In “Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg’s new movie about the nation’s 16th President, there are several scenes with a bellicose Fernando Wood, a representative from New York, roaring against the 13th Amendment that would end slavery.
Before becoming a representative Wood was the mayor of New York City during the Civil War and was determined to have the city secede from the Union. If he had succeeded it would have put him cahoots with Alexander Stephens and Jefferson Davis, the vice president and president, respectively, of Confederate States of America (CFA).
Ultimately the Confederates were defeated, as we all know, and the secessionist movement was iced. Or was it?
Not so, if an online petition effort gets its way.
According to an article from The Daily Paul, a website apparently affiliated with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, more than forty states have launched petitions to secede from the United States, including some signatories from New York.
Obviously, Texas is in the forefront and has cast the die, so to speak, and this is how its petition reads:
“The US continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government’s neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending. The citizens of the US suffer from blatant abuses of their rights such as the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act], 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 it’s 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.”
At the core of this initiative is a declaration of a pox on both parties, indicating that more than 90 million people didn’t vote; that some 63 million voted for President Obama and some 60 million didn’t.
As of Tuesday, according to the latest reports, nearly 600,000 people had signed the online petitions, and the promoters believe that even more will join the crusade once it’s more widely circulated.
But if the past is prologue, there is little hope that secession will succeed.
