"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Do this, and you become a new nation...

The "goober states" are doing quite well. They have managed to attract a large amount of automobile manufacturing with Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and Kia. Ship construction is going strong in South Alabama and Mississippi. Much research and development for the space program and missile defense takes place in the "goober states". Some of the most intense military training is based in the "goober states". Tourism is booming in the "goober states". How's your steel mills doing up there in PA. bubba? :roll:

I was going to skip over this thread until I saw your response... I am not really keen on marking MLK's birthday with a tribute to Robert E Lee.. But! After reading your response with which I totally disagree I would ask you to do a little research and attribute the following quote to it's author and the context in which these words were spoken, you may be surprised by what you learn.

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."

The "goober states" are doing quite well. They have managed to attract a large amount of automobile manufacturing with Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and Kia. Ship construction is going strong in South Alabama and Mississippi. Much research and development for the space program and missile defense takes place in the "goober states". Some of the most intense military training is based in the "goober states". Tourism is booming in the "goober states". How's your steel mills doing up there in PA. bubba? :roll:

Well then apparently you disagree with both Lincoln and Grant as Lee was not arrested, he went on to become a university president... Quotes of our founding fathers are speckled with calls of armed rebellion against tyranny as they foresaw a time when the government would become the oppressor of rather than the servant of the people of this country.

But like I said, you and I can disagree as to whether or not Lee was a traitor, same as Snowden, I would say that we have more traitor's in congress than we have planning an overthrow of our government, remember that those who serve our government swear an oath to the constitution of the United States, not to the government, and I would suggest that things are just a bit upside down in DC today, I really feel that many in DC and throughout the country see the constitution as an impediment of what our government the construct of a government that they would prefer rather than the guiding document that it is. They pass laws and take and protect actions that show total disdain and lack of allegiance to the document that they have sworn to uphold.