Ease up, OK? The Rasputin/get a clue was a joke. Maybe a bad one clumsily delivered, but just a joke.
I have a hard time believing that these on-line petitions are in any way meaningful or are going anywhere.
One reason for that is the only "response" the govt. is required to provide is, as I said, "no." That's it.
If secession is to go anywhere it must be pursued through other means.
During reconstruction there was a court case that pretty much stated that for a state to secede it could only be by mutal agreement, and that isn't going to happen (IMHO).
During the formation of the union, the philosophies of two philosophers had much influence on the founders with regard to this question. John Locke's and Thomas Hobbes' ideas provided a contrasting foundation for the question of secession. Under the Hobbesian concept, once the union was formed and agreed to, each state was permanently part of it and the matter was settled. Those who followed Locke's teachings were more liberal (in the classic sense, not modern) and they felt that should conditions change and the federal government became too evil/oppressive then the state could withdraw.
The Lockian idea won out.
But unfortunatly, the denoument of the Civil War and that nefarious court case ended this construct and now we progress, basically, under the Hobbsian construction.
If you want to blame someone, then find that idiotic jackwagon who opened fire on Fort Sumter.
I suppose technically you could secede today ... but if you do, you'd have to win the war.
Just like during the Civil War .... the South could have successfuly seceded and formed the C.S.A. and ruled themselves ....
had they won the war. As Pol Pot once said,
"real political power comes from the barrel of a gun."As far as people
"want(ing) OUT and that number is going to grow apace as things deteriorate over the next year or two," I suspect you're right, as I don't see America being well positioned for an amazing economic recovery ... or even a blah economic recovery.
But secession is not the answer. The answer is not to amputate states, it's to correct the problems with the whole. That's a big, big problem but it is the only way we're going to improve things.
As poorly as the fedgov is operating many state governments are actually worse, and are only afloat due to monies received from Washington DC. Those states will sink if they were to be without the feds.
Secession may be going
somwhere. But it isn't going anywhere
good.
Now I gather that you probably will not agree with me but atleast that is a more serious answer to your earlier statement and I hope it isn't as obtuse as the Rasputin reference.