New England Groups Look to Secede
Here's a great report on yet another movement to restore local sovereignty and put the brakes on a runaway Federal government:
Burt Cohen, 57, a former state senator, is leading a front in New Hampshire to secede from the U.S., and join with Maine, Vermont, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Gaspé Peninsula to create a new authority called New Acadia or Novacadia based on maps of a 1702 maritime union.
"This is a continuation of my politics," Cohen said. "I am interested in people taking part in decisions, and right now, it seems to me that fewer and fewer people have more concentrated wealth and power."
This is not some radical idea Mr. Cohen is advocating, but simply the continuation of a fine, long-forgotten tradition of New England self-government.
The central argument the post makes for secession is becoming more obvious every day: at some point, bureaucracy gets too big, and breaks down. The groans and cracks all around us can no longer be ignored.
posted by Michael Tuggle @ Friday, August 15, 2008
4 Comments
4 Comments:
One of the challenges movements on the scale of League of the South and ours in Ohio will have, is to design and promote institutions that will bring government down to the human scale that New England is able to achieve naturally as the result of its small population.
One idea I am batting around is to create the Ohio Republic, which is naturally unitary, as a federation or confederation of smaller units, where the Republic itself has limited powers, with the residue left to its subdivisions.
I believe at some point, preferably sooner rather than later, it will be necessary to identify a regional breakdown of NAmerika for purposes of secession. What is the optimum size, taking cultural, political and geographical parameters into consideration?
Unfortunately, a tradition of regionalism (for the most part) is not as strong in the States as it is in Canada. The historical reasons for such are obvious, I would think.
Although a hard-and-cut bioregional breakdown is out of the question, it's not necessary to throw the baby out with the bath water. Bioregionalism, as a blueprint, can be borrowed from. For anyone who is not yet familiar with Joel Garreau's work, the conceptual regional breakdown of The Nine Nations of North America is a good place to start.
Hope to see you all in November.
Sebastian:
I understand where you are coming from, but my concern is that little will be gained by breaking up two nations totaling 340 million people into bioregions such as, say the Confederacy and the Great Lakes area (old Northwest Territory + Ontario) that still have more than 50 million each, if we do not design those nations in a way to ensure human scale -- that is, meaningful participation by individuals in the affairs of their local areas, delegating the minimum of necessary powers to State/provincial and national levels.
I favor independence for Ohio because 11.5 million is a nice size for a medium-sized nation that is big enough to function internationally and small enough to provide that human scale.
The bioregions are still useful as a basis for some kinds of agreements (perhaps a customs union or an immigration zone similar to Europe's Schengen Treaty); but leaving the bulk of the sovereignty to smaller nations.
Harold:
IMO, the planet is about to encounter a Post-Peak Oil, systemic purge of 3-5 billion. The planet's population carrying capacity will devolve to pre-industrial levels. Ergo, social institutions, the large nation state inclusive, will devolve/implode to like scale.
The bulk of the hit will be felt in the poorer nations, but NAmerika will not be spared. With a population of button pushers who have no idea from where or how their several hundred energy slaves per capita originate, how could it be otherwise?
Acknowledging this first century of Post-Peak Oil, that it is the meta-dynamic of empire collapse, and preparing policy for it, by and for regional constituencies, is essential for the secessionist movement.
I have been given a green light by Kirk Sale to address this theme at November's convention. The organizing committee should have the draft by mid-September. Based on that, if the presentation sees the light of day is another matter.
We are talking about the creation of new nations. Dealing with the lower 48 only, it strikes me as ludicrous to contemplate the creation of such number. The secessionist, regional dynamic trumps human-determined state boundaries.
I can only offer the notion of Novacadia as prime example. Yes, that this regional designation only has a population of 5 million with no large cities is a great asset and advantage. Each region will have to look after itself. We stare down the barrel of great social and political dislocation, and great hurt. Self-sufficiency becomes a political mandate of extreme importance, displaced from the lofty safety of liberal hand-wringing and wishing for a better world.
It is for this reason that Green parties are redundant...to cite just one of many philosophical and political redundancies.
I look forward to haggling with you over a cup of coffee in November.
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