Breaking Up is Hard to Do . . . People Have Always Wanted to Secede from the Union (Even Before There Was A Union). . . Could A Nuclear North Dakota Blackmail Other States?

The Omaha Bugle-Global News Network

Adam and Jeff turn their attention to long-simmering disputes between states and factions within states that have prompted calls for secession. They find that there is a rich history of secessionist movements in the United States which began even before the country was formed. Indeed, South Carolina and most of the other southern states waged an unsuccessful 4-year war against the northern states (the so-called Civil War which was not really that civil) in trying to secede from the United States. The most famous event of secession occurred when the people of what is now West Virginia decided to dump their Confederate overlords in Richmond, Virginia, in the middle of the Civil War. Adam and Jeff question whether a state going out on its own would be able to afford all of the goodies that it would need to maintain its independence--such as customs and border officials, a new currency, a bloated military force, a hip looking flag, a money-losing postal service, fabulous highways and bridges, and, the social welfare payments that enable many people to avoid meaningful employment. If a state with nuclear weapons such as North Dakota secedes, is there anything that can stop it from holding its neighbors hostage with the threat of nuclear destruction? Jeff suggests that secession is really the ultimate manifestation of people wanting nothing more than to be left alone.