Anti-secessionists: come at me, bros!

[Mr Khan]

badgenome said:

Mr Khan said:
Secession in America is synonymous with lost-cause Dixie conservatism, and secessionists look back to 19th century views on women, property, the environment, and religious freedom, thereby meaning that they should not be allowed out lest they enact these things.

Here you are describing a caricature of what you think a secessionist is, not what they are in actuality.

Mr Khan said:
Palestine's neither hear nor there, depending on how much of what Hamas says is just posturing and how much they really do just want to kill Jews (rather than have freedom or their fair share of political power vis-a-vis Fatah).

LOL. In conjunction with the above, I can't help but read this as: "Southerners are worse than Hamas." No way to an independent South! But a nation run by Hamas? Eh, maybe.

Mr Khan said:
Although I also believe that larger countries are more viable politically, better able to act on the international scene and better able to help their citizenry enrich themselves, so I tend to believe that countries shouldn't fall apart over small differences, and would likely oppose it if, say, Vermont wanted out, even though an independent Vermont would likely be a "better" country than America proper.

Okay, but who are you to say that it's a small difference, or to even oppose anything if you are not a Vermonter? That you even feel Vermont would likely do better on its own but would still deny them independence because... "we all belong to each other" or some such nonsense ought to give you pause. That's pretty tyrannical.

I do apologize if it came off as "Southerners are worse than Hamas." My whole point is that secession must serve the cause of progress, and if it does not, then it is not a good idea. The South in the Civil War was anti-progress. Southern secessionists of the modern day would also be anti-progress. A democratically elected government would likely have a bit more respect for their own human rights than the Israelis do, so forward movement. Even though a free Texas would still be a better place to live than a free Palestine, free Texas represents past ideas, free Palestine, the future.

And its not about liberty or tyranny so much as its about what works. A good amount of liberty works, and if a little judiciously applied authority also works, then its not a bad thing either. It's not about us all belonging to each other, its about having more opportunities by being part of a bigger and more important country than a smaller, less important one