As rational adults, when something we do not like happens, should we really have the attitude of “I am taking my toys and going home?” The fact that there are all these petitions out there from various states that have some residents who wish to secede from the union because President Barack Obama was reelected seems a little over the top to me. Do we as American citizens have the right to petition our government? Yes. Do we have the right to free speech and to say how we feel about the 2012 election results? Yes. But what are we really accomplishing by petitioning the government to let us secede? Nothing! When each petition gets to the 25,000 signatures that require the federal government to formally respond, the government will issue a polite but resounding NO YOU CAN NOT SECEDE. This precedent was established in the mid-1800s in a little event you may have heard of, The Civil War, which was not fought over slavery as many believe, but rather the right of a state or group of states to secede from the union.
I don’t like the results of the election, I did not get the president I voted for, but I am not going to waste my time whining about it. I can think of many more productive uses of my time, such as looking in to campaign reform. We as a nation spent $6 billion to have the same president and the same majorities in Congress. To me that is wasteful and unproductive. Limit campaign spending so everyone has the same potential to reach the masses. Limit the time a candidate can campaign, say, to six weeks prior to the election and you have already taken two steps to vastly improve the system.
Blue states. Red states. I see a lot of division in our country. We get so polarized by our differences that we are blinded to the things we have in common, things we could use as a starting point toward working together. The members of our government should be working for the good of our nation and its people as a whole, not the betterment of a select few who through campaign contributions can hold sway in elections. Until we as a nation wake up and see we must work together for the good of the masses, nothing will ever change. Every four years the red states or blue states that did not get the election results they wanted will file their petitions, attempting to “take their toys and go home,” and the only result will be a collection of states that becomes more polarized and less united.
Day Scovel
Kalispell