On Thu, 4 Jan 2001, John K. Taber wrote:
> I'm alarmed by the Southern Secessionists, and I think Ashcroft is one
> of them. I see them as a conspiracy out to destroy the United States
> mainly so that they can continue their crimes at the local level
> without fear of interference from the Feds.
I think there's a germ of truth in this, in that they parallel those who brought us "devolution" after the Republican Revolution of 1994 and "federalism" with the current Supreme Court. In each case the program arises from the simple fact that it takes corporations more effort to fix Congress than to fix a state house; contrariwise, opposition to corporate machinations is more possible on the federal level.
> On the other hand, maybe destroying the United States is something
> this group should consider. Maybe it would reduce us to several
> mutually suspicious states (what Madison feared), and lead to the end
> of our imperialism.
William Appleman Williams, who inspired a generation of revisionist history in the US, suggested just before he died that the Constitution of 1787 should be scrapped and the US should return to the Articles of Confederation...
--C. G. Estabrook