Citizens of 20 states seek separation from the US

WASHINGTON: American citizens from at least 20 US states have filed petitions to secede following re-election of Barack Obama.

Following the re-election, several petitions surfaced requesting the Obama administration to peacefully grant the applied states to withdraw from the United States of America in order to create their own governments.

Louisiana was the first state to file a petition followed by Texas. States with secession-related petitions on the White House website also include Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Citizens from the 20 states have filed to secede from the United States while the results from the 2012 presidential election are less than one week old.

While many in Texas have been outspoken about seceding from the union for years, in the aftermath of the recent election the first push for secession began in Louisiana and has quickly spread to states including New Jersey and Michigan.

The US government allows one month from the date the petition is submitted to WhiteHouse.gov to obtain 25,000 signatures in order for the Obama administration to consider the request.

The likelihood of the current administration to even entertain the idea of allowing states to secede is almost non-existent. What is sobering to realise though is that in less than 48-hours there have been tens of thousands of people who have quickly rallied behind this very grassroots approach to request change, autonomy, and a small measure of freedom. There is a strong chance that if the mainstream media picks up on this “everyman” movement, they will likely ridicule it as the actions of a bunch of radicals.

What strikes a chord though is that there is a strong segment of the American population that feels that their voices are not being heard and for far too long special interest groups have dictated the direction the country is headed.

The author of the Louisiana petition, “Michael E” submitted his request utilising excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.

In Texas, “Micah H” states in his petition, “The US continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government’s neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending.”

He went on to add that Texas “maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th largest economy in the world,” making it “practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the Union.”

Here are the numbers of petition signers for each of the 20 states (each petition needs 25,000 signatures within 30 days to be considered by the government):

Alabama 3,975

Arkansas 350

Colorado 3,055

Florida 4,033

Georgia 1,629

Indiana 3,194

Kentucky 3,229

Louisiana 12,192

Michigan 2,482

Mississippi 3,171

Missouri 2,196

Montana 2,867

New Jersey 2,485

New York 2,847

North Carolina 3,823

North Dakota 2,508

Oregon 2,678

South Carolina 2,632

Tennessee 2,659

Texas 14,883

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