Later blaming harsh words on a bout of food poisoning, Director of the
White House Office of Public Engagement Jon Carson addressed a series of
petitions asking for an executive order to allow secession with a response that
the petitioners had “no idea how the nation worked.” What was meant as an
appeal to the legal system (Congress would have to grant secession, not the
president) was instead taken as an admission of rigged government by the
secessionists, who spun Carson’s words into a campaign that rattled and
ultimately split the nation.
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| Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons |
The petitions arose on whitehouse.gov’s We the People online petitioning system
following the 2012 elections. Those upset by Obama’s reelection joined ranks
with those already disgruntled by federal government to sign petitions asking
for the right to secede. The notion was ridiculous to many, citing the obvious
example of the Civil War, but the petitions actually gained momentum despite
not having legal status as actual requests from states themselves. By January,
eight states had petitions above the required 25,000 names to affirm a response
from the White House. The petition from Texas garnered signatures into the six
figures.
With the secessionists dominating the news cycle in objections to the
White House’s response, more and more politicians made their feelings known,
such as Texas legislature Speaker of the House Joe Straus III noting, “Our
economy is so vast and diverse that if Texas were its own country — and no,
don’t worry, that isn’t something we’re going to do this session — but if we
were, we’d be the 14th-largest economy in the world.” Texas Governor Rick Perry
admitted sharing frustrations with federal government, while Tennessee governor
Bill Haslam stated, “I don’t think that’s a valid option for Tennessee.”
Even though Tennessee and others refused to go forward, proposals began
to materialize from five states: Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and
Florida. The issue divided the Republican-dominated House of Representatives as
the party would lose their control with so many departing Republican seats.
Believing the bill would be killed in the Democratic Senate, however, the House
passed the Independence for FGALT Bill. The plans behind closed doors were said
to blame Democrats for tyranny and build momentum toward shifting control in
2014 elections. To their surprise, along with the rest of the nation, the
Senate passed the bill.
Many reasons were cited for voting for IFGALT, such as many just
wanting to say “good riddance” to that whole voting block, but the primary
voice was economics. Other than Texas, the states were a drain on federal
spending, sending more tax dollars into the states than were procured out of
them. After major efforts in balancing the budget over the past four years, a
single bill would create a federal budget surplus, the first since 2001. The
bill passed with more than the numbers needed to override presidential veto. President
Obama, who said he would have refused to sign the bill into law if fewer
senators had voted for it, stated that the hard actions of the day would make a
stronger union for those who remained, though he feared for his legacy.
The transition toward independence for the states was surprisingly
smooth as each formed new constitutions and representatives joined NAFTA to
ensure continuance of open trade. The Republic of Texas and the Republic of
Louisiana maintained independence while Alabama, Georgia, and Florida joined
together in a new nation: the Allied States of America. The name prompted a
lawsuit from CBS Paramount as it had been used in their 2006 television series Jericho. The suit was quietly settled in
the end, but it did establish precedent between the nations to serve later
legal issues.
A sizeable migration followed the 2013 departures of the five states
with many citizens dedicated to the ideals of independence moving into the new
nations while others departed to maintain their United States citizenship.
Texas grew in population while the ASA remained steady; Louisiana, however,
suffered as a major economic collapse that caused people to pack up in search
of work. Politics became radicalized in Louisiana with many calling for a
return to the Union. The Hillary Clinton White House, which handily won the 2016
election, dispatched aid but could do little more without congressional approval.
The Republic of Texas, too, refused Louisiana’s request to join as a partner
state despite close ties to its oil industry.
Other secessionist movements broke out across the nation, although most
went silent seeing the collapse of Louisiana, shocking legal changes in the
Republic of Texas, and the ASA’s struggles to find international relations
distinct from the US. South Carolina had several factions calling for
independence, but they could not come to agreement on how the new nation would
be governed afterward. The state of Oklahoma campaigned to break in two, with
the southern and western parts planning to join the Republic of Texas while the
northeast sought to maintain US ties. East Oregon did succeed in splitting away
from the more liberal coast, though it did not leave the Union. Several Native
American groups announced their own campaigns for independence; however, none
were recognized on a large enough scale to win congressional approval.
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In reality, the White House’s Jon Carson wrote that the framers of the Constitution
“enshrined in that document the right to change our national government through
the power of the ballot — a right that generations of Americans have fought to
secure for all. But they did not provide a right to walk away from it.”
