Radical Right Joins in Secession Frenzy
Hundreds of thousands of disgruntled conservatives, still smarting from the re-election of President Obama last week, are signing petitions to allow more than 30 states to secede from the United States 鈥� and they are being joined by a motley collection of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Klan sympathizers.
As of midday today, eight of the petitions, which are being posted on a government website set up to encourage citizen participation, have crossed the threshold of 25,000 signatures required to prompt a guaranteed official reply from the White House. (The states are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, the state with the most signers.) But the petitions carry no legal weight at all, and almost no one anywhere on the political spectrum expects them to result in anything more than a collective blowing off of right-wing steam.
Still, that hasn鈥檛 stopped the denizens of , a huge white nationalist Web forum run by a , from enthusiastically embracing the cause. Starting last Saturday, a large number of comment threads began appearing on the site that encouraged the radical right to join in on the fun.
Of course, the discourse on the forum has that special Stormfront kind of feel 鈥� which is to say, the underlying concern of most participants there is how to create a country, or perhaps countries, that is all, or at least mostly, white.
鈥淲e would be better off using all of our strength to secede 80% white states,鈥� wrote 鈥淢attwhiteAmerica鈥� in one of more than a dozen threads discussing secession. 鈥淎 state like Texas, LA, MISS, AL, CA etc are going to need a good old fashion [sic] war to remove the non-whites. 鈥β� I鈥檓 saying this as most non-whites are socialists and takers. We won鈥檛 get a good constitution without a solid white majority.鈥�
鈥淲e need to form a WHITE republic,鈥� MattwhiteAmerica added a little later. 鈥淥ne that is for whites by whites!鈥�
Responded 鈥淏uffalo鈥�: 鈥淚 have a feeling a lot if not most of the coloreds would be more than willing to leave a state that actually seceded. I have a feeling they would be smart enough to know that it would be either leave on your own or your [sic] going to be removed by whatever means needed.鈥�
One unexpected dissent came from 鈥淏ritannic Nationalist,鈥� a foreigner. 鈥淓ither you鈥檙e a country or you鈥檙e not,鈥� the poster wrote. 鈥淓ither all the States should be completely independent, or they should all be a single country. 鈥� Will what is now the USA just turn into a land mass of warring factions, states and peoples?鈥�
Most of those posting at Stormfront seemed to realize that they were engaging in a pipe dream. But a few had definite hopes. 鈥淥nce the cumulative secession petition count exceeds one million then Obama will be very worried,鈥� wrote 鈥淒isappointed American.鈥� 鈥淥ne million pissed off armed Americans, coupled with the [antigovernment group] Oathkeepers 3%, can defeat the military. At 2 million signatures, it鈥檚 basically a certainty at least one state will secede.鈥�
Well, maybe. Of course, if that鈥檚 true, it鈥檚 just as likely that some of the other petitions at the government鈥檚 will eventually win their causes, too 鈥� causes like 鈥淣ot Allow The FDA To Regulate Premium Cigars,鈥� 鈥渙utlaw offending prophets of major religions,鈥� 鈥淩estore Fairness And Objectivity To Our Media,鈥� and even 鈥淧eacefully grant the city of Austin Texas to withdraw from the state of Texas & remain part of the United States.鈥�
And then there were two direct responses to the secession petitions: 鈥淔orce all states to pay their portion of the national debt before they can secede from the union鈥� and 鈥淪trip the Citizenship from Everyone who Signed a Petition to Secede and Exile Them.鈥� Which is just the kind of thing Stormfronters might actually like.
