One oversight in the US Constitution was there was no defined process of how a State could withdraw from the American Union. Referendums were held, legislatures voted, provisional governments were formed, but in the end, it took brother killing brother to settle the issue.
One of the issues about secession was whether a “free” Virginia would assume its proportional share of the existing Federal debt, which is puny compared to today’s massive debt.
Rather than calling that Mark Levin Article V convention, how about a Constitutional Amendment defining a formal non-violent process for leaving the Union? There are lots of issues, and maybe after thinking them through, people might have second thoughts – like the child who runs away from home and crawls back home at dinnertime. Maybe we are really at that point.
Let’s talk through a hypothetical TXexit, Texas being the most likely state to want this. The population of Texas is about 27 million people. If we apportion the Federal debt per capita, the Republic of Texas needs to cough up somewhere around $1.5 trillion. One possible way to handle that would be for seceding states to have to turn over that quantity of treasuries bought on the open market, possibly by selling their own Republic of Texas bonds.
With Texas becoming its own country, a lot of issues need to be decided, preferably written in the Amendment
– citizenship… Would Texans forfeit US citizenship, have dual citizenship or have to leave Texas?
– US military… Would military installations transfer to the new country or would the US have rights to Fort Hood in perpetuity? (See: Fort Sumpter, SC)… Would Texans have to resign from the US Military?
– Social Security eligibility… Retirees can live now in another country as an expat and collect retirement checks, but Medicare only pays for services provided inside the United States
– right of transit? If New Hampshire leaves, Maine would be disconnected from the country. Could we insist that people from Maine have a right to travel to Massachusetts through the country of New Hampshire? Rhode Island didn’t want to join the United States…
Things Texas would have to do:
– set up its own currency and central Bank, and leave the Federal Reserve System
– establish its own military defenses
– establish a court system and laws
– establish borders, issue passports, set visa requirements
– negotiate water rights
– assume responsibility for regulating banks, insurance companies, and corporations
– decide if it will join NATO, the United Nations, IMF, NAFTA, TPP
The above will take time. Maybe studying the decolonization of Africa by the UK (i.e. Kenya) would provide a roadmap for a process.
What concerns, objections or thoughts do you have?