And all the people that counted were the People of the State involved. That's how we do things around here. In our States -- because we are our States, John Marshall's lying about it in McCullogh vs. Maryland to the contrary notwithstanding.
Marshall had a Framer in the room, Luther Martin -- and Marshall had the gall to spew Hamiltonian buncombe about, well, yeah, elections are held in States and electoral votes cast by States -- but hey, that's just an administrative convenience, for the benefit of our Amalgamated Lumpenproletariat Uberpeople of the Amalgamated State of Marshalldom ...... what a lying, sorry sack. But that's Marshall for you -- "the laws of England are in my mouth!" He wasn't a Federalist, he was a Plantagenet.
We ratified by States, we elect by States, we amend by States, we represent by States. The People is the People of a State, and all the People are the People of the United States -- but States nevertheless, not State. This isn't "the United State of America" or "the Grand United Kingdom of America". Words mean something -- and Ronnie was right.
You don't get a second opinion from your neighbor before you sell your house, and the People don't need to get a second opinion on secession from the Union. They are always free to go -- or they aren't free at all, and we can just bag it.
At the risk of poking too obvious a hole in your really dumb analogy, if you didn't need your neighbors opinion to buy the house in the first place then it stands to reason that you don't need it to sell. States, on the other hand, did need the consent of the other states to join the Union.