The economy is in shambles and the worst is yet to come. The Gulf coast is already a disaster area, and the effects of the BP oil spill will devastate the region for decades. Perpetual war has become the standard foreign policy of the American empire. We live in a de facto police/surveillance state and it will only get worse as the regime attempts to hold on to its illicit power. The US Constitution is a dead letter and offers us no hope.

Reforming the unreformable is out of the question. The powers-that-be control all avenues of reform. They will not allow anyone to challenge their power, wealth, and control though these avenues. They will not voluntarily stop their looting spree. They will not respond to logical argument. They will continue to abuse us until we make them stop. They understand only one thing--power. As the great John C. Calhoun told us, only power can check power.

The greatest power we currently have is our ability to refuse to cooperate with them. We can withdraw our consent from their illicit and immoral regime. We can simply stop serving them and providing for their needs. Without our broad cooperation, they are powerless.

So why do we continue to cooperate in our own destruction? Two reasons--the prospect of gain and old-fashioned fear. It's the classic carrot and stick approach writ large. Cooperate with us and we'll take care of you. Oppose us and we'll destroy you. Is this what the Founders had in mind for their progeny?

As the regime continues to reveal its true nature, more and more people come to see it for what it really is--a monster that will devour our very life substance if we don't separate ourselves from it at once. We must convince our fellow Southerners that living in fear of or expecting gain from such a creature is sheer folly. All it deals out in the end is death and destruction.

If the South as we know it is to survive, she must free herself immediately from the current political arrangement. She has no time to waste. Her enemies--and freedom's enemies everywhere--do not rest. If her survival and future prosperity mean anything to us, we--her sons and daughters--will come to her active defense here and now with whatever means we find at hand. And let her enemies know this: we will not stop short of victory or death.

May God give us strength, wisdom, and courage to do our duty.

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Dr. Michael Hill is President of the League of the South as well as a noted author and historian.