An old friend sent me this. It is apparently gaining traction as it spreads through the blogosphere. Is it indicative of increasing polarization in America?

Is it evidence of an awakening of the "silent majority?"

An update from Oklahoma.

The state law passed today (April 19), 37 to 9, had a few liberals in the mix, an amendment to place the Ten Commandments on the front entrance to the state capitol. The feds in DC, along with the ACLU, said it would be a mistake. Hey this is a conservative state, based on Christian values...! Guess what..........We did it anyway.

We recently passed a law in the state to incarcerate all illegal immigrants, and ship them back to where they came from, unless they want to get a green card and become an American citizen. They all scattered. Hope we didn't send any of them to your state. This was against the advice of the Federal Government, and the ACLU, they said it would be a mistake. Guess what..........we did it anyway..

Yesterday we passed a law to include DNA samples from any and all illegals to the Oklahoma database, for criminal investigative purposes. Pelosi said it was unconstitutional. Guess what........We did it anyway.

Several weeks ago, we passed a law, declaring Oklahoma as a Sovereign state, not under the Federal Government directives. That, for your information, makes Oklahoma and Texas the only states to do so. Guess what.........More states are likely to follow. Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, both Carolina's, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, West Virginia, just to name a few. Should Mississippi act, so will Florida. Save your confederate money, it appears the South is about to rise up once again.

The federal Government has made bold steps to take away our guns. Oklahoma, a week ago, passed a law confirming people in this state have the right to bear arms and transport them in their vehicles. I'm sure that was a set back for the Kennedys and Ms Pelosi. Guess what..........We did it anyway.

By the way, Obama does not like any of this. Guess what....who cares...were doing it anyway

In my lifetime, I cannot remember when "we the people" have been so passionately divided. Will this division get even more sinister as we move away from traditional values and into a form of government that so many are so suspicious and resentful of? Where will the polarization end in the best case scenario and the worst case scenario? Is there a soft landing in middle ground or do we as a nation implode?

What interesting times we live in.

It is clear that the federal government no longer has our best interest at heart but instead their own best interest and power.


"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

Original draft of the U.S. Declaration of Indepence, written by Thomas Jefferson, 1776

"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing"
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1787

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed now and then with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1787

I know Michigan is not a part of the Confederacy however, would you mind if we joined up.
Seriously, that is not a huge problem in Michigan yet. But...I am sure it will be someday.
We only have a few problems.
Chrysler, GM and at least 12% unemployment

Originally Posted by cabo35

An old friend sent me this. It is apparently gaining traction as it spreads through the blogosphere. Is it indicative of increasing polarization in America?

Is it evidence of an awakening of the "silent majority?"

An update from Oklahoma.

The state law passed today (April 19), 37 to 9, had a few liberals in the mix, an amendment to place the Ten Commandments on the front entrance to the state capitol. The feds in DC, along with the ACLU, said it would be a mistake. Hey this is a conservative state, based on Christian values...! Guess what..........We did it anyway.

We recently passed a law in the state to incarcerate all illegal immigrants, and ship them back to where they came from, unless they want to get a green card and become an American citizen. They all scattered. Hope we didn't send any of them to your state. This was against the advice of the Federal Government, and the ACLU, they said it would be a mistake. Guess what..........we did it anyway..

Yesterday we passed a law to include DNA samples from any and all illegals to the Oklahoma database, for criminal investigative purposes. Pelosi said it was unconstitutional. Guess what........We did it anyway.

Several weeks ago, we passed a law, declaring Oklahoma as a Sovereign state, not under the Federal Government directives. That, for your information, makes Oklahoma and Texas the only states to do so. Guess what.........More states are likely to follow. Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, both Carolina's, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, West Virginia, just to name a few. Should Mississippi act, so will Florida. Save your confederate money, it appears the South is about to rise up once again.

The federal Government has made bold steps to take away our guns. Oklahoma, a week ago, passed a law confirming people in this state have the right to bear arms and transport them in their vehicles. I'm sure that was a set back for the Kennedys and Ms Pelosi. Guess what..........We did it anyway.

By the way, Obama does not like any of this. Guess what....who cares...were doing it anyway

In my lifetime, I cannot remember when "we the people" have been so passionately divided. Will this division get even more sinister as we move away from traditional values and into a form of government that so many are so suspicious and resentful of? Where will the polarization end in the best case scenario and the worst case scenario? Is there a soft landing in middle ground or do we as a nation implode?

What interesting times we live in.

I think the political divisons have always been there. Reading documents and commentary from the 1760-1780 period shows quite a bit of division, as not as many as the history books would make one believe were truly for revolution and cessation from England.

What we have today, absent from any other generation, is instant and global communications media which allows everyone access to everyone else. That access level just makes the obvious (political division) more available to commentary by the average citizen, and that commentary actually finding a willing audience.

States can pass all the laws they want, to include setting public flogging for littering if the states so desire. Until the laws are challenged in court, and a final decision is accepted at some level (If a constitutional challenge, the U.S. Supreme Court has finality if appealed that far), the laws are the laws.

