So we’ve all heard how citizens in a number of states are now petitioning the federal government to peacefully secede from the Union, and several states have reached the 25,000 signature threshold that is supposed to generate a response from the Obama administration. Americans who sign such petitions should rethink the wisdom of their action, however. Secession is not a very good idea (even if only to make a point), and calls for secession open another door for the liberal propagandists to mock anyone who opposes Obama’s policies (more on this later).

Some time ago, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton outlined a number of arguments in favor of the states forming a single union, rather than three, four, or thirteen. Such arguments can be found in the Federalist Papers, nos. 2 through 14, and they make as much sense today as they did 225 years ago. Rather than supporting secession, a better approach would be to characterize the desire for less central government as a right to self-government and self-determination, and that political justice calls for citizens within states to control more of their own affairs.

As mentioned above, a by-product of the petition drive is that it gives liberal propagandists an opportunity to misrepresent and insult people living in red states. For example, although citizens in almost all states have joined the petition drive, that hasn’t stopped Dana Milbank from focusing on red states, most of which are located in the south. He does this so he can call them a “Confederacy of Takers,” in another obvious attempt by a liberal, this time using the word “confederacy,” to insult as racist anyone opposed to Obama’s policies.

The “takers” part of Milbank’s phrase refers to the fact that red states tend to receive more money back from the central government than its citizens pay in taxes. So Milbank here is taking the “free stuff” concept embraced by blue state voters and associating it with red states in an attempt to confuse readers. Actually, the idea that citizens of states pay taxes to the federal government only to have the feds turn around and give the money right back is crazy in the first place, but neither Milbank nor anyone else seems to notice.

Once the federal government sheds itself of the red state takers, Milbank envisions a blue country utopia that “could enjoy lower taxes and the high level of government services typical of the Northeast, the Great Lakes, and the West Coast.” No doubt Milbank’s blue state heaven is like the European utopia, well, except for places like Greece and Spain with their 25% unemployment rates.

And of course, as is true for all liberal propagandists who praise blue states, Milbank never once mentions the fiscal problems of the blue states (e.g., California, Illinois, New York, etc.), and the fact that such states most likely will be asking for federal bailouts. Sounds like there needs to be a “dys” in front of Milbank’s post-secession utopia.