Decentralization and Secession

Activists in Illinois and Indiana are talking about changing the state borders so separatist Illinois counties can join Indiana. As you'd expect, many politicians hate the idea.

The Southern secession from 1861-65 is portrayed as a “lost cause” by supporters and an act of evil by its detractors. Murray Rothbard argued that the Confederates were seeking freedom from political oppressors, just as their ancestors had done in the American Revolution.

Erick Brimen joins Bob to show how Próspera Honduras offers economic freedom and choice in regulatory treatment.

Gen. William T. Sherman‘s infamous “March to the Sea” is covered almost antiseptically in American history texts. Yet, Sherman‘s actions would have been judged as war crimes had he not been on the winning side.

President Donald Trump has openly called for the US to annex Greenland. However, Greenland‘s residents don‘t want to be part of the US empire. Unfortunately, this is another chapter in the sorry history of US acquisitions.

There is always the choice between the market principle and the hegemonic principle. There is no third way or middle ground between the two, often presented as a “mixed economy.”

How did the US go from a nation that revered liberty to one with despotic governance? While political forces already were trying to push the US in a direction of centralization, the Civil War completed the job. We see the results of those centralized outcomes daily.

Harry Jaffa suggested that Americans should adopt a “civil religion,” with Lincoln as a quasi-divine figure. This, of course, makes the state into a quasi-divine institution. 

Democracy is the watchword with the ruling classes, yet a democratic political system does not protect individual freedoms. Indeed, democracy often has become the main road to socialism. It‘s time for some honest discussion.

Passed in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to further centralize governance away from the old decentralized political model. It still is accomplishing that purpose.