According to the news this morning, a bunch of disgruntled voters are in the process of gathering signatures so that Michigan and several other states can secede from the Union. I kid you not. Of course none of the big-name Republicans admit to being behind it.
As anyone from Michigan's Upper Peninsula can tell you, this is nothing new. The UP has been trying to secede from Michigan and even from the Union for decades. Probably ever since Washington awarded it to Michigan as a way of ending the Toledo War. Here, Ohio, you get Toledo. Here, Michigan, you get that pointy part of Wisconsin between Lake Superior and Michigan. Everybody happy now? Well. maybe the Ohioans. As for the two Michigans, it was not love at first sight. The Lower Peninsula groused about losing Toledo for a cold frozen land full of nothing (until they found copper and iron and other useful things up there) and the Yoopers, well, nobody asked them how they felt. And so it's been ever since. The only trouble is that the UP can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a state or a nation. Doesn't matter because neither one is going to happen.
I find this secession talk a bit ironic in light of Puerto Rico's finally having decided it would like to become a state. Uh--maybe you might want to rethink this. Are you sure you want to drag your island into all this?
In one respect it is amusing but in another respect it is not. I am sure that if you had asked the average American, north or south, about all that secession talk coming out of the southern states back in 1850 or even 1859 he or she would have said, oh, that's just big talk. Nothing's going to come of it. It's just a bunch of hot-heads. But we all know what happened in 1860 following the election of an unpopular President.
There were those who urged President Lincoln to just let "the erring sisters go peacefully" just as some are saying now. And maybe he might have listened had the South not fired on Fort Sumter. On the other hand, Lincoln had a vision for the United States and he knew that dividing it up would not be good for either North or South. Whether he was right or wrong, I don't know. But I tend to think he made the right decision to keep the nation together.
My father always said, "Don't talk loose." What is it exactly that these secession promoters hope to achieve? Sending Washington a message? They sent Washington a message in 1860 and we all know how that turned out. You'd better be careful what you ask for.
Do these people for one minute think that Washington is going to let 20 states quietly leave the Union? And if by chance, Washington did agree to this, what next? Even while it was fighting a war the Confederacy was in a hair's-breath of unraveling. There was dissention, there was bickering, there were threats of secession. In fact, that is how West Virginia came into being. It seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union.
Do these people have any plans for a government to replace the one they want to reject? Do they have any plans for an economy? Michigan sure can't go it alone--that's why the UP has never been able to gain statehood. It's economic.
At the time of the Civil War, there were several European countries that were keenly interested in the outcome of the war. Napoleon III had just put his puppet emperor Maximilian on the throne of Mexico and was casting greedy eyes on the American South. What countries are keenly interested in the breakup of the United States today? What do they want to gain by it? What about the Mexican drug cartels currently plaguing the bordertowns? Do you think they would sit back with folded arms? And what about Al-Quaida?
Yes, it's a joke, but it's a very scary joke. Remember, we are even more connected than the United States in 1860. It's easier for crazies of all stripes to get ahold of nasty things. And there seems to be a great deal of the "end justifies the means" mentality out there these days. This country seems to be more polarized than ever and that is not a good thing. They say history repeats itself. I hope to God they are wrong and that it will not come down to Red and Blue on the battlefield. I don't want to take sides. I love my country. I love my state. I don't want to see it tore up.
As anyone from Michigan's Upper Peninsula can tell you, this is nothing new. The UP has been trying to secede from Michigan and even from the Union for decades. Probably ever since Washington awarded it to Michigan as a way of ending the Toledo War. Here, Ohio, you get Toledo. Here, Michigan, you get that pointy part of Wisconsin between Lake Superior and Michigan. Everybody happy now? Well. maybe the Ohioans. As for the two Michigans, it was not love at first sight. The Lower Peninsula groused about losing Toledo for a cold frozen land full of nothing (until they found copper and iron and other useful things up there) and the Yoopers, well, nobody asked them how they felt. And so it's been ever since. The only trouble is that the UP can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a state or a nation. Doesn't matter because neither one is going to happen.
I find this secession talk a bit ironic in light of Puerto Rico's finally having decided it would like to become a state. Uh--maybe you might want to rethink this. Are you sure you want to drag your island into all this?
In one respect it is amusing but in another respect it is not. I am sure that if you had asked the average American, north or south, about all that secession talk coming out of the southern states back in 1850 or even 1859 he or she would have said, oh, that's just big talk. Nothing's going to come of it. It's just a bunch of hot-heads. But we all know what happened in 1860 following the election of an unpopular President.
There were those who urged President Lincoln to just let "the erring sisters go peacefully" just as some are saying now. And maybe he might have listened had the South not fired on Fort Sumter. On the other hand, Lincoln had a vision for the United States and he knew that dividing it up would not be good for either North or South. Whether he was right or wrong, I don't know. But I tend to think he made the right decision to keep the nation together.
My father always said, "Don't talk loose." What is it exactly that these secession promoters hope to achieve? Sending Washington a message? They sent Washington a message in 1860 and we all know how that turned out. You'd better be careful what you ask for.
Do these people for one minute think that Washington is going to let 20 states quietly leave the Union? And if by chance, Washington did agree to this, what next? Even while it was fighting a war the Confederacy was in a hair's-breath of unraveling. There was dissention, there was bickering, there were threats of secession. In fact, that is how West Virginia came into being. It seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union.
Do these people have any plans for a government to replace the one they want to reject? Do they have any plans for an economy? Michigan sure can't go it alone--that's why the UP has never been able to gain statehood. It's economic.
At the time of the Civil War, there were several European countries that were keenly interested in the outcome of the war. Napoleon III had just put his puppet emperor Maximilian on the throne of Mexico and was casting greedy eyes on the American South. What countries are keenly interested in the breakup of the United States today? What do they want to gain by it? What about the Mexican drug cartels currently plaguing the bordertowns? Do you think they would sit back with folded arms? And what about Al-Quaida?
Yes, it's a joke, but it's a very scary joke. Remember, we are even more connected than the United States in 1860. It's easier for crazies of all stripes to get ahold of nasty things. And there seems to be a great deal of the "end justifies the means" mentality out there these days. This country seems to be more polarized than ever and that is not a good thing. They say history repeats itself. I hope to God they are wrong and that it will not come down to Red and Blue on the battlefield. I don't want to take sides. I love my country. I love my state. I don't want to see it tore up.
