The Breakup of the United States

8/9/2019 The Breakup of the United States

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The Breakup of the United States

by Michael S. Rozeff

As the dissatisfactions of Americans with their national government grow, so does the likelihood

of the breakup of the United States. I believe that most Americans can improve their well-beingby ending the national government, that is, ending the Union. I believe that this goal should

shape politics if politics is to do much good.

I dont think Americans are going to be the first people in the modern era to initiate a large-scale

anarchy. But Americans might conceivably move back to a federal form of government

something like that under the Articles of Confederation. If so, the problem is how to proceed.

Many Americans feel (and are) trapped and thwarted by government power.

I see two paths. Americans can do this either acting as individuals formed into a body politic of

300 million Americans or as 50 body politics organized by state. I think action by state has a

better chance of success.

To act as one body, Americans would have to alter their Constitution. The divisions among

Americans make this highly unlikely. Even if it were pursued, the results would be highly

uncertain.

I like to think of federal programs being made optional at either the state or the personal level,

but that means ending the Constitution or radically amending it. This takes me back to the other

path of change: the States. This path looks more viable.

We the People created the Constitution through state legislatures. That is a quasi-legal path to

undoing the Constitution and thus breaking up the United States. This begins a process by whichAmericans take back their own government. I say begins because most states are also

candidates for restructuring. Many local governments are also out of control.

I dont think Americans can improve their lot by participating in national politics under the

current rules of the national game. I think they have to change the rules. They have to end the

Union and get out from under the existing Constitution, which is now entirely controlled and

interpreted by the national government.

Since there is no consensus for going back to the original Constitution and since it would have to

be rewritten and renegotiated, which is a process of uncertain outcome and which is impractical

anyway, this leaves one viable path: ending the Union and ending this Constitution.

Rather than thinking in terms of national politics, which at best can only produce marginal

changes and which plays into the hands of the national powers-that-be, it would be far smarter to

have no national or federal government at all. Although this involves significant political

restructuring, We the People and the States can always retain or exercise options to form

federated organizations for specific and limited purposes if we so desire.


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accumulated dissatisfactions with the monumental corruption, power-mongering, waste, and

totalitarian nature of the United States government will seek and find channels of political relief.

The number of potential actions that can set off a chain reaction is very large. Once one or more

of the States throw down the gauntlet, the downfall of the U.S. will be sparked.

This will come through the financial markets. The value of the United States paper currency

depends critically on the taxing power of the United States. Anything that undermines U.S. tax

collections undermines the U.S. dollar.

To bring down the U.S. government, all it may take is for one state to declare that its citizens

need no longer pay taxes to the U.S. government. No matter what the national government does

next and no matter what complex sequence of political tit for tat ensues, the uncertainty will

balloon.

The financial markets will do the rest. A flight from the U.S. dollar will set in. Flight from the

dollar will torpedo and sink the national government.

The Chinese and other foreign lenders will be very unhappy about their investments. So will

anyone who is a creditor of the U.S.

Financial market prices at present are not factoring in even a small chance of this happening.

Lenders to Uncle Sam act as if everything is hunky-dory. U.S. government bonds even look

attractive to those who believe further and deeper depression is imminent.

No break up is visible in the short run. This seems to confirms such thinking. But boiling beneath

the surface is a rising stream of heated discontent. Major political change is far more likely than

it may seem to superficial observation.

Greek bond prices fell very sharply when the government went into crisis. They only recovered

when the rest of Euroland decided to bail out the Greek government and bondholders.

There is no external bank or government that can or will extend credit to the U.S. to save the

dollar once the perception spreads that its tax collecting power is permanently impaired.

The Federal Reserve cant save the dollar or the U.S. government by extending credit. The

markets will see right through that. In a politically fragile situation where the tax-collecting

power of the national government has sunk, the Fed is powerless to save the national

government.

Once enough people in a given state gain the conviction that they will be far better off by

shutting off the flow of their incomes to Washington, then they will get their legislature to stand

up to Washingtons dictates. This will encourage citizens of other states who are in a similar

situation.


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There does not have to be a shot heard round the world as on April 19, 1775. A Declaration of

Tax Independence will take its place.

Even if such a process of one state standing up against Uncle Sam fails, even if it elicits

responses from the national government that thwart immediate success, experience will be

gained. The national government is bound to show its true oppressive colors in such an episode.The game changes. A game-changing event or series of events is what is needed.

The government of the United States markets itself as the nations defender. It advertises that it

provides security nationwide for We the People. It claims that it provides military security,

economic security, and social security.

These are all false claims. More and more Americans recognize these claims as false. More and

more Americans recognize that the United States government has reduced their security in all its

many forms.

The United States government has succeeded in entangling Americans in an endless successionof foreign wars. It has succeeded in retarding and even reversing standards of living. It has

succeeded in raising medical care costs and reducing the quality of medical care. It has

perpetuated a Ponzi scheme of social security that is doomed to fail. The United States

government is responsible for reducing American freedoms, for spying on Americans, for

searching them, and for turning travel into a nightmare.

More and more Americans realize that promises of security do not create security. More and

more Americans realize that the United States government creates insecurity and disorder.

The United States government does not deserve the tax dollars it collects. This is the

fundamental bread-and-butter reason for ending the Union. The Constitution allows massive taxcollections for purposes enunciated by Washington. There is no way to stop this process, which

is killing the country, except by undoing the political foundation by which it is enforced.

The stream of tax dollars flowing to Washington can be turned off by the action of one or more

state legislatures who act on behalf of their citizens. When that source of financing is halted, the

United States government will be well on its way to break up. This is the great gift that we

should bestow on ourselves and future Americans.

Americans will remain. America will remain. The nation will remain. The People will remain.

The country will remain. The United States government is none of these things. It will go. With

that burden lifted from our shoulders, we can once again make our way to better lives. We can

renew a process of liberation and liberty that has been frustrated.


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The Breakup of the United States