• Many states believe U.S. federal government so mismanaged, secession only option for future prosperity
By Pete Papaherakles
Washington has been flooded with petitions by a rapidly growing number of states moving to peacefully secede from the United States. Since the first online petition came in from Louisiana the day after the presidential election, 49 states have now followed suit as of November 15.
Most of these petitions read like this:
Peacefully grant the state of __________ to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own new government. As the founding fathers of the United States of America made clear in the Declaration of Independence in 1776: “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. . . .Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and institute new government.”
Louisiana was the first state to file a petition, a day after the election. Texas was the next state to follow suit.
The government allows one month from the day the petition is submitted to obtain 25K signatures in order for the Obama administration to consider the request. The White House website, however, states that “if a petition meets the signature threshold, it will be reviewed by the administration, and we will issue a response.”
As of November 15, Texas had collected a staggering 109K signatures, and the numbers are rising rapidly. The Texas petition reads as follows:
The U.S. continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government’s neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending. The citizens of the U.S. suffer from blatant abuses of their rights such as the NDAA, the TSA etc. Given that the state of Texas maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th largest economy in the world, it is practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union, and to do so would protect its citizens’ standard of living and re-secure their rights and liberties in accordance with the original ideas and beliefs of our founding fathers which are no longer being reflected by the federal government.
Texas Governor Rick Perry stated that he does not stand behind a petition for secession.
Louisiana has collected over 35K signatures. Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee also surpassed the 35K needed only within a week. South Carolina, Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri, Arizona, Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana are also poised to reach that mark soon. A dozen more states are picking up thousands of petitions daily. Total signatures now top 675K.
Peter Papaherakles, a U.S. citizen since 1986, was born in Greece. He is AFP’s outreach director. If you would like to see AFP speakers at your rally, contact Pete at 202-544-5977.
