it's those slow-moving tropical storms like Allison (especially Allison) that can cause the worst damage. If we were to secede, we'd really be fucked for that and for all of your other reasons. Secessionists. What a bunch of idiots. The Civil War: History books say it was from 1861 to '65, but it really started before the ink was dry on the Constitution, and it still hasn't quite ended (at least not where I live). The next presidential election will be in the middle of its Sesquicentennial--exactly 150 years after Shiloh, 2nd Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg and Stones River. Some of the most ardent and bitter right wingers I've met recently, though, have moved here from the North--both the Midwest and the Northeast. What gives me hope is that there are still two kinds of Southerners. I'm from the Jim Hightower school. Here's what has always fascinated me: The demarcations of issues and sentiments of the Civil War were much fuzzier/more nonlinear than the typical cracker-assed, moonlight-and-magnolia crowd would have you believe. (just an aside--I always found it both telling and amusing that the first nation to recognize the Confederacy's sovereignty was the Vatican.) Back to my point: There were large segments of Texas that were Pro-Union; Texas even had its own Union cavalry. East Tennessee was largely Pro-Union as were portions of Virginia. In fact all of the Confederate states had many Pro-Unionist regions, some of them quite large. Even the besieged town of Vicksburg had a large Pro-Union segment. (Strange that Pemberton, the Confederate general defending that town was from Pennsylvania). And the best, if not one of the best, Union generals was a Virginia man: George H. Thomas--the Rock of Chickamauga. (kind of ironic that he narrowly escaped getting killed by Nat Turner or his freedom fighters in 1831--he was 15 at the time). When he was a kid, George hung out in the slave quarters and taught the slave kids whatever he learned in school--a big no-no in antebellum days. So it seems--and this is just a gut hunch--that the South may be more Southern (if you know what I mean) now than it's ever been before--certainly more so than in the 1860s. Now about those teabaggers-- I cringe every time I hear the word teabaggers. The crap that's taught in public schools is bad enough without the cons and Corporate Disinformation Media (CDM--that's my new term; like it?) rewriting history--from our so-called Christian nation as supposedly defined by the founding fathers to--gag--the golden age of Reagan. The Boston Tea Party was not a protest against a tax increase on tea; it was a protest against a tax decrease. The Tea Act of 1773 both lowered the price on tea itself as well as the duty on it–undercutting the cost of smuggled tea. Parliament thought this was going to please the colonists even though the act was not really passed to help them; it was passed to help the floundering English East India Company (EIC), a company on the brink of bankruptcy. The EIC, who was about to have a monopoly on tea importation, would cut its costs by shipping the tea directly to the colonists rather than stopping by London first (the original route). Problem: The ships that would otherwise transport the tea from London were American ships, that is, ships owned by the colonists. American shipping was just about to lose some serious money. But that’s not all!: The reduction of the tax on tea would allow for the sort of free- market maneuvering practiced by today’s big box stores [especially Wal-mart ]. The EIC cut some special deals with a select few retailers, that is, the only ones allowed to sell their tea, and these select merchants could sell tea at a much lower cost than a large number of other merchants. So, naturally these excluded, low-balled colonial merchants who would have otherwise supported the Crown got really pissed. And it was they (who ultimately preferred higher, not lower, taxes on tea) who donned the cheesy Indian garb and heaved crates of the stuff overboard. Sure, it was ultimately about taxation without representation, but I wonder how many of these latter-day-tea-partying-types know that the preference was really for a higher tax. John Lee Hooker Recommended: [blog lucyjane78]
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9/11/2009 5:04 pm |
Written with your usual briliance and wit. Outstanding post MissAnn. Outstanding. Recent post: [post 2369941]
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I love it!!!! What a way to re-enter blogland ... finding a post like that from you! Brilliant! LOL, you are spectacular darling, simply spectacular. ~Standing ovation for MissAnn~
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Ms Ann.. with all due respect , being born and raised in Oklahoma I say if you don't like it just leave . I'm not a wife beating meth head and to lump all of us "Okies" into your own little private tiraid is so eastern liberal . By the way our gold standard no longer exists thanks to Mr. borrow it from China so our grandchildren can pay back a 12 trillion dollar debt Oboma. I for one think instead of secession every politician should be held to short term limits this would make them act for the people that elect them and not about how can I get more money to keep my job
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They still have 50 cent candy bars? People in the US have it so good, we just don't know a good thing when we experience it. Everyone is screaming that we're lacking in someway. We have bad health care, corrupt government officials, our schools are bad, government is too broad, too controlling, too big brother. All I can say to that is... visit a 3rd world country and get back to me.
