# People in 20 states file petitions to secede **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 13, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879 "2012-11-13T13:30:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/101 "2012-11-14T06:44:19Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > It’s more ironic then funny that members of the party of Lincoln would become the new Confederates after the election of our first black president. Say this for the Confederates. They started seceding in 1860 before Lincoln even took office. None of this waiting to see if he got elected for a second term. Any secessionist movement that takes four years to get up its nerve is half-hearted at best. If they did try to secede, I figure we could fire a shot across their border and they’d surrender. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee would call these guys wimps. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/102 "2012-11-14T10:00:35Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Reasons the U.S. needs Texas: > \ > 2. Livestock. > \ Cattle or people ? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/103 "2012-11-14T10:05:03Z")
> [@NUMBER1GIRL](#): > > Nope Im just saying. Almost every state has a petition. Thats a lot of angry Americans or Illegals. It’s an ugly picture. Last time States wanted out South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas… well you know what happened. They got out. That wasn’t left and right it was North and South. But don’t worry history never repeats its self. You realize I could sign any of those petitions and I’m neither an American nor in the US, right? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/104 "2012-11-14T12:48:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Say this for the Confederates. They started seceding in 1860 before Lincoln even took office. None of this waiting to see if he got elected for a second term. > > Any secessionist movement that takes four years to get up its nerve is half-hearted at best. If they did try to secede, I figure we could fire a shot across their border and they’d surrender. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee would call these guys wimps. A vanload of old hippies could sneak up behind them & say “boo!” The Secessionists would flee in disarray, pursued by a vehicle with smoke pouring out of the windows. The last thing seen: A bumper sticker saying “Keep Austin Weird.” Speaking of smoke–I oppose the General Sherman approach. Mobile homes consist of a shitload of toxic materials. The refineries pollute the air down here enough… ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/105 "2012-11-14T12:48:41Z")
Milbank chimes in from The Washington Post. [A Confederacy of Takers](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-the-confederacy-of-takers/2012/11/13/d8adc7ee-2dd4-11e2-beb2-4b4cf5087636_story.html) He makes the obvious point that, except for Texas which is at 94 cents per dollar, each of the red states that has a petition to secede are heavy users of federal dollars. That is, each takes more from the federal government than they send to Washington. So if they secede they’d be forced to come up with a way to provide those services AND make up an addition deficit. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/106 "2012-11-14T13:02:16Z")
If Texas were to secede it would be fun to watch President Perry perform on the world stage.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/107 "2012-11-14T13:48:04Z")
> [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](#): > > So, what you’re saying is, we should find the petition-signers, burn their houses down, and then make documentaries where we slowly pan over pictures of the wreckage to the mournful strains of _Ashokan Farewell_? I cast my vote for this post to win today’s internet prize. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/108 "2012-11-14T14:07:37Z")
Oh Alabama. Please don’t go. No. Please. Come back. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/109 "2012-11-14T14:13:11Z")
Good Gad, if Mississippi leaves, Arkansas will be second worst everything instead of third! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/110 "2012-11-14T14:35:24Z")
Just asking here, have any of these mooks mentioned what specific issues they want to secede over? Is it the ni…er, newly elected president, thinking they’ll somehow get out of being responsible for the federal deficit, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/111 "2012-11-14T14:43:00Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Just asking here, have any of these mooks mentioned what specific issues they want to secede over? Is it the ni…er, newly elected president, thinking they’ll somehow get out of being responsible for the federal deficit, or something else? BECAUSE OBAMA. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/112 "2012-11-14T15:07:21Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Just asking here, have any of these mooks mentioned what specific issues they want to secede over? Is it the ni…er, newly elected president, thinking they’ll somehow get out of being responsible for the federal deficit, or something else? It’s that they’re the kind of people who’d refuse to [del]read[/del] watch The Three Musketeers ever again after seeing a picture of Dumas père and realizing he had a natural afro. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/113 "2012-11-14T15:17:13Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > No. Like I was saying, all you have to do is register an account is enter a first and last name and a zip code. There is no verification, and there’s no way to restrict what petitions people sign based on location because that wasn’t the intent of the site. [Here is the Texas petition.](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/peacefully-grant-state-texas-withdraw-united-states-america-and-create-its-own-new-government/BmdWCP8B) In the ten most recent signatures I can see, there are three people who didn’t give their location, three alleged Texans, and one person each who purported to be from North Carolina, Iowa, Florida, and Nebraska. Which brings up the question of how many signers of the Texas petition are from other states, wanting to kick Texas out? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/114 "2012-11-14T15:23:02Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > He makes the obvious point that, except for Texas which is at 94 cents per dollar, each of the red states that has a petition to secede are heavy users of federal dollars. That is, each takes more from the federal government than they send to Washington. So if they secede they’d be forced to come up with a way to provide those services AND make up an addition deficit. I imagine a lot of it is social programs like WIC and medicaid/medicare that mean they take so much out so the putative new government could balance their budget by simply axing all the social programs but I doubt that would make them popular. I am a little annoyed, and maybe this is unfair, that the conservative talking point for quite some time now is a balanced budget yet many of the red states, are as the article points out artificially afloat due to federal largesse. I feel that “take the beam out of your own eye before removing the speck from your neighbor’s” is appropriate here. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/115 "2012-11-14T15:25:15Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Which brings up the question of how many signers of the Texas petition are from other states, wanting to kick Texas out? From the look of it, it’s about half and half. I counted 50 Texans out of the last 88 signatures. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/116 "2012-11-14T15:30:46Z")
Here’s a fun letter from my hometown newspaper outlining some complaints. [Nov. 6: The day America became a socialist nation](http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/548050/Nov--6--The-day-America-became--a-socialist-nation.html?nav=5007) ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/117 "2012-11-14T15:46:32Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I imagine a lot of it is social programs like WIC and medicaid/medicare that mean they take so much out so the putative new government could balance their budget by simply axing all the social programs but I doubt that would make them popular. The reason, I think (without doing research), that red states tend to be ‘takers’ is because their military employment is so high. They can slash social programs, but it won’t balance their federal input/outtake unless they get rid of all the military bases, active soldiers, and stop honoring the veterans’ pensions. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/118 "2012-11-14T15:51:50Z")
Well secession should take care of that toot suite. Not sure I’d want to share a small country with a lot of pissed off ex-military, though. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/119 "2012-11-14T16:11:32Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Here’s a fun letter from my hometown newspaper outlining some complaints. > > [Nov. 6: The day America became a socialist nation](http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/548050/Nov--6--The-day-America-became--a-socialist-nation.html?nav=5007) > [@Flaming Idiot](#): > > It was a very cleaver plan conceived many years ago, around the time of Woodrow Wilson. At least this one does not say it was conceived **by** Woodrow Wilson. I’ve actually encountered assertions of that kind on the Intertubes before. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879/120 "2012-11-14T16:18:35Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Well secession should take care of that toot suite. Not sure I’d want to share a small country with a lot of pissed off ex-military, though. Does one lose a Federal pension if one moves out of the country? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-20-states-file-petitions-to-secede/640879.md?page=7)