[peaceandlove]

SECESSION? WE'RE ALREADY ON OUR OWN

By Jim Hogue
Thursday, 12 March 2009

[For those who question the wisdom of secession from the United States, it is not so much a question of making a decision to secede but preparing for the disintegration of the Union as a result of unprecedented eventualities in the areas of economics, energy, and environment. While some prefer secession and would gladly embrace it today, all inhabitants of the United States may discover the choice being made for them by realities outside their control or volition. Beautifully, and articulately, Jim Hogue tells us why we must be prepared for that possibiity. The full title of this article is "Bursting Our Bubblles: The Theft of Our Common Wealth, The Collapse of The United States.--CB]

Jim Hogue is an actor who portrays Ethan Allen. He operates a small farm in Calais, Vermont, has a weekly radio program on WGDR, and works with Vermonters for Voting Integrity.

Jim Hogue's recent radio interview with Richard Cook served as a springboard for this feature article.

Excerpt:

The UNTied States considered

It may not be a matter of secession. It may be a matter of surviving when all else has fallen apart.

What is left of the United States of America? Retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski called it a rotting corpse. Our president called it the greatest country in the world.

Whatever it is – whatever any country is at a given time in history – it is an agreement. This agreement is a fluid, mutable organism that makes its place among other mutable organisms on Planet Earth. Where there is a lack of agreement – say, between South Ossetia and Georgia, Palestine and Israel, Ireland and England, East Timor and Indonesia, Vermont and New York – there is conflict. This conflict has to do with whether or not the people within certain geographic boundaries should be sovereign, and how sovereign they should be. After all, some countries are more sovereign than others.

What is the agreement among us, and among the countries of the world, as to the nature of that political entity, that place, that military force, that economy, that corporation known as the United States?

Maybe the words “United States” are just words used to perpetuate a fiction that this land between the oceans and beyond is something other than what it really is.

Over the last 30 years, those in real power have built a criminal network whose goal has been to destroy the previous agreements that defined the United States. They have crossed the lines of gentlemanly, diplomatic, wise, productive, legal, reasonable, and patriotic policies to such an extent that, today, the world is reeling from the coup. Their success has eclipsed all the feeble attempts to impede it or to construct alternatives. And they have accomplished all this in the last few years in open defiance of the law and all principles of accepted governance. They have changed the political environment to such an extent that what we call the United States is a ghost. To those who now exercise the reigns of power, we the people are sources of money or labor or cannon fodder.

They have stolen our prosperity. They have taken the franchise from millions of our citizens and abrogated the rights guaranteed by our Constitution. In the name of security they have sacrificed our soldiers for their own gain. They discourage fruitful enterprise and commerce on any terms but their own. They do not befriend other nations. They bully and insult them. They do not strive for peace. They create enemies, real and imaginary. They are not stewards of our land and heritage. They are exploiters. They are not public-spirited or even patriotic, as they have stronger allegiances abroad than they do at home.

They do not protect. They attack. They are not committed to the well-being of the people because they must enrich the few who stride the globe like a colossus.

What next? (Secede from what?)

What next? Our preparations need not focus in secession, but rather on local agriculture and sources of energy, diplomacy, sustainability, productive labor, a healthy environment, carbon sequestering and soil building, local/complementary currencies, transportation and infrastructure after Peak Oil, and a host of other efforts that communities should do together. These are the sources of sovereignty. Sovereignty is their offspring. And such sovereignty as is not supported by them will not stand, but will be consumed by the greed and terror of those we seek to leave behind.

We must be prepared if we are to go it alone.

The federal government has proved that it has no interest or ability to help us or to keep us safe. If we think that it has or ever will again, we might as well believe in the tooth fairy.

We are already on our own.

Complete article: http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1020/1/