"The denial of the right to secede from a voluntary union is itself a primary justification for secession"
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Vermont
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A Summary of the Nature and Role of Government
Man is by necessity a social creature. It has been thus since the dawn of man. We banded together in small hunter-gatherer groups in prehistoric times, we built tribal communities and over time developed the system of government that gave rise to the modern nation state. Government is the guarantor of greater peace, tranquility and health than might otherwise be obtainable in a more solitary condition.
John C. Calhoun in his Disquisition on Government viewed the institution of government as; "although intended to protect and preserve society, has itself a strong tendency to disorder and abuse of its powers, as all experience and almost every page of history testify".
What then are we to make of this fearful beast that we rely on so heavily. How might a people make government a servant of their needs and avoid becoming servants of the government itself? John Ponet in 1556 argued that that the power of any ruler is not absolute but is constrained by natural law. Christopher Goodman in 1558 expanded on the ideas of Ponet and argued that The People were not required to obey unjust rulers in every circumstance. These thoughts and those of others combined to bring an end to the concept of the divine right of kings. Our tradition of political thought in the West is heavily influenced by the idea that no government retains absolute right to rule.
Thomas Paine in The Rights of Man discussed further the notion that governments were not only limited in their power but accountable to the people. Paine asserted that the people could choose their own governors; cashier governors for misconduct and frame their own form of government. Paine held that the right of the people in this regard rest not in one person or one group but in all men.
These ideas and concepts of what government ought not be and what powers are reserved to the people were key ideas in the independence movement in America. The words of Patrick Henry succinctly express the emotion of this concept. Without the ideological foundation laying that began during the reformation and continued through the Enlightenment we simply would not have achieved independence from Britain. The idea of liberty and the rights of the people to attain that are not uniquely American but they are certainly concepts that became woven into our core very early. The joint Declaration of Independence by the thirteen colonies speaks the concept clearly.
What then is good government and what is its role. Government should provide for the interest of the people and serve their will. It should live within the confines of the documents that created it and the powers delegated to it. Nothing more nothing less.
June 2004
North American * Secession and Independence Movements
*Hawaii and Puerto Rico are obviously not part of North America, no offense intended
Active Secession Movements Around the World
One Nation Indivisible? A Study of Secession and the Constitution