Confederate state of Nevada?

The small group that is promoting Nevada’s secession from the union faces a few problems.

About 9,000 people have signed a petition posted on a White House website calling for the feds to “peacefully grant the State of Nevada to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.” The language is the same as used on numerous other petitions for other states.

One problem is that the petition speaks in the name of the state, which is on the record against secession.

That record is another problem for secessionists. The Nevada Constitution says that “no power exists in the people of this or any other State of the Federal Union to dissolve their connection therewith or perform any act tending to impair[,] subvert, or resist the Supreme Authority of the government of the United States. The Constitution of the United States confers full power on the Federal Government to maintain and Perpetuate its existence [sic], and whensoever any portion of the States, or people thereof attempt to secede from the Federal Union, or forcibly resist the Execution of its laws, the Federal Government may, by warrant of the Constitution, employ armed force in compelling obedience to its Authority.”

That state language is almost certainly trumped by the federal First Amendment, which guarantees both redress of grievances and freedom of expression, but it is an obstacle for secessionists.

Then there’s the fact that there’s no evidence that Nevada public supports the notion. Nine thousand people is a third of a percentage point. Double it and it’s two thirds of a percentage point.

One problem the Nevada secessionists don’t face is that it’s not a welfare state. Most of those petitioning for secession are from Republican states that are subsidized by the feds—that is, they get more back in taxes than they pay. In fact, letting them secede would help bring down the deficit and balance the budget. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote last week:

“It would be excellent financial news for those of us left behind if Obama were to grant a number of the rebel states their wish ‘to withdraw from the United States and create [their] own NEW government’ (the petitions emphasize ‘new’ by capitalizing it). Red states receive, on average, far more from the federal government in expenditures than they pay in taxes. The balance is the opposite in blue states. The secession petitions, therefore, give the opportunity to create what would be, in a fiscal sense, a far more perfect union. Among those states with large numbers of petitioners asking out: Louisiana (more than 28,000 signatures at midday Tuesday), which gets about $1.45 in federal largess for every $1 it pays in taxes; Alabama (more than 20,000 signatures), which takes $1.71 for every $1 it puts in; South Carolina (26,000), which takes $1.38 for its dollar; and Missouri (22,000), which takes $1.29 for its dollar.”

Nevada receives less back than it pays to the federal government, though the available information—compiled by the Tax Foundation—is a bit stale, dating back to 2005. For more, see http://tinyurl.com/bt6gj7l.

In 1941, there was a substantial effort to form a new state just northwest of Nevada, made up of Curry, Jackson, Josephine, and Klamath counties in Oregon and Del Norte, Modoc, and Siskiyou counties in California, to form a state called Jefferson. But that was not secession, just reconfiguration of existing states.