Please, Mister Norris. Please, sit down.

[xenologer]

First, the entry I saw.

Talk of "Revolution" and Texas. Someone please tell Chuck Norris to stop doing anything, please. Or I'm sending Mr. T to show him what's what.

Anyway. Once you're done laughing at that, a more serious question. Do states still have the right to secede? Did they ever in the first place? If they don't have the right to secede--if that is, as President Lincoln seemed to feel, a treasonous endeavor--should there be consequences for statements like this if there really is a system of revolutionary cells waiting for a word from Chuck Norris?

Yeah, I know. There's that laughing again. But once you can breathe, what do you think about this?

Comments

[e-mily.livejournal.com]

*facepalm*

Well. I guess it depends on whether or not it's strictly defined as treason. If it's defined as treason then yes, there are legally, consequences for speaking treason seriously.

[arctangent.livejournal.com]

No. Just talking is not and can't be treason. First Amendment.

Nor is proposing secession in and of itself treason. *Armed* secession, through violent insurrection, is treason, but if one state legally put up the option of leaving the Union and all the other states ratified it then there's nothing wrong with being in the party proposing it. (See the independence movements in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, etc.)

The Civil War established that states do not have the right to *unilaterally* secede, but we still give Puerto Rico the option to vote on retaining their status in the USA on a regular basis.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Bring it on!

Seems to me, maybe the only thing that will make Obama MORE of a superstar than he is now will be if he becomes the guy who took down Chuck Norris.

Then we'll be making fun Obama "badass" factoids:

"Like Chuck Norris, Barack Obama's tears can cure cancer. Unlike Chuck norris, Obama will do what it takes to cure cancer, without worrying about the effect on his precious macho image."

"James Bond has a license to kill. Barack Obama has a learner's permit."

"River Tam can kill a ship full of reavers. But Barack Obama...can talk them down!"

[dayzdark.livejournal.com]

"River Tam can kill a ship full of reavers. But Barack Obama...can talk them down!"

This quote wins.

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

I agree with dayzdark. That made my day!

[copperstewart.livejournal.com]

Too many Americans of left/right/anarchism fantasize "Revolution" as something that would manifest their ideals... and impose them... without any appreciation for the fact that revolutions come out of decades of organization... or at least organization; these are dangerous and seem to be of archetypal significance in our culture. The contest for ownership of symbols threatens to heat up; sometimes it does boil over. Incitement alone has a long tradition here, but coupled with things like economic hardship or collapse, is anything but reassuring. Thankfully, I'm sure there's not too many orgs waiting on Norris... but there may be a McVeigh or two getting this message from lots of places. And I guess there are folks who spend time with Norris and Limbaugh, et al., every day... and an internet bubble where Norris makes more incendiary sense...

[elorie.livejournal.com]

Oh, Lord. There was a guy taking secession on the Mars Society forum (don't ask) about how "Northern liberals" wouldn't pick up guns to defend the Union. I told him that any Southerner with an appreciation for history might well pick up a gun at the mention of secession...to shoot the guy who suggested it. I quote myself: "There is no Confederate cavalry coming to the rescue of the neocons. Just a whole lot of chickens coming home to roost."

I think there is zero, seriously zero real will to separate from the United States in most places, definitely not the widespread "rising up" he seems to believe. I don't know about Texas, though. They are like to do anything.

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

Dude, World Net Daily ... what happened to your patriotism? I thought it was supposed to be the *left* who were damned to hell because we all hate the country?

[kayay.livejournal.com]

Being a native Texan I'll be the first to agree we have some real nuts there, but I didn't realize Chuck was that... odd.

People who want secession are very narrow minded with a short sighted view of the world imo. For one thing, people often have friends and family in other states, and that unites the country in one way. Secondly, states' economies are interconnected. Third, it's all fine and dandy talking about independence, but they may be singing a different tune once they you lose all the gov't services, benefits, funding, laws, (postal service, medicare, medicaid, social security, federal unemployment benefits, insured bank accounts) etc. all at once. Secession isn't a simple thing, but, like it was said earlier, people fantasize revolution.