‘Secession is a deeply American principle’

[Corp]

So then if some states break off does this mean America's economy will boom and they'll take over half of Africa?

[Drayno]

So then if some states break off does this mean America's economy will boom and they'll take over half of Africa?

A giant game of risk.

[Startraveler]

It remains to be seen what will happen in states that are refusing to comply with the deeply unpopular mandates of Obamacare by not setting up healthcare exchanges. It appears the Federal government will not respect those decisions either.

That's their prerogative. States get dibs on customizing and taking responsibility for their new marketplaces but they're not required to do so. But the law provides that the state's ultimate decision doesn't deprive its residents of access to new competitive marketplaces for insurance. If states don't want to set up an exchange, the federal government will set up one for its residents.

So states aren't really deciding whether an exchange will exist or not, they're deciding whether they want to take ownership of the exchange or hand it off to the federal government. Which leads to some interesting ideological cleavages on the right between those who generally favor state authority over federal authority vs. those who dislike Obamacare so much that they advocate turning the states' exchanges over to the feds.

Edited November 23, 2012 by Startraveler

[ninjadude]

Star, I wish some of the "LOL another state decides not to participate in Obamacare" zealots would actually read what you wrote. I know they wont.

[Wickian]

While I don't think the U.S. splitting up under any circumstances would be good in any way, the option should always be available.

[darkmoonlady]

it's all sour grapes and bu**hurt. Theoretically if you stay affiliated with one party you're going to spend segments of your life under the administration of Presidents you don't agree with. That is what America is about. You're free to leave and move to another country if you so choose or you could have some common sense and just wait for the political pendulum to swing the other way (which it always does).

[acidhead]

it's all sour grapes and bu**hurt. Theoretically if you stay affiliated with one party you're going to spend segments of your life under the administration of Presidents you don't agree with. That is what America is about. You're free to leave and move to another country if you so choose or you could have some common sense and just wait for the political pendulum to swing the other way (which it always does).

How does that cool-aid taste?

[WoIverine]

How does that cool-aid taste?

It could either taste like aspartame or high fructose corn syrup, with a smidgen of left right paradigm to add extra iron-y.

[Drayno]

How does that cool-aid taste?

It tastes pretty liberal.

[darkmoonlady]

How is understanding that politics and peoples opinions sway with the years liberal and "drinking the kool-aid"? This isn't the conspiracy forum it's politics. Just like I said the political landscape changes, and a party on the downward spiral can be on the upward spiral in four or more years. The Reagan-Bush years it was 12 years of Republicans in the White House, just as with Clinton it was eight. Saying you wish to remove your state from the Union simply because you do not like who was elected President (by a voting majority btw) is sour grapes. Part of being in the US is accepting the way the political system works. I think it's completely silly that some would want to take their state completely out of the union. We settled this in the Civil War, which was the impetus for the creation of the Pledge of Allegiance and the idea of ONE NATION under god. Everyone wants to put the importance of that on the god part but really it was to get out the message that the nation would no longer be fractured and would always be a united force.

No one who is calling to secede seems to have the ability to reconcile that with the history of our country and how just plain silly their mentality is. If you don't like the direction the country is going in, work to change it. Don't just pack up your stuff and stomp off angry and want to take your state out of the union.

[Corp]

A commonly held view is that both the Dems and the GOP are in fact one single party designed to fool Americans into thinking they have a choice. That all politicians take orders from some shadowy group out to ruin lives, expect for Ron Paul who's as pure as new snow. Thus pointing out that people do actually vote for different parties at different periods is seen as "drinking the kool-aid".

[acidhead]

A commonly held view is that both the Dems and the GOP are in fact one single party designed to fool Americans into thinking they have a choice. That all politicians take orders from some shadowy group out to ruin lives, expect for Ron Paul who's as pure as new snow. Thus pointing out that people do actually vote for different parties at different periods is seen as "drinking the kool-aid".

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy.

- Carrol Quigley