According to Ron Paul’s latest outburst of silliness, it is the American way to secede. Of course, it is not.
The American union to which the states agreed is perpetual. That union permits no divorce. It does not permit secession. When the states signed on, they signed on to a perpetual union. The states are not free to leave as they wish.
But you are. You can leave when and if you choose. If, after a cost/benefit analysis, you decide to stay, you are free to stay. If, after a cost/benefit analysis, you decide to go, you are free to go. But your state is not. That is not the statehood to which your state, or any state, consented. We fought a civil just to clarify the point. Ron Paul's side lost twice: at the ratification and at the clarification.
You can leave and not be part of the union. You can stay and be a part.
Make your choice.
But centuries after the fact, and more than a century after the bloody clarification, you cannot remake at will the conditions of statehood to which your state initially agreed. That game is over. That contract is signed. You can no more stay and be free from the union than you can go to Paris and be free from French law or from the Parisians. It’s a package deal, and that is the package. If you want to stay and be part of the American union, you are free to do so. If you want to leave and be free from the American union, you are free to do so. But you are not free to stay and be free from the American union.
And that is the American way.
Again, make your choice.
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