I think it’s basically true that there is somewhat of a disconnect between how progressives think about things and how the Democratic Party in Washington thinks about things, but this disconnect is incredibly minor when you compare it with the disconnect between how conservatives view things and how the Republican Establishment views them. For example, in Wisconsin the GOP is trying to depublicize their internal dispute about whether or not the Badger State should exert its right to secede from the Union.
In April, at a meeting of the Sixth Congressional Republican Caucus, they passed a resolution affirming Wisconsin’s right to secede. It has aroused some controversy, but what’s most interesting is what people have to say about it. For example:
To be clear, the text of the resolution reads, in full, “BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we strongly insist our state representatives work to uphold Wisconsin’s 10th Amendment rights, and our right to secede, passing legislation affirming this to the US Federal Government.”
“We should remove it. Nobody wants to secede from the union,” said Todd Welch, chairman of the libertarian-leaning Wisconsin Campaign for Liberty and a member of the Republican Party. “Obviously, it is an option, but nobody wants to do that. We should focus on the real issues of stopping Obamacare, stopping Common Core, protecting gun rights.”
The 10th Amendment simply states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” If you couple the 10th Amendment with a right to secede, you’re talking about combating the tyranny of the federal government. This fits right in with “stopping Obamacare, stopping Common Core, protecting gun rights.”
Watch:
Lynette Clark, a leader of the Alaskan Independence Party, said that she was encouraged by the news of out of the Badger State.
“With fascism alive and well in Washington D.C., there are a lot of states that are looking to affirm their rights as republics,” she said. “Look at what is happening with the BLM and our good friend Mr. Bundy. Government agencies are out of control. It reminds me of Europe in the 30’s.”
The following is supposed to pass for sanity:
“I do believe that a state has the right to secede if the voters wish. I just believe it is necessary at this time. We are not at the point. We are talking about nullification,” said Lewis. “We are led to believe that the Civil War ended that debate [on secession], but it didn’t. The Civil War was a war; one side won, one side lost, and because of that they didn’t secede, but we can still have the debate.
“We are not saying we need to colonize the moon or anything crazy like that,” he added. “We are fighting for our constitution.”
Of course, Wisconsin fought bravely on the side of the Union in the Civil War, but some of their more politically-active right-leaning citizens seem to regret that.
So, while more mainstream Republicans are struggling to distance their party from this secession talk, the bottom line is that opposition to ObamaCare, Common Core, and any kind of reasonable gun violence control is considered completely orthodox within the GOP.
This is the party that Jeb Bush wants to run. I don’t think they will let him run it.
