The United States feels more divided than ever – and one state lawmaker now wants to make that division permanent.
He’s calling on his state to secede.
New Hampshire state Rep. Mike Sylvia, a Republican, said he’s had it with Washington overreach and wants the Granite State to become the first to quit the union since the Civil War.
“There are hundreds of examples of the federal government overstepping its authority,” he told The Center Square. “Enough is enough. We should put this before the voters to decide.”
As a result, he’s filed a ballot initiative for New Hampshire to test its motto: “Live free or die.”
If approved by 60 percent of the Republican-controlled legislature, the referendum would state:
“New Hampshire peaceably declares independence from the United States and immediately proceeds as a sovereign nation. All other references to the United States in this constitution, state statutes, and regulations are nullified.”
But he’s already coming under criticism from members of his own party for advocating racist tactics to advance the measure.
The Granite State News Collaborative said Sylvia was caught on Facebook Live encouraging activists to use anti-immigrant sentiment such as “those dirty Mexicans or Guatemalans or whatever are coming across the border and bringing COVID with them.”
He called that point of view “a bit of nonsense” but said, “It’s a genuine mood out there, and if we can take advantage of it, why wouldn’t we?”
New Hampshire House Speaker Sherman Packard, also a Republican, called him out over it.
“Employing racial stereotypes for any purpose is wrong, shameful, and will never gain Republican support,” he told the Concord Monitor.
He’s also not a fan of secession, calling it “not something House Republican leadership is even remotely involved with.”
But Sylvia is trying to make the case nonetheless.
One key reason for any state to remain is having the resources of the federal government, both during times of crisis and disaster as well as for funding essential services and programs.
But Sylvia believes New Hampshire doesn’t need the cash and can go it alone financially.
“We are a donor state that pays out more in federal income taxes than what we get back,” he told Center Square.
That was briefly true a few years ago.
However, the most recent analysis by the Rockefeller Institute of Government finds that New Hampshire gets back about $1.12 from the federal government for every dollar its taxpayers put into the kitty.
Just eight states put in more than they get back: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, and Utah.
A ninth state, Washington, is right on the line… getting a dollar back for every buck put in.
The notion of New Hampshire independence has surfaced from time to time.
In 2012, voters angry over the policies of President Barack Obama formed the Foundation for New Hampshire Independence, a nonprofit group that seeks to “educate” residents about the benefits of secession, according to the Concord Monitor.
That same newspaper reported in 2016 that the success of the Brexit vote in Britain led to small pro-independence demonstrations in the state.
The notion has never been put to the test via the ballot box, but it might not matter — as there is no mechanism in law for a state to leave.
In 2006, ane curious individual wrote to the late Justice Antonin Scalia to ask whether states can declare independence.
The conservative thinker wrote back: “The answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert.