[extropy-chat] FSP: Killington Votes to Secede

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Any state which was formed out of the territory of
> another by an act of
> secession must implicitly recognise that secession
> is a legitimate act
> of self-determination, else its own legitimacy is
> debatable.

Easy counter, which many states can claim to have done
if seriously pressed:

"Well, yes, we could arguably be claimed to have
seceeded at one time.  But we've since decided that
further secession is not legitimate.  There are not
now alive any residents from when this claimed
secession that founded this state occurred, so we are
free to erase this mistake of our ancestors if it ever
did occur."

> These
> states include ALL states in what was once the
> Louisiana Territory, the
> Oregon Territory. This also includes many eastern
> states.

Territory != state, and there was an explicit
recognition of that in their governments: the
territorial governments were around only until such
time as their residents organized into states.  But
you may well be right about the eastern states.

> For the record, I would support SF or Bay Area
> secession.

There are quite a lot of residents who would support
splitting Northern California from Southern
California.  The topic has been seriously proposed
before; IIRC, there was a movement pressing for a vote
on it within the past 20 years.  Among the main things
stopping it is that Southern California, which has a
lot more political strength, would have its supply of
water imported from the north threatened, and they're
not about to let that happen.