Ron Paul: You know what’s “very American”? Secession
Found via HotAir.com:
Notice how he is not actually supporting secession—he starts right off by saying that Gov. Perry wasn't saying that he wants Texas to secede right now (which is true enough); the governor was just saying that if things get bad enough, it could come to that.
Ron Paul is speaking here not to defend any secessionist (if there are any serious secessionists yet). He is speaking to defend the rights of those who do speak about secession. It's about the First Amendment, and it's about "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
But the talk of secession is not just idle talk (although ... unnecessary, at this point). States' "right" to secede (I put scare quotes because governments have no "rights", only powers) is morally equivalent to the Second Amendment. Only a government that rules over a willing populace armed to the teeth is a legitimate government—any government that feels the need to defang its citizens is a totalitarian state. By the same token, only a federal government composed of willing states—states that are free to leave, or at least to try—is a legitimate union of states.
Time has not yet come to warrant any serious talk of secession by anybody yet—but when the time does come (I expect decades from now), we shouldn't be so hasty to label those who speak the will of the people as "traitors". When that time does come, it would be the federal government and her minions that would have become real traitors to the people by then.