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9/12/2009 8:43 am |
Amazing how the rabid rightwingers have only recently discovered that the federal government is too big and too corrupt and too ... well, downright evil. Amazing how forgiving they were when Dubya & Co. failed to prevent 9/11, and then failed to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Amazing how they just shrugged it off when the economy went into a tailspin and damn near crashed, and how tolerant they were when Dubya & Co. rushed in to bail out their Wall Street puppet masters. Ah, but now that we have a racist, terrorist, Muslim, liberal, black man in the Oval Office, well, the sky is just falling on their reactionary parade. Oh, I forgot to mention that, according to such intellectuals as Sarah Palin, der Fuhrer Barack O'Hitler is going to use the "Death Panels" to euthanize old farts and therefore save money on Social Security payments. So add "genocidal" to Obama's resume. Seriously, my esteemed colleagues on the right, would you just calm down and take a few deep breaths? Comparing Obama to Hitler is way beyond stupid. I mean, how many Jews has Obama exterminated in nine months in office? How many countries has he invaded? Okay, so he is pro-choice regarding abortion, but then Hitler was staunchly anti-abortion, so even that comparison doesn't hold. Repeat after me: Obama is not Hitler. Dubya wasn't Hitler. Hell, even Saddam Hussein wasn't Hitler. Sorry to interrupt your paranoid wet dreams, Mr. Beck, Mr. Limbaugh, Mr. Savage, Gov. Sanford, Sen. Vitter, etc., etc., ad nauseum, but Obama isn't going to take away your surrogate penises, or your wives and daughters and mistresses, or murder grandma and grandpa in their sleep. The American Empire will fall someday (as all empires do) but it won't be because we gave women the vote, or legalized contraceptives and abortion, or banned church services in public schools. There are enough issues of import that we should be debating; let's stop wasting time on this sort of drivel. Miss Ann Thrope, thank you for your rational and entertaining comments about an increasingly irrational segment of our populace. Long may you write.
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9/12/2009 2:17 pm |
I figure that Michigan has been expelled from the rest of the country and nobody has said anything about it yet. It all started when Detroit was separated from the rest of the state (defacto) and it just snowballed out of control.
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9/13/2009 10:01 am |
Seems to me the question of secession was raised and definitely answered by the American civil war. The answer being, It's a one way path, you can enter but you can never leave. Once a state of the union, you can't leave. The reason the south decided to secede was that they clearly saw they were going to be out-voted and would not get their way on slavery, so they decided to take their ball and go home. However, the rallying cry from the north in response to this was not, "abolish slavery" or "subdue the south so we can abolish slavery there". It was instead, "Preserve the union!" Miss Ann, you point out many of the details to be taken into account in forming a country and you talk about taxes going up to cover it. How 'bout some statistics on net flow of Fed tax dollars. Some states pay in more than they get back, others pay in less than they get back. It has been my understanding, but I would like to see the numbers, that urban states tend to pay in more than they get back - in other words, the liberal urban states pay more taxes to subsidize things such as rural postal service, phone service, etc. So if Texas chooses to secede, the question is will they need to pay more taxes than they pay now, to make up for lost subsidies, or will they get to pay less because they are already subsidizing other parts of the U.S. And a little note to Chip: Not sure if you meant to imply the Obama had taken us off the gold standard (your post sounded that way), but we have been on a floating currency valuation for years in which gold has little to do with it.
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The short answer is that the US would not let them go. Recall that little episode called the Civil War, which the South likes to rename as the War of Northern Aggression, or the War between the States. Apparently the secessionists don't do a lot of reading of history. Even Quebec noticed that secession would destroy their economy and wised up. Texas will figure it out, eventually...
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Teabaggers always makes me laugh because I always think of the sexual slang meaning of the term!
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Hmmmm.... ***Scratches blond head*** The Swedish Angel What are we reading Those that makes me go hmmmmm
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9/19/2009 4:52 pm |
The US could always sell the offending states to China in settlement of its sovereign debt. Recent post: [post 2369941]
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Actually FDR took the US off the gold standard, when he invalidated Gold clauses in contracts. The silver was removed from backing US currency in 1964 when the US stopped having silver certificates redeemable for silver dollars.
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aloha.... it has been a long, long time since we have chatted... almost since you left joisey.... still on the northshore of maui, so, someday, do cum for a visit sometime.... aloha....
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