Secession NOW!
Dave Ridley of the Ridley Report has put out a press release announcing a secessionist “DC-out-of-NH” protest scheduled for Sunday evening, June 26th at 6pm at the Norris Cotton federal building at 275 Chestnut St. in Manchester. A litter pickup will be happening in the immediate area from 5-6p with the protest starting at 6pm. He says supporters of the Foundation for NH Independence or NH autonomy in general are welcome to attend. He’s made an event for it on facebook here. Here’s Ridley’s explanation as to the motivations of the event:
During the last seven decades, New Hampshire has suffered over a dozen wasteful, sadistic DC administrations. Each have misruled and weakened us from their distant swamp, providing taxation in return for little more than a pretense of representation. Not one of these has left office with a smaller government than it inherited. Accountable in name only, Washington has used our money to undertake abuses ranging from medievalist torture chambers in Afghanistan to the confiscation of lawfully borne firearms in New Orleans. They have turned our rivers orange and seas black. More recently and locally, they have arrested or helped prosecute various edgy-but-harmless New Hampshirites…from the colorful pot guru Rich Paul to Rochester Bundy supporter Jerry DeLemus.
Now, we face the specter of domination by one of two tyrants, either full of ominous promise, both positioned to be uniquely authoritarian figures in our history. It’s time to discuss an “outside the box” alternative, one that does not hope to fix or operate upon the rotted Federal system…one which, rather, harnesses that rot as a source of fuel for escape. Independence from the U.S. is a contentious concept, but its chances of eventual success seem better than those of the hapless third parties and liberty PACs. Reuters reports that 24% of Americans already want their states to leave the union.
There’s no good reason for NH to remain inside the Federal Titanic. The bad reason most commonly cited is usually something along the lines of “they’ll hurt you.” There’s truth in this, but threats and fear of retaliation are reasons for us to leave, not reasons to stay. And the path to independence is not necessarily complex. It is already underway. In 2012, the NH State House passed HR25…which reads:
“…all compulsory federal legislation that directs States to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires States to pass legislation or lose federal funding are prohibited.”
Washington is in continual violation of at least the spirit of this resolution; Fed funding/withholding is at the core of its control over states. So some of us would like state reps to take the next step, perhaps drawing up a declaration of independence or simple bill that would peaceably end Washington rule here. This would need to be submitted multiple times before winning. But it’s the move which strikes at the root, rather than the branches, of the misrule we suffer. Even in “failure to pass,” independence drives partially succeed. Scotland and Quebec are treated more cautiously by their central governments because they have strong (technically unsuccessful) autonomy movements. London and Ottawa hesitate to commit abuses in those areas for fear the restless provinces will become breakaway nations. Developments in the U.S. Federal system are a reminder: If we want to be treated cautiously, we need a growing independence movement here as well.