As far as cessation of states, that's not going to happen any more here than it happened in Canada when the Quebecois pushed for it. When the solution is simply "vote the bums out," that's still the approach to take.

We don't need a revolution - we need an electorate that doesn't act like sheep.

"We don't need a revolution - we need an electorate that doesn't act like sheep. "

__________________________________________________ _____

Agree Steve....AND...

Candidates in both parties who do not espouse radical viewpoints !

Pogo said it best though....we have met the enemy, and it is us.

Originally Posted by cabo35

Several weeks ago, we passed a law, declaring Oklahoma as a Sovereign state, not under the Federal Government directives. That, for your information, makes Oklahoma and Texas the only states to do so. Guess what.........More states are likely to follow. Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, both Carolina's, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, West Virginia, just to name a few. Should Mississippi act, so will Florida. Save your confederate money, it appears the South is about to rise up once again.


In my lifetime, I cannot remember when "we the people" have been so passionately divided. Will this division get even more sinister as we move away from traditional values and into a form of government that so many are so suspicious and resentful of? Where will the polarization end in the best-case scenario and the worst-case scenario? Is there a soft landing in middle ground or do we as a nation implode?

What interesting times we live in.

With apologies to Slidell, LA!

So let's cheer Texas and the rest of the Sovereign South. Still fighting the centuries' old game of "State's Rights" to cover over the self-destructive desire to lower the standards of living for all so that taxes don’t have to be paid.

Never mind that secessionist Texas governor Rick Davis was the first to come running back to the government to get help with swine flu.

Secession-minded Southern-states apologists seem to ignore or simply deny, that they have the lowest standard of living, have the worst health care, worst dental care, lowest rates of graduation, highest illiteracy rates lowest paying jobs, worst living conditions, HIGHEST teen pregnancy rates, HIGHEST divorce rates... on and on.

Like "Proud to be a Redneck" bumper stickers, it's as if an alcholic knows" that his lot improves everytime he takes another drink, all the while destroying his liver. With all the remarkable gifts that the South has to offer, with all the advances it receives from the allocation of money from the Federal Government, it amazes me how combative "so called" secessionists can be.

I also doubt the memo writer's conclusion about the South "rising" again. In fact, given that it's viral, there may very well be a lot of innaccuracies in it from the start. History shows that the South has been on the wrong side of virtually every social justice movement since the Emancipation Proclamation, defiantly proud that "states' rights" keeps the bulk of Dixie seething in its own hatred.

Slavery, Voting Rights, Segregation, Academies, Women's Rights, Interracial Marriage, Privacy in the Bedroom, a Woman's Right to Choice, and now the right of same-sex couples to affirm their love and dedication to each other. The South still seems to deny its culpability, and only wants to run and hide.

Every time one of these issues arise, one can be certain to hear the screams of condemnation, fear and bigotry coming from some Southern TV preacher, or some outraged southern politico.

The cultural divide does get wider, but is either side ever going to say, "We need to talk about this?" That would be the first step to smoothing out the edges. We may never be able to expect much more from that.

Originally Posted by ptownrob

With apologies to Slidell, LA!

So let's cheer Texas and the rest of the Sovereign South. Still fighting the centuries' old game of "State's Rights" to cover over the self-destructive desire to lower the standards of living for all so that taxes don’t have to be paid.

Never mind that secessionist Texas governor Rick Davis was the first to come running back to the government to get help with swine flu.

Secession-minded Southern-states apologists seem to ignore or simply deny, that they have the lowest standard of living, have the worst health care, worst dental care, lowest rates of graduation, highest illiteracy rates lowest paying jobs, worst living conditions, HIGHEST teen pregnancy rates, HIGHEST divorce rates... on and on.

Like "Proud to be a Redneck" bumper stickers, it's as if an alcholic knows" that his lot improves everytime he takes another drink, all the while destroying his liver. With all the remarkable gifts that the South has to offer, with all the advances it receives from the allocation of money from the Federal Government, it amazes me how combative "so called" secessionists can be.

I also doubt the memo writer's conclusion about the South "rising" again. In fact, given that it's viral, there may very well be a lot of innaccuracies in it from the start. History shows that the South has been on the wrong side of virtually every social justice movement since the Emancipation Proclamation, defiantly proud that "states' rights" keeps the bulk of Dixie seething in its own hatred.

Slavery, Voting Rights, Segregation, Academies, Women's Rights, Interracial Marriage, Privacy in the Bedroom, a Woman's Right to Choice, and now the right of same-sex couples to affirm their love and dedication to each other. The South still seems to deny its culpability, and only wants to run and hide.

Every time one of these issues arise, one can be certain to hear the screams of condemnation, fear and bigotry coming from some Southern TV preacher, or some outraged southern politico.

The cultural divide does get wider, but is either side ever going to say, "We need to talk about this?" That would be the first step to smoothing out the edges. We may never be able to expect much more from that.

Apparently it's "ignorance" if it doesn't agree with the enlightened view at the far end of Cape Cod.

What you call free choice, others call feticide.

What you call worst living conditions - I've been in northern public housing projects, and pretty they aren't. I can remember the Columbia Point Housing Project in Boston which PBS once documented in a program called "Biography of a Vertical Slum." Things haven't gotten much better since.

