Virginians Start Secession Petition, McLean Residents Sign On
Virginia joins Texas, other states in creating a petition to secede from the United States. At least two McLean residents have signed it.
In a move that seems to take the idea of red states and blue states one step further, residents unhappy with the results of the presidential election last week are signing petitions to secede from the union.
As of Tuesday, more than 2,000 Virginians were behind a petition (created on Sunday) to secede, including at least two signatures from McLean. "Connor R." from McLean was the 2,243th signature on the petition. "John M." from McLean signed on Tuesday, too, as the 1,200th signature. You can see all the signatures on the White House Web site.
If seceding from the union sounds like something that happened during the Civil War era, you're correct: Virginia seceded from the union April 17, 1861, after the Nov. 6, 1860 election of another president, Abraham Lincoln.
Find out how McLean and Great Falls precincts voted last week in the presidential election.
Virginia isn't alone. Residents in at least 30 states have started petitions to secede or break away from the United States. Texas, Louisiana and Florida have apparently gained the most signatures. The petitions reportedly need at least 25,000 signatures before they will be recognized by the president. Texas and Louisiana reportedly have more than that. No word from the White House.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an early GOP candidate for president, weighed in on the controversy Tuesday. "Gov. [Rick] Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it," his press secretary Catherine Frazier wrote in a statement to the Dallas Morning News. "But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government."
The Virginia petition reads as follows:
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Peacefully grant the State of Virginia to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.
As the founding fathers of the United States of America made clear in the Declaration of Independence in 1776:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
"...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 institute new Government..."
What do you think about some Virginians signing on to the idea of seceding from the union? Is it an overreaction to the results of last week's presidential election results? Weigh in.
David Benson
7:29 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Connor R and John M are cowards for not including their surnames when they signed that petition.
To both of you - get the hell out of my country.
Lauren Sausser
8:45 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
I don't think the petition on the White House website allows the signers to include their full last name. Some signers chose not to disclose their location, but all of them were only identified by their first name and the first letter of their last initial.
Jack Lee Rickman
9:24 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
I wonder is this how the British felt when the Declaration of Independence arrived...hmmm or better yet we should ask a Roman citizen. Oh I forgot their empire failed and is only in history books and museums now. We are a fool to believe America will last forever...
Bristolbell
9:34 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Been there, tried it, lost it. Check the history books. Get over it, and get geared up to make this a better country instead of being bigoted and partisan. The times they are a'changing.
Locally Involved
3:57 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Seems to me that the GOTP would rather not work together with their fellow neighbors towards a better country but prefer to have their own little dictatorship. So much for considering themselves Americans.
Dorothy Hassan
4:24 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
So, would these people call themselves patriots? I believe theirs is the message that the voters rejected. Most Americans are neither right wing or left wing, but centrist and, most of all, pragmatists.
Iraq war veteran Democrat
10:18 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Janine Franco you should get out of our county along with Connor and John. Sorry losers!!
MBH
11:33 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Silly!
Adam
1:39 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Virginia is my home. Not this country.
Mark Litteral
10:27 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
No country in history has succeded when ruled by communism or socialism...only the United States..so you libs get over it!!!!!!!!!!
Heather Hosick Kennedy
1:46 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Are any of you the people that I saw in front of the Elm Street Post Office yesterday?
Locally Involved
1:52 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Heather - what happened in front of the post office? I need to be around more often to catch this stuff! LOL.
Heather Hosick Kennedy
2:06 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
There were a couple of guys with signs protesting Obama. I didn't get a good look at the signs or the men, but it appeared to be the usual Tea Party kind of thing.
Locally Involved
2:14 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Thanks for your quick reply! Good Lord, these people need to move on. Election is over. Quit whining and start working with each other to get things done for everybody's benefit. Whatever happened to country above all else?
Darn, I bet the Giant is out of tinfoil now. dang.
Have a good day, Heather!
Janine Franco
6:50 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
My most sincere apology to all. I didn't mean to come across that way. I wish everyone good health and happiness!!!