Happy 4th of July! You can also call it Independence Day or Secession Day. For some reason, it is socially acceptable to celebrate independence, but not so much secession.
But that’s what independence was for the American colonies. They declared their independence from the British crown. They declared their secession.
It was also the decentralization of government. The British Empire got a little bit smaller, and it proceeded to get smaller over the following two centuries.
Unfortunately, centralization grew after that in America. The first major step was abolishing the Articles of Confederation and replacing them with the Constitution. The U.S. Constitution gave far more power to the national government. But to be sure, we would be much better off today if we actually followed the Constitution as compared to what we’ve got.
Ultimately, our only way back to liberty is through decentralization. We can’t try to impose our views on others except to be left alone. If New Yorkers want strict gun control, maybe we have to let that happen. If California wants socialist healthcare, they can have it as long as it isn’t imposed on the rest of us.
I think more people are realizing that this is the only way forward. We have an extremely divided country. With the internet and the decentralization of information, that divide has only grown. You can see that with abortion. You can see that with COVID. You can see that in the culture.
The only peaceful way forward is some form of separation. It doesn’t necessarily have to be full-blown secession.
Just as Roe v. Wade was recently overturned by the Supreme Court, we need this separation with everything. Unfortunately, many people didn’t see that decision for what it was. It decentralized government and gave greater control to state governments and the people.
We don’t need a national policy on abortion, just as we don’t need a national policy on drugs, or healthcare, or a minimum wage, or even taxes. It would even be great if we didn’t have a national policy on foreign policy.
I believe libertarians need to start advocating more for this separation. Instead of fighting to change national policies that are mostly bad, we need to fight to not have a national policy at all. If we aren’t ready for state secession, we at least need policy secession.
Despite the chaos and totalitarianism we have seen within our shores in the last few years, I believe great progress has been made in exposing the establishment and their lies.
I think some form of separation is the next step. We don’t need Trump to make America great again. We need to make America free again. And in order to do that, we need to make America decentralized again.
We can learn from July 4th as a day of secession and decentralization.