Posted on 06/06/2012 6:18:45 AM PDT by CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) – Nearly one-quarter of Americans believe that states have the right to secede, according to a recent poll from Rasmussen Reports -- up 10 percentage points in two years.
The latest poll is just one of many that shows that Americans have “serious and growing concern about the federal government,” according to Scott Rasmussen, founder and president of Rasmussen Reports.
According to the phone survey released Sunday, 24 percent of Americans believe that states should be able to withdraw from the United States to form their own country, if they want. Nearly 60 percent (59) of Americans say they don’t believe states have the right to secede, while 16 percent are undecided.
“We do see that people are concerned about the federal government in a variety of ways,” Rasmussen told CNSNews.com. “51 percent believe that it’s a threat to individual liberties.
“It may just be part of a growing frustration with other aspects of the federal government,” he said.
“But I think it’s important to keep it in perspective, growing to 24 percent still means that only one out of four Americans think that states have the right to secede, it’s not that they’re advocating for it,” Rasmussen said.
Though a minority, the number has been growing. In 2010, when Rasmussen first conducted the poll, only 14 percent of Americans said states had the right to secede. A year later, the number was up to 21 percent.
The poll, which surveyed 1,000 adults between May 29 and 30, asked, among other questions: “Do individual states have the right to leave the United States and form an independent country?”
Only 10 percent of poll respondents said it was likely a state would attempt to secede in the next 25 years -- “a pretty generous time frame,” Rasmussen said. “So it’s not seen as a very realistic possibility,” he added.
The survey also asked whether the federal government is a protector or a threat to individual rights, to which a majority -- 51 percent -- said the government presents a danger to liberty.
“[O]nly 34 percent of adults in this country regard the federal government more as a protector of individual rights,” according to the poll.
“More Americans than ever are expressing strong concern that the federal government will run out of money,” according to Rasmussen Reports, who also found that 64 percent of Americans are at least somewhat worried that the U.S. government will run out of money. 43 percent are “very worried” that the U.S. government will run out of money, while 31 percent of adults are not worried and 10 percent are “not at all worried.”
The total federal debt currently stands at $15.8 trillion.
Rasmussen told CNSNews.com that recent polling shows that Americans have a “growing frustration” with the federal government.
“What we’re seeing in a whole range of surveys is serious and growing concern about the federal government, about the role of government in American life,” he said. “Only about one out of five Americans believe the government today has the consent of the governed. People believe that America’s best days -- about half the nation believes -- America’s best days have come and gone.”
“Only 16 percent believe that today’s children will be better off than their parents,” he said, “that’s a horrifically low number for America.”
“And then you’ve got individual proposals, [New York City] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg’s proposal of banning large sugary drinks is supported by 24 percent of Americans, 2 out of 3 oppose it,” Rasmussen added. “So there’s this frustration that’s been building.”
Count me as a proud member of the 25%. My personal conviction is this is the only long term solution.
All 50 states are sovereign over the Federal Government still today.
The only power the Fed has over the states are Federal Reserve Notes.
Of course states have the right to secede. The question lies in the process; the “how”.
I Believe!
Plus, other countries might consider joining us, if they know they can get out with a reasonable effort (90% vote of citizenship take in two votes, 1 to initialize and show intent and second 6months or a year later to formally withdraw from the Union?)
I'm right there with you, for the same reason.
I think the understanding on both sides is that there can be no “compromise” worked out between statists and individualists.
If the individualists keep the statists out of power, then the statists’ policy is null. If the statists get power, then the individuals’ liberty is null.
Individualists would love to separate and just be left alone by the statists,
but the statists, by their very nature, seek control, especially over those that disagree with their ideology.
It would be interesting to see what the numbers are for each state. I would bet that Texas is up around 35%.
“It may just be part of a growing frustration with other aspects of the federal government,” he said.
No, the frustration is that more people are waking up to the fact that government is taking away more and more choices and freedoms.
If the Supreme Court comes out with a ruling to force states to accept gay marriage, my support for secession goes up exponentially.
Yep.
We ARE the 25%......
The entire south tried to secede bringing about the Civil War. If it wasn’t allowed then, why would it be allowable now? Contrary to popular belief the Civil War wasn’t about the slavery issue, it was because the Confederate states didn’t want to be part of the Union. Am I wrong?
And Northern liberals had no right expanding the scope and power of the Federal government using the Civil War as an excuse.
Of course, even if the North had allowed a peaceful secession, the South would have been an undeniable threat or am I wrong? It appeared even on the eve of war at Fort Sumpter that the South wasn't overtly aggressive.
It is likely that the South would have diminished greatly in power over the decades relying on slaves instead of innovation. A slave-rich South would have become an impoverished South. Eventually, the South would have been begging to be let back into the Union. But would that have hampered the progress of the United States as to allow the other world powers a freer hand in dominating the globe? Probably.
Individualists would love to separate and just be left alone by the statists, but the statists, by their very nature, seek control, especially over those that disagree with their ideology.
Nice summation.
Secession is in the American bloodstream. Your ancestors separated themselves from (perceived or actual) unjust or unfree countries so that they could be free. There is no sense in which the American people ‘are not allowed to secede’.
In fact: if the Constitution is no longer being honored in the US, you don’t really have a choice.
The Constitution guarantees the States a republican form of governemnt. If all the power and authority resides in DC, then there is no republic - the contract is broken, and the Constitution is no longer in effect.
Thanks for this thread.
As Federal National Debt continues to make the US Federal Government TO BIG TO SUCCEED, the Regional breakup of the former United States of America will follow Economic, Commonsense Guidelines.
The States through which the XL Tar Sands Pipeline will run will be called the Texas Region of America.
The States through which the Mississippi River runs will be called the Mississippi Region of America.
The other major regions will be the Pacific Coast, Atlantic Coast, and Rocky Mountain Regions of America.
Each State can then vote whatever welfare debt structure or social engineering plan that they want to burden themselves with, as long as they agree to assume sole responsibility for the financial and social consequences of their actions.
E Unum, Plurabus Reginum.
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