Hostage Takers And Extortionists Cannot Be Rewarded

[Hekate]

25. LOL. I'm not known for being "adolescent" here. But you go ahead & explain why you like the idea...

... of a second American Civil War, because that is what secession would mean. The original Civil War cost at least 600,000 lives. How do you imagine (or fantasize) such a thing would take place in modern times, translated into real life? What's the mechanism? Plebiscite certainly won't work -- the Constitution does not allow for states to decide to vote themselves out. If you somehow did have a vote, what about the many Americans who have no intention of leaving the country? The 1947 India-Pakistan partition was quite violent and resulted in one of the greatest forced migrations in human history. How would we be different?

Don't talk to me about the ratio of representatives to population leading to secession -- tell me how to make it better. Direct democracy is unworkable past a certain population point, and the Founders knew it. The original 13 states were not ancient Athens (where a remarkably small percentage of the population had full participation in Greek democracy in any case), and the Founders of the US were very concerned about the possibility of mob rule. That concern is what led them to developing the very different Senate and House, and the Electoral College, among other institutions. They did NOT intend for there to be direct democracy.

So, tillikum, please proceed.

Hekate