High paying jobs in the North? Apparently the folks in Brockton, Lowell, Pittsfield, Worcester, Chelsea, Revere, Rockland, Taunton, New Bedford, and many other places within a two-hour drive from Boston need to know where those jobs are. That information may help ease the double-digit unemployment rate in those locations and provide more tax money to clean the streets.

Yes, there is a cultural divide, but it has little to do with regionalism.

Proud to be a redneck - if you only understood what "redneck" really was. The smug urbanite view is far from reality, and mostly from a little envy, which explains its need to belittle what the urbanite can't be. But I guess it's like the joy of motorcycling - If I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand....

As far as the South being on the wrong side of anything, that again is nothing but northern snobbery as seeing itself in such a know-it-all fashion that nothing else could possibly be correct.

The real ignorance is looking in the mirror and seeing the reflection as being the only correct image of an American.

When you check the demographic shifts within this nation, you will find there a lot more folk moving to the South than the North, and it has been that way for many a year. If it's so good up North, why aren't more people staying there?

Proud to a honorary "redneck."

A year ago we moved from the left coast to middle Tennessee. I was born and raised in California and my only regret was I didn't leave 30 years ago. Men still open doors for ladies and kids know the words mam and sir. When I'm out mowing my property people actualy drive by and wave instead of flashing gang signs.

I think polarization is a good thing. It means people are taking a stand.

[QUOTE=dklassen;201870]

"... that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government,..."

Yup.

Did that. It was called "an election". And it happened in Novemeber, 2009.

The idea of this country splitting may not be so far fetched, as it would seem. Igor Panarin, a well respected Russian academic and futurist has long predicted there is a 55/45% chance that the US will split apart in 2010 under demographic and economic pressures. See the WSJ article at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123051100709638419.html

There are definitely conflicting demographic forces pulling the various parts of the US in different directions. The New England states are in irreversible population decline for the reason’s outlined in MMC24’s post. The southwest and southern CA are growing rapidly with the influx of illegal aliens. Our soaring national debt may come crashing down on us. What happens when the Chinese and OPEC demand to be paid in Euros rather than dollars? I suspect inflation similar to that experienced in Brazil in the 80’s when people would cash their paychecks and run out to buy something/anything knowing that the same amount of money would buy significantly less next week.

[quote=Laker14;202348]

Originally Posted by dklassen

"... that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government,..."

Yup.

Did that. It was called "an election". And it happened in November, 2009.

[quote=Laker14;202348]

Originally Posted by dklassen

"... that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government,..."

Yup.

Did that. It was called "an election". And it happened in Novemeber, 2009.

I beg to differ.

The US Government was not altered, abolished nor a new government instituted. What in fact happened last November and January was a peaceful and lawful continuation of the current government according to the Constitution.

This is not an insignificant point, as the fact this nation can indeed peacefully continue with periodic changes in executive administration and/or legislative direction is utterly magnificent.

"Change" occurs every four to eight years, and the government continues. What wise and fabulous men the Founding Fathers were!

God bless and protect the United States of America!

Kool-aid. Obama passed it out people stepped right up to the bar. That's what happened in Nov of 2009.

What I mean by Kool-aid is when someone tells you the way out of your difficult financial situation is to max out all your credit cards, then go get more and the person says "sounds good to me."

Originally Posted by SteveZ

Apparently it's "ignorance" if it doesn't agree with the enlightened view at the far end of Cape Cod.

What you call free choice, others call feticide.

What you call worst living conditions - I've been in northern public housing projects, and pretty they aren't. I can remember the Columbia Point Housing Project in Boston which PBS once documented in a program called "Biography of a Vertical Slum." Things haven't gotten much better since.

High paying jobs in the North? Apparently the folks in Brockton, Lowell, Pittsfield, Worcester, Chelsea, Revere, Rockland, Taunton, New Bedford, and many other places within a two-hour drive from Boston need to know where those jobs are. That information may help ease the double-digit unemployment rate in those locations and provide more tax money to clean the streets.

Yes, there is a cultural divide, but it has little to do with regionalism.

Proud to be a redneck - if you only understood what "redneck" really was. The smug urbanite view is far from reality, and mostly from a little envy, which explains its need to belittle what the urbanite can't be. But I guess it's like the joy of motorcycling - If I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand....

As far as the South being on the wrong side of anything, that again is nothing but northern snobbery as seeing itself in such a know-it-all fashion that nothing else could possibly be correct.

The real ignorance is looking in the mirror and seeing the reflection as being the only correct image of an American.

When you check the demographic shifts within this nation, you will find there a lot more folk moving to the South than the North, and it has been that way for many a year. If it's so good up North, why aren't more people staying there?

Steve,
I am from MA, north of Boston and now Cape Cod (not the outermost part) and hopefully to be a Villager someday. Your post was excellent. This state works for two groups of people. Those in the system and those on the system. Their machine is soooo large that voters in private industry can not vote them out. The answer to every problem is "more programs" which means more hacks and more hack relatives.
Some day I'd like to buy you one of those $1.75 margaritas.
Thanks for your service
Rich from Cape Cod (for now)