Secession! It's not just for Vermont academics and Sarah Palin's

Glenn Beck makes a point:

GLENN BECK: Does the individual have any rights anymore? Does the state have any right any more? And I know, because I've heard it, from all of the conservative, uh, you know, uh, historians...and scholars, and everything else. But you can't convince me that the founding fathers wouldn't allow you to secede. The Constitution is not a suicide pact. And if a state says, I don't want to go there, because that's suicide, they have a right to back out. They have a right. People have a right to not commit economic suicide...I sign into this Union, and I can never get out, no matter what the government does? I can never get out? Well that leaves only one other option. That doesn't seem like a good option.

and Jesse Berney makes a reply:

It's not even hard. All you have to do is travel to a foreign country, visit a U.S. embassy or consulate, and sign a paper declaring that you're no longer a citizen.

Secession is illegal, and suicide is drastic. So if you're too lazy to work for what you believe in, if you really believe that a modest tax hike on the wealthiest Americans is tantamount to destroying our nation, please feel free to get out while the getting is good.

I promise, we won't even miss you.

Love,
Jesse

I guess the love-it-or-leave-it crowd has a little something to think about now...

Glenn thinks that if he and his fellow travelers can't secede from the United States, than the only other option is suicide. But that's a little melodramatic. In fact, U.S. law gives Beck an easy way to jump ship: renounce his citizenship. According to the State Department, all he has to do to officially cut his citizenship ties with the United States is to make:

a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State

That's right, Glenn -- you can leave any time you want to. Just head off to a foreign country, visit a U.S. embassy, and sign a piece of paper renouncing your citizenship once and for all. You don't even have to pretend to cry when you do it.

If you honestly believe that the United States has been put on a path of certain destruction, if you think it's so bad that you think your only options are secession or suicide, and if you don't love America enough to work within the system created by our founding fathers, then take a hike. I think we'll get by just fine without you. http://www.renounceglennbeck.com/

- Second Vermont Republic (SVR) is a secessionist group within the U.S. state of Vermont which seeks to return to the formerly independent status of the Vermont Republic (1777–91)

- Palin's secession flirtation

For years she has courted the Alaska Independence Party, which wants to split the state from the U.S.

In a country that made it's name seceeding from the Motherland where does treason begin?

On the other hand, if Texas and her quite numerous electoral college votes do decide to cloister themselves away and secede would that might be a temporary victory for the Teabaggers and Glenn but would mean a more or less permanent victory for the Democratic Party over the next few decades.