Obama Admin Responds to Secession Petitions: Our States Remain United

The White House ^ | Friday, January 11, 2013 | Jon Carson

[kristinn]

Official White House Response toPeacefully grant the State of Louisiana to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government. and 8 other petitions .

Our States Remain United

By Jon Carson

Thank you for using the White House's online petitions platform to participate in your government.

In a nation of 300 million people -- each with their own set of deeply-held beliefs -- democracy can be noisy and controversial. And that's a good thing. Free and open debate is what makes this country work, and many people around the world risk their lives every day for the liberties we often take for granted.

But as much as we value a healthy debate, we don't let that debate tear us apart.

Our founding fathers established the Constitution of the United States "in order to form a more perfect union" through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government. They 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. As President Abraham Lincoln explained in his first inaugural address in 1861, "in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual." In the years that followed, more than 600,000 Americans died in a long and bloody civil war that vindicated the principle that the Constitution establishes a permanent union between the States. And shortly after the Civil War ended, the Supreme Court confirmed that "[t]he Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States."

Although the founders established a perpetual union, they also provided for a government that is, as President Lincoln would later describe it, "of the people, by the people, and for the people" -- all of the people. Participation in, and engagement with, government is the cornerstone of our democracy. And because every American who wants to participate deserves a government that is accessible and responsive, the Obama Administration has created a host of new tools and channels to connect concerned citizens with White House. In fact, one of the most exciting aspects of the We the People platform is a chance to engage directly with our most outspoken critics.

So let's be clear: No one disputes that our country faces big challenges, and the recent election followed a vigorous debate about how they should be addressed. As President Obama said the night he won re-election, "We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future."

Whether it's figuring out how to strengthen our economy, reduce our deficit in a responsible way, or protect our country, we will need to work together -- and hear from one another -- in order to find the best way to move forward. I hope you'll take a few minutes to learn more about the President's ideas and share more of your own.

Jon Carson is Director of the Office of Public Engagement

[kristinn]

H/t Zeke Miller at BuzzFeed

[skeeter]

As President Obama said the night he won re-election, "We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future."

Boy howdy he didn't waste any time telling his first 'whopper' did he?

[Da Coyote]

Not for long under you, t*rdbrain quota baby.

[Diogenesis]

"There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh - get first all the people's money, then their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever. It will be said that we do not propose to establish kings. I know it. But there is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government. It sometimes
relieves them from aristocratic domination. They had rather have one tyrant than 500. It gives more the appearance of equality among citizens, and that they like.
I am apprehensive - therefore - perhaps too apprehensive - that the government of these States may in future times end in a monarchy [not called a monarchy but an executive with monarchial powers]. But this catastrophe, I think, may long be delayed, if in our proposed system we do not sow the seeds of contention, faction and tumult, by making our posts of honor places of profit. If we do, I fear that, though we employ at first a number and not a single person, the number will in time be set aside, it will only nourish the fetus of a king (as the honorable gentleman from Virginia very aptly expressed it), and a king will the sooner be set over us."

-- Benjamin Franklin

[stevie_d_64]

President Obama...Blowin’ smoke...

[no-to-illegals]

Reminded me of a smack down via jimmi the peanut, another zer0. FAIL

[JoeFromSidney]

That's up to us to decide, not him.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Barry obviously doesn’t get it. Those states on the map that were colored red didn’t want him to have a second term. That’s not very “united”.

[Lazamataz]

So let's be clear: No one disputes that our country faces big challenges, and the recent election followed a vigorous debate about how they should be addressed. As President Obama said the night he won re-election, "We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future."

OMG, I just did a Spit Take.

[mikrofon]

C-section:knife :: Secession:___

[Christie at the beach]

Sorry, Bama. The big smile has no possession on me.

Under that exterior is a Marxist. I. Accept. That. As. Truth.

[ConradofMontferrat]

As President Obama said the night he won re-election, "We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future."

That commie pig, white hating racist wants to destroy this country. He HATES America, he HATES white folk, he HATES individualism and capitalism.

Anyone who doubts that is a USEFUL IDIOT.

[RoosterRedux]

Our States Remain United

Actually...no.

You have divided the states. So do you demand that they behave in a manner unsuited to the beliefs of their voters?

Let me suggest Mr. Obama...what you are saying is that our states will remain unified...not united.

You can demand our inclusion in your idea of a country...but you cannot, not now or ever, win our hearts.

The United States of America will never give in to your communist takeover.

Take your Marxist/Alinsky ideology to your favorite club, Mans Country in Chicago, wherein they will obligingly and gleefully shove it up your derriere (in the manner you have done the same to the America people).

In other words, take your ideology and shove it...or up yours Bronco Bamma!

[tet68]

As Franklin said in the above quote let us not make
our positions of honor a source of parfit.

Isn’t that what they have become?
Our representatives all grow rich in office.
They have profit but little honor.
It’s time for a change.
Restore the Constitution.

[Lazamataz]

We have so terribly departed from the ideals of the American founders, that sometimes, lying in bed before sleeping, I fantasize about what I would do to create a Free Martian Nation when colonizing the planet, since it is as distant from Earth now as America was from England.

[crusadersoldier]

“Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.”

Well with what he is doing to the Constitution ... that is up for debate.

[chopperjc]

Only the 6th President to garner 51% twice. Instead of wasting time on inane petitions we might want to build a party to win. The only civil war is going on is within the party

[iontheball]

They enshrined in that document the right to change our national government through the power of the ballot . . .
___________________________________________________
That’s an incomplete statement. It should read: They enshrined in that document the right to change our national government through the power of the ballot . . . AND, ADDITIONALLY, when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.