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League of the South’s Position on Secession:
The
League of the South’s goal is good government for the
Southern People. We
believe secession is the best way to restore good government
to the South. Since
1861, the republican system of government established by the
Founders has been steadily eroded.
Today that government has become the cruel master
rather than the obedient servant of the citizens of the
several states. We
see no way of reforming the corruption within the present
system; therefore, the League of the South shall seek to
spread acceptance of the idea of secession among the people of
the South.
We
believe in the Jeffersonian principle that free people may
change their government if over a long period of time it
refuses to protect their lives, liberty, and property.
As the present government of the United States has
violated the original compact of 1789 and no longer offers its
citizens such protection, we believe that the time has come
for the Southern states to consider the merits of secession.
The League of the South does not advocate the overthrow
of the government of the United States; rather, we wish to
leave peaceably and form our own nation or nations, as the
people of the South shall freely decide.
Secession
is neither premature, impractical, nor illegal.
The time is right for separation and the establishment
of local self-rule. Secession
is already being seriously debated in several western states
and in Canada. The
recent break-up of the Soviet Empire has hastened such
movements all across Eastern Europe.
There is even a serious national separatist movement in
Scotland.
The
South is clearly lagging behind in the drive for
self-determination, undoubtedly because many Southerners
believe secession is illegal because the Southern states were
forced to renounce and repeal their secession ordinances under
the duress of military occupation during the Reconstruction
era. However, the
right of secession is nothing more than the right of sovereign
states to recall the powers they delegated to the federal
government when they ratified the constitution.
This right cannot be renounced because the right to
liberty and self-determination is an inalienable right given
by God. Therefore,
secession is not illegal or unconstitutional.
Secession is still a practical alternative to the
further dissolution and chaos of a virtually ungovernable
union. We must
act boldly and take advantage of a Providential cultural and
political climate. If
we hesitate, we lose.
If
the thirteen states of the old Confederacy were a nation, its
GNP would place it among the top five or six nations of the
world. Its laws
would better reflect the natural conservatism and Christian
roots of the Southern people.
Our laws on gun control, abortion, school prayer, and
immigration would without question be different.
We could establish a confederation of states and make
the provisions of the Tenth Amendment a reality.
We could follow George Washington’s sage advice about
“entangling alliances.”
We could leave the United Nations and oppose the New
World Order. We
could stop foreign aid. We
could once again reward merit.
We could get government out of our children’s
education. In a
word, we could again seize control of our own destiny.
In
order to make secession work, we must be tough-minded and
willing to stand up to the forces of tyranny that are loose in
the land. We must
not cast ourselves as victims, for victims are perceived as
helpless and thus dependent for their salvation on the
goodwill of others. Rather,
we must build a strong organization that is able to give form
to our vision: the
establishment of a Southern Nation or nations grounded firmly
in the hallowed traditions and virtuous principles of our
forebears. If you
agree with our general position, we invite you to join us.
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