The Chattanooga Declaration - Point 1 Analysis

I plan to write seven separate posts dealing with each particular point of the Chattanooga Declaration in an effort to provide inarguable truths related to the necessity of such a declaration and the various secession movements within the united states.

1. The deepest questions of human liberty and government facing our time go beyond right and left, and in fact have made the old right-left split meaningless and dead.

Who seriously believes that there is any real difference between Republicans and what they claim to represent and Democrats and what they claim to believe. To be certain there are various points of difference in their approaches, otherwise their entanglements would not make for such fun sport. However, we are not talking about simple issues such as how many billions should be taxed from the people and where those billions ought to go, i.e. what government program. We are not talking here about subtle differences such as should the government have socialized medicine or merely expand current programs.

Just think honestly for a minute, Democrats and Republicans really do not disagree that much, in fact they agree much more than they disagree. They agree that the Federal Government can solve many problems. They agree that the fastest and best solutions to most problems is to write a new law. They all understand that most of these new laws require additional governmental resources and therefore more taxation. Each party, despite what words they may speak during the election cycle, trusts the Federal Government more than The People or the various states to solve problems.

I know, you may argue that the hot botton issues of each party are different - this is true. They appeal to different demographics but when in power their actions do not differ that much. The result of the actions of both parties has been a bigger Federal Government, more taxation, less liberty for individuals and an erosion of States' Rights. The facts supporting that statement are undeniable and therefore inarguable.

Therefore the deepest questions of human liberty simply cannot be answered within our current system. I am a Christian, I am conservative (paleoconservative to be exact) and a Southerner that was raised to respect certain things. However, I have traveled the world and seen many things. I do not like everything I have seen, I do not approve of everything I have seen and I would not intentionally condone everything I have seen in my home (read State of SC). I am, however a lover of liberty, God himself granted us liberty, the freedom to choose right and wrong, good and bad. Who am I to judge (i.e. force action upon) people exercising that liberty in their home (i.e. state/community)? How hypocritical it is to believe that a political system as large as the Federal Government could at once ensure the liberty of everyone and at the same time protect the moral virtues of everyone else.

Let us take two "hot-button" issues for a moment and examine them - gay marriage and abortion. I am opposed to both IN MY STATE, I disagree with both anywhere. Here is the kicker, as a lover of liberty I believe it is the RIGHT of people to determine locally how they view these issues and establish local laws accordingly. The counter-argument is that it would be too cumbersome in our current system to allow gay marriage in one state and not in another or that such would be unconstitutional. I say to that if the current system is what is preventing the exercise of liberty then the system should change. People should be able to resolve these issues locally, that is true liberty, that is protection of the minority view (insofar as such is possible).

We could similarly take every moral issue that plagues the current "right/left" divide and assign those back to the place where the founders always thought these matters would be resolved, the states. Secession is not a simple solution to complex problems it is the only solution that guarantees the protection of minority rights and viewpoints and ensures that liberty lives with us instead of as a word in a history text.