The White House politely shot down the secession petitions circulating on the White House petition website late Friday, dashing the hopes of malcontents who have submitted petitions to allow their states to withdraw from the union in the wake of President Obama’s reelection last November.
“Democracy can be noisy and controversial. And that’s a good thing,” wrote Jon Carson, director of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement. “Free and open debate is what makes this country work…But as much as we value a healthy debate, we don’t let that debate tear us apart.”
Carson offered the would-be secessionists a history lesson, explaining that the Constitution guarantees “the right to change our national government through the power of the ballot – a right that generations of Americans have fought to secure for all. But they did not provide a right to walk away from it.”
He also invoked the sad history of the Civil War as a cautionary tale for those who would so casually seek a repeat of our bloodiest conflict, writing, “More than 600,000 Americans died in a long and bloody civil war that vindicated the principle that the Constitution establishes a permanent union between the States.”
n/t CBS
