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I’m jaded. Non-stop watching of politics has me burnt out. I never got into the Obama fervor, and I’ve actually stopped watching the Daily Show because I’m just so sick of it (politics, not Jon Stewart). However, given how deeply the current events affect myself and my business, I need to have at least a basic daily understanding. Why, just this Monday, because of Senator Bunning’s obstructionism, doctors are taking a 20% paycut (twenty percent!) for all services rendered to Medicare and Tricare patients. These things creep up on you rather quickly.

That being said: secession. Rick Perry beat Kay Bailey Hutchinson in the GOP primary. KBH decided to drop her Senate race and then didn’t, allowing RP to label her a flip flopper. In the meantime, Rick Perry has more than once suggested secession from the U.S., and also rode a great deal of federal government hostility to the win.

The popular tea party candidate (whose name I’m forgetting) actually secured almost 20% of the vote. In essence, we’re talking about 70% of GOP primary voters had an anti-U.S., pro-Texas sentiment in this particular election.

Will Texas ever secede from the Union? Probably not, no. But, can anyone remember a time in recent memory where the country was this polarized? I blame the 24 hour news networks and constant feeds where this sort of demagoguery and frenzied battling has allowed federal employees to become something like rock stars; the crazier they are, the more adoration they get from their fanbase. Crazy is a relative word – obviously, and can be applied to each side of the aisle.

Speaking of which, Texas isn’t the only one with aspirations to secede.

Ever hear of the Republic of Cascadia? It’s a fascinating sort of movement / non-movement dating back to the 1800s that was first envisioned by Thomas Jefferson. Since then, the movement has been seemingly besieged by bad luck (you can read the wiki entry for details).

The basic gist is that it is a social movement: pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-social equality. Secession would require Oregon and Washington to leave the U.S. and the general Vancouver area to leave Canada.

It seems the Vancouver games have stoked the interest of the movement yet again. Will it falter this time, too? I imagine yes. Even so, it’s an interesting. It’d be a liberal mecca to rival even European countries. It’d have a top 20 world economy (and a top 10 if California took part). And it’s located in some of the beautiful land in North America.

I’m interested in your thoughts on the subject, so leave them in the comments.

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