Joe McAdory: Secession shouldn't be on Georgia's mind

Could the Chattahoochee River separate Alabama from a foreign country? Will we need passports to drive through Atlanta into the Carolinas or Tennessee? Will Georgia be regarded as the Peach Nation?

Will the new United Counties of Georgia develop its own national defense, boot U.S. military personnel out of Fort Benning and return to its old capital in Milledgeville?

It can’t be, and it probably isn’t.

But Senate Resolution 632, developed by five Georgia Republican senators, calls for the state to actually secede from the Union. Maybe Charlie Daniels was right all along: is the South gonna do it again? Secession ideas have also been kicked about in Texas political chambers.

Let’s keep in mind that secession talk is not supported by a majority of Georgia lawmakers, but the fact it’s even considered is frightening. We’ve been down the secession road before and look where it got us.

Don’t picture the Georgia senators dressed in Confederate regalia desiring a return to plantations and Tara. As far as I know, these men wear slick Italian suits and ties.

But reasons for such discussion are very legitimate and understandable. We live in the land of the free, at least that’s what the Constitution is supposed to uphold. But the growing tentacles of our federal government are slowly robbing American taxpayers of their individual liberties.

The federal government has been recklessly overstepping its own boundaries and folks who for years have pledged their love, loyalty and allegiance to the red, white and blue are becoming increasingly frustrated.

The direction people want this nation to head changes from individual to individual. We live in a changing world, so obviously America must to change with it.

What citizens need to do is adapt. What American leaders need to do is govern in a manner that is best for the greater good of the people.

Government should always be an extension of the people. When it becomes more than that, measures must be taken by the people to correct the problem.

Secession is not the answer. Voting the right people into office — people who share the best interests of American citizens instead of their own personal agendas — is. We need men and women in Washington who will represent our desires for a change. Maybe then we can actually be proud of what happens in our nation’s capital instead of referring to D.C. as the butt of countless jokes.

Our ancestors and loved ones fought hard for this nation, whether it be for revolution from England, against tyrannical forces in World War II or against terrorists in the Middle East. They wore that red, white and blue patch on their uniform because they loved freedom, they loved the nation that granted them these freedoms and they wanted to ensure their sons and daughters enjoy the same security they did when they were children.

Politicians should put down their secession swords in the statehouse — swords of continued American division — and find new measures to bring this nation back together.
After all, we are the United States.

Besides, I shouldn’t have to pass through customs just to go to a Braves game.

Joe McAdory is editorial page editor for the Opelika-Auburn News. He can be reached at jmcadory@oanow.com.