“If for no other reason, personal pride should prompt every governor and state legislator to take a secessionist attitude; they were not elected to be lackeys of the federal bureaucracy.”

9 & 10 comes to mind, amongst a whole myriad of others!

Mr. Choderov has apparently not read the Constitution or the Pledge. We are Americans first, state and county residents second.

Because local and state governments have taken so much federal money, they are now addicted to it. When the feds say jump, they ask"how high".

Au contrare Waffler!! The federal allegience does not trump loyalty to your hometown, state, or local community. (Except perhaps for you) The pledge of allegience is NOT in the Constitution.

They are the Federal Lackeys

I think legally your err Dear Eric. Nice to hear from you by the way but you and I are free to travel throughout this country of which we citizens. We are not Kansans first (that is where you live is it not) or Floridians first, we are Americans. I have never taken an oath or pledged allegiance to any state of the union and I have lived in five of them. My citizenship and allegiance is to the Union. I have no allegiance to my city, county, or state or I only reside in them. I daily observe a plethora of RV's of snow birds leaving the northland for the southland (Florida) throughout the fall. They have no allegiance to either place but only to the nation and Union as a whole. You are correct I am sure about the pledge not being in the Constitution but neither is Alsaka, Hawaii or the great west in there either, so whait is your point!

This guy has a Russian last name. Last night Lou Dobbs dissed a current Russian commentator who has predicted that the USA, the Union will dissolve into six regional entities or nations. Dobbs said that some of this guys arguments were interesting but then criticized his total lack of understanding of USA culture, politics, history, legal foundation, sentiment etcetera. that encompasses the term and legality known as "The Union". Could that also be a description of your sensibilities Eric or lack of sensibilities.

Eric 1 Waffler Zero.

Waffler confuses nationalism with patriotism -- federalism eludes him. He ignores the words of Hamilton, Madison, Jay, Jefferson, Adams, etc. when they made clear that the States were individual sovereign states and out of that status formed the federal jurisdiction via the US Constitution. The people and the states did not trade in their soveriegnty for a national government. Such ignorance among the rest of the populace and our representatives has resulted in a shadow government which observes no limits to its self-proclaimed power and jurisdiction, all held together by the ability of Congress to force us to accept their interest-bearing script (that they print up liberally) in lieu of real money. There can be no succession if we do not renounce 'legal tender.' Start there, the rest will follow.

State borders should be eliminated. They are really just a wast of time.

PS: Waffler's statement above is certainly a description of the errant sensibilities of the man from NYC. F^%& those old timers he mentioned and let us be free of them once and for all. Free at last, free at last thank God we may be free at last. Now that is liberty!

Waffler, the title is United States-not the Federal Democratic Republic of Amerika.

Waffler, to be free from the principles upon which the 'old-timers' fought and the rebels sacrificed would be the peak of ignorance, which does seem to be YOUR guiding principle. Your idea of being 'free at last' is merely to be a serf at last. In your previous posts you have shown your contempt for personal responsibility -- what kind of freedom is being an obedient ward of the state? You are just a house slave that thinks because he is not toiling in the fields that he is free.

The author of the quote seems to be a bit ignorant of real history. The folks that believed in "States Rights" lost the Civil War. Case closed. There are no "States Rights." The real clue is that the Constitution gave the responsibility of issuing money to the central government. He who issues the money, rules.

To have a break-away attitude is a child's attitude. The mature adult has the attitude of continual construction and building a more solidified organization and community strategy.  Don't break it apart, hold it together, therefore guided by justified reason to hold it together. Eliminate the disease, hold on to the healthy aspects.