Letter writer: Forget a new state, let’s start a whole new nation

Graphic by Lori Deaton

As a fellow secessionist, I read Sidney R. Finkel’s proposal for the new state of West Carolina with much interest [“Sayonara, Raleigh: It’s Time for Us to Go,” June 8, Xpress]. His incisive diagnosis of our problems — the tyranny of Raleigh and our limited economic development — should convince even recent transplants from New Jersey to support a new state. And yet, I fear Finkel lacks the vision to make this state a reality. I propose not a new state, but a new nation for our people to rally behind. Please allow me to welcome you to AfroScotIrishStan.

AfroScotIrishStan would stretch from the mountains of Tennessee through the High Country of North Carolina down into the Tar Heel foothills and the upland of South Carolina. With the technological heft of Spartanburg and Greenville, revenue from OPEC (The Organization of Peach Exporting Counties), tourist revenue from Asheville, and illicit profits from running surplus guns out of Rutherford and Cleveland counties, I suspect we could quickly surpass the rump state of North Carolina in per capita income.

Much remains to be settled regarding the exact governance of our revolutionary state, but I suspect with time we could form a pluralistic democracy akin to the one found in North Carolina not long ago.

— Peter Vogel
Asheville

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2 thoughts on “Letter writer: Forget a new state, let’s start a whole new nation

  1. boatrocker

    I have an easier idea- just don’t secede and maintain dual citizenship. I’ve maintained dual citizenship in American and Latveria for years.

  2. dyfed

    All right, it’s fun to talk about secession, but that’s not going to happen.

    You know what could happen? Home rule.

    Both modern liberals and modern conservatives have expressed a desire at one time or another to lighten the state government and grant greater autonomy to local communities. This is a truly bipartisan mission, and doable. We need to stop abandoning that drive every time our municipal neighbors do something we disapprove of and pursue greater home rule in NC with integrity.

    Rather than the General Assembly having the power, let’s let municipal government power originate at the municipal level and take back making decisions with each other rather than praying and begging the distant capital for enough independence to solve our own problems.

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