First, how many of the people who have signed these petitions would be willing to sign on if they believed that by doing so they faced the likelihood of being drawn and quartered if the movement fails? Those were the stakes faced by those who signed our Declaration. I suspect that most of the folks signing these online secession petitions are treating it like they might a grocery store petition to repeal a motorcycle helmet law. How many of these people are really prepared to die over this issue? How many are really just blowing off steam and relying on the First Amendment to save them from a traitor's execution?
Second, believing as I do that this movement is likely to go the way of the hula hoop, will the conservative movement be damaged if it becomes associated with what is inherently an expression of hostility to the United States of America? Isn't that what crippled the Democrats after what they did in the sixties and early seventies to oppose the USA's foreign policy? Are conservatives permanently immune to any taint unpatriotism?
I would have a lot more respect for the secession movement if I thought that a significant number of people were really prepared to pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Right now, it feels more like another "cool thing to do." If it doesn't work, I hope that the conservatives don't get left holding the bag.
You may not know it, but there are things that gnaw on a man worse than dying.