Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Nation On Secession

I let my Harper's subscription lapse, and stopped listening to Democracy Now for the sake of my mental health, but I sneaked a look at the current Nation today at the library.

Calvin Trillin about post-election secessionists: We do respect your point of view/We're glad to see the back of you.

There's a more prosaic thousand words about secessionists, later in the magazine, pointing out that their states, ironically, are major beneficiaries of big federal government, and comparing the American movement with regional/ethnic movements in Europe -- Scottish, Catalan, etc.

Off the cuff: I'm torn. We're all in this collapsing world economy together, and giving Yahoos the right to self determination could sabotage reasonable people's chances. On the other hand, they seem to be doing a decent job of shooting our collective feet already.

Continuing the motif, there's also a review of John G. Turner's Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, about the founder of the little theocracy in the basin.

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