G. Pascal Zachary: Why is the Will to Secede not a Right Wing Fantasy?

From time to time, the breakup of the United States becomes appealing to many citizens, patriots of various stripes who "in the Course of human events" have come to believe that it is necessary for one people to dissolve the political band which have connected them. We are in one of those periods now, and while the reasons are unique and the historical moment singular, looking forward at past episodes of secessionist fervor exemplify a passing fancy? Or does it rather suggest a deeper, even revolutionary, change in the American political terrain? The immediate trigger was Barack Obama's victory, which heralded a new coalition of voters, women, people of color and young people, who voted for the Democratic candidate at such a rate that, given the prevailing demographic trends, the Democratic Party appears to possess a major advantage for the foreseeable future. After the election, right wing activists immediately called for Texas to secede from the union. This echoed a declaration by progressive Vermonters, first made in 2003, to explore ways to opt out of a country that they deemed too reactionary. A November 9 petition asking the Obama administration to peacefully grant the state of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America, has garnered nearly 120,000 signatures to become by far the most popular petition on White House.gov. Additional secession petitions have come in from the other 49 states, with those from Louisiana, Florida and Georgia amassing more than 30,000 signatories apiece. One thing is certain: a bloc of Southern states that once were essential to any Democratic majority, from Wilson to Clinton, from the onset of World War I to the defeat of Al Gore in 2000 is no longer. Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina: The Democrats now can lose every one of these states in a presidential race and still win handily. Obama just did. The Southern strategy is gone.