Regarding the secession petitions: Don't be ridiculous.
First of all, a serious secession movement doesn't start by politely asking the President to please consider allowing a state to secede. It's obvious to me that these petitions are just a way to give the President the finger, by "forcing" him to make an official statement about what amounts to general crankiness.
And the response petition? "We Petition the Obama Administration to: Strip the Citizenship from Everyone who Signed a Petition to Secede and Exile Them." Ha ha, I get it. "You can't break up with us, we break up with you!" Very funny, guys.
Look, if the people who signed the secession petitions are serious -- and I have no doubt some of them are -- they're just going about this all wrong. You don't solve statism with the state. You'll just wind up with more state.
You do it by heeding Ghandi's advice: "Be the change you want to see in the world." You do it by opting out, by exercising your unalienable rights, and by seeking out and setting up camp in every inch of freedom you can find.
But some people would rather thumb their noses. Hey, it's a free country.
