July 4 is called Independence Day in America.  It could be called Secession Day.  Not only was it a declaration of independence from the British crown, it was an act of defiance.  It was an act of secession.

Most Americans do not favor secession.  There was a recent poll that showed 24% of Americans now favor the right of a state to secede from the U.S. (the “union”).  This is considerably higher than it was just a couple of years ago.

Yet, for the other 76% of Americans who do not approve of state secession, most of them would probably endorse the Revolutionary War on the side of the American colonists.  But why was it ok for the colonists to secede but not a state today?  Is it simply because the colonists were ruled by a king whereas today we are ruled by politicians who we get to pretend to vote for every few years.  (By the way, I’m not saying all elections are fraudulent, but just that elections don’t ever change much because of the rigged game that has been set up.)

These 76% of Americans, I hate to say it, are being hypocritical.  I suppose, giving them the benefit of the doubt, they are just being lazy in their thinking.  They don’t realize that they support the secession of the American colonists, yet don’t think people in a given state (or any other jurisdiction) should have that right today.

The ironic thing about this is that a state wanting to secede today would be much more justified in doing so.  In the 1770’s, the American colonists were paying minimal taxes to the British king.  Perhaps it was 1 or 2 percent.  Today, Americans get the privilege of paying almost half of their income towards government at all levels.  The American colonists were a free people (not counting the slaves) compared to Americans of today.

On July 4, try not to get into any major political arguments with friends and family.  But you can certainly remind them that July 4 is the date that American colonists declared that they were seceding from government rule.  Unfortunately, it just got us another government, which eventually got a lot bigger.