Should Some States Secede?

Following the re-election of President Obama, 20 states are petitioning the federal government for secession. My sister-in-law shared this a few days ago and I thought it was a joke! Then I started hearing about it from more sources. The states that want to secede include Kentucky and Montana; the two states I've lived in. The author of the previously linked article says to let the states that want to secede do so. I take exception to this.

I don't want you to think I'm freaking out about all this; I don't believe that we are in danger of seceding from the U.S. because Obama would have to sign off on that, and he has enough sense to not allow 2/5 of his country to leave. But I do want to talk about this a little bit.

How is it possible that people feel that they would be better off if they were not part of the United States? I understand all too well the anger of losing an election, but would these states really be better off not being part of the union?

None of the states on the list have a budget surplus, which means they would have to find some way to generate money quickly. Really, the best way to do that is to raise taxes. But most of these states don't want to raise taxes--hence the reason they want to secede. So how would they raise money?

How would they get money to fix the interstates that run through their states (or countries, I guess)? How would they keep the schools that are receiving federal funding open? Free and reduced lunches are funded by the government (at least in KY); who would pay for those? Some of the KY farmers have gotten government subsidies for their crops during this drought; would the state government help those farmers out? How would we have a military? I don't want to go back to little warring city-states like there were in ancient Greece.

There are so many reasons to stay in the union. Being unhappy with the results of the election is just part of the deal when you're in a democracy. To the people who want to secede, man up. There is absolutely no reason for you to be such drama queens in this situation. Just get over yourselves and work with what you have. That's what the other half of the country did during the Bush years.

As for me, if KY secedes, I'm making my own country and you're all welcome!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi