The following is a letter to the editor that appeared in the May 10, 2009 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Oh, those goofy ideas
In Kevin Horrigan's translation of Texas to non-Texans, "Secession: The Texas governor has a goofy idea. So what's new?" (May 3), the only discernible dialect was one of snobbery.
Mr. Horrigan mocks Texan customs and seems to believe that Texans are "goofy" for thinking that they have the right to secede from the Union. Does he consider New Englanders in 1814 "goofy" for calling a convention to discuss secession because of their opposition to the War of 1812?
What about the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, authored by the "goofs" Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, that declared that the states were not compelled to authorize unconstitutional laws and could leave the voluntary union as a last resort?
The 13 colonies seceded forcefully from the British empire. According to Mr. Horrigan's description of Texans curious about secession, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton were superstitious knuckle-draggers.
What kind of Union is it, whether it is a nation or anything else, that says you can join voluntarily but not leave voluntarily? Sounds more like the mafia than liberty. Besides, if states do not have any sort of authority or check of power over the federal government, then why even bother having states at all?
Mr. Horrigan used one great American tradition, the free press, to stomp on another great American tradition, the right of secession.
Carl Wicklander
Nashville, IL
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4 comments:
Please forgive me for my ,humanistic? view here Carl. Since we fought a war over secession 150 years ago, talk of it since then seems pretty goofy my friend. I've always admired your writing and intellectual skill, but to defend a states right to leave the Union doesn't look like a cause worth losing a reputation over.
Many of us outside of Texas applaud talk of Texas secession. We consider it addition by subtraction.
From the JFK assassination, through the LBJ presidency, and the disasters that were the Bush Sr. and Jr. administrations it has become clear that for the past half-century Texas has been curse upon the remaining 49 states. The United States would be well rid of Texas.
I know I speak for many Americans when I ask Texans to stop talking about secession and just leave already. And, if there is anything I can do to help them go, they need only ask.
Thanks for your concern about my reputation, Truth.
To be honest, I probably would have chuckled at secession as recently as 2006. I started questioning the "official" version of history that says there is no right of secession. Since then I have rejected the notion that simply because events worked out one way doesn't mean they should have been that way.
In my other work, I said that just because the Bush administration got away with torture doesn't mean it is legal. Officially it is illegal, yet they got away with it. Following the logic used that says secession is a crock because it didn't work also says that torture is legal because it took place.
Just some food for thought. Thanks for checking in.
Carl: seeing who is using the secession issue shows it is another strawman. Rick Perry and others are using this because everything else thrown at democrats is failing. So now it's secession and the Tenth Amendment. Of course all these politicos will be lining up at the troft for federal dollars. The hypocrisy of some of the legislatures in these states that are making an issue of this, like Mississippi, get far more federal funds than they pay in.
This bears further interest just to see what these people will be willing to say to keep the egg off their faces. Rick Perry has backed himself into this. Not unlike Obama backing himself into a few things with his mouth during the primaries.
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