The Frankfurt School of Marxism: at work in America

To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. - Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember'd.

mitciv, when Texas secedes, whose side will you be on?

Any state that would secede would deserve my full support.

Each state has that right.

mitciv,

I've heard differing legal opinions on that. I've heard that Texas is the only one that may, for some obscure reason. I've also heard it is still Constitutionally sound for any state. Are you able to document that "Each state has that right."?

I don't think secession was actually illegal or unconstitutional even in the mid-19th century; the war to "save the Union" was deemed necessary by leaders at that time, but I doubt the same would happen today were a state to secede. It would take many states, such that significant resources were at issue.
As for Texas, that state is indeed somewhat unique. They consider themselves a "republic" unto themselves, have their own military resources beyond the typical guard and reserve, and I think have specific provision in their state constitution that they are not bound to remain among the United States. It is no coincidence that their state flag is like a single-state redux of the American flag...

On the Texas sidetracking of the theme: None of the supposed Texas special powers and faculties vis-a-vis sovereignty so far mentioned is in any law or in the documents that annexed Texas into the union, or in the Texas constitution. A court case was raised to the effect and went nowhere. What WAS there was the option to sub-divide it into up to 5 further states (which is usually assumed to have been exercised by ceding land to create 4 of the surrounding states, in exchange for the US assuming the Republic's debt). Other than that the rights of Texas and of the citizens thereof are the same as the rights of any state and its citizens (as it should be). How they chose to exercise them, it's up to the Texans.

And y'know what? You just know there are those who would say that Strip Clubs ARE a source of exactly the kind of corruption-from-within plot alleged in the opener.

Cheo_D,

And how do you know that "None of the supposed Texas special powers and faculties vis-a-vis sovereignty so far mentioned is in any law or in the documents that annexed Texas into the union, or in the Texas constitution."?

Just wondering what your qualifications are, considering I've heard differently from those that do have some qualifications.

Amendment X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

That Amendment has been so grossly abused of late that no State would rightly be held at odds with the Constitution were it to secede. But I hope that does not happen.

how,

In truth, about the only thing the federal government does that is Constitutional is the military and perhaps regulation of intrastate commerce.

And I guess I should include a taxing authority.

clubber, "intrastate" commerce is business that is conducted inside the borders of a single state, while "interstate" commerce is business that crosses state borders. you're thinking of the latter, not the former. as for seceding, any state daft enough to do it is going to find, one Confederate politician once described one of their states that thought the Confederate government too "all-intrusive" as being "too small to be considered an individual nation, and too large to be considered an insane asylum", a fair description of things even today.

Not daft at all for a vibrant state like Texas to secede.

Texans would no longer be bled to pay for the U.S. empire overseas.

No longer bled to pay for expensive weapons.

No longer required to pay housing, schooling and healthcare of illegals.

IN TEN YEARS TEXAS WOULD HAVE A HIGHER PER CAPITA INCOME AND STANDARD OF LIVING THAN THE UNITED STATES!

NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER!

United States President James Buchanan, "..our Union rests upon public opinion, and ...if it can not live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish. Congress possesses many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force."

United States President President Thomas Jefferson: "If any state in the Union will declare that it prefers separation...to a continuance in union... I have no hesitation in saying, 'let us separate.' "

"Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive," wrote Thomas Jefferson, "it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."

Read more: good.is Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

santiago,

A brain fart on my part.

Not daft at all for a vibrant state like Texas to secede.

Texans would no longer be bled to pay for the U.S. empire overseas.

No longer bled to pay for expensive weapons.

Yeah, and therefore cannot be defended by u.s. or cannot defend against u.s. weapons that could easily prevent succession, just like in the civil war.

No longer required to pay housing, schooling and healthcare of illegals.

Yeah, and watch illegals overrun Texas since you don't have the INS to patrol your border for free

IN TEN YEARS TEXAS WOULD HAVE A HIGHER PER CAPITA INCOME AND STANDARD OF LIVING THAN THE UNITED STATES!

NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER!

"u.s. weapons that could easily prevent succession"

another Fascist.. the list:

SuperFascist MisterFascist thatFascistguy6673

I would think that in a true Democracy, the will of the people would prevail. If Texas were to secede, other southern states may follow, and California would probably split into two states.

Now if that threat would become real, it might just be the necessary wake up call for the President and Congress to go back to the concept of "by the people", "for the people".