#7: 04.12.18=6: Secessionism #4: Groups, N.Am. community, Vice Versa.

(1) Groups: 1. Cascadian National Party: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/therepublicofcascadia/ "" We are a new progressive political party that is calling for the independence of Washington State and Oregon from the United States to create the Republic of Cascadia. "" 2. Cascadia Confederacy: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cascadiaconfederacy/ "" The bedrock of this idea of Cascadia springs from the desire for full sovereignty and self determination for all people and peoples to organize themselves into communities and other social groupings as they see fit. In particular, we hope to fully support and link up in a confederated fashion with the many indigenous peoples of the region in order to gaurantee full cultural and political autonomy and sovereignty - attributes that are repressed under the current nation-state arrangement of Canada and the United States. Further, we look forward to moving away from the nation-state and capitalism into a social organizational form that allows for autonomous direct democracies and the flourishing of indigenous culture; all based on a decentralized confederation-type model in which communities will work together for the mutual benefit of all. In other words, we are working on the beginnings of a sovereign society free from the oppressive systems and values of capitalism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, xenophobia, and all other authoritarian forms of organizing our world. "" 3. Cascadian Bioregionalism: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cascadian_Bioregionalism/ "" the mid 1970s Ernest Callenbach envisioned an emergence of environmental awareness that would lead the Pacific NorthWest to form the country of Ecotopia. The 1990s David McCloskey formed the Cascadia Institute. "" "" As an emerging identity "Cascadian" may evolve into a "nation", but the terms "national" & "nationalism" are limited & chauvinistic in their regards to the Cascadian love for diversity. This new approach to identity through diversity in thinking, in human experience & ecology is bioregionalism. "Bioregions are geographic areas having common characteristics of soil, watershed, climate, native plants & animals...A bioregion refers to both the geographical terrain & a terrain of consciousness -- to a place & the ideas that have developed about how to live in that place." Peter Berg. "" 4. alberta_secession · Secession, State and Liberty: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alberta_secession/ "" Secession, State and Liberty is a discussion group dedicated to a book by the same title edited by David Gordon and published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute. The purpose of this group is to explore the political, legal and philosophical aspects of secession with a particular focus on the growing secessionist movement in Alberta. "": http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1560003626/002-0024018-0148027?v=glance "" Secession is rooted in individual liberty and any opposition ultimately requires an outright act of force. It is this crucial fact that much of this book is based upon. Issues of secession, past, present, and future are all dealt with accordingly. This book should be on the bookshelf of every individual with a serious interest in libertarian political philosophy. "" : by Reviewer: Will Murphy (chesterfield, missouri USA). 5. The Republic of California: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/republicofcalifornia/ "" Being part of the United States, with a majority conservative political base, will stifle California growth in freedom and economy. It is time to begin the discussion of secession. "" 6. Breakaway USA: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/breakawayusa/ "" This group provides a forum for different US-based secessionist groups to discuss issues of secession in, build alliances, and confer on strategy. "" (2) Pacifica: North American community 1. "Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 09:16:09 -0000 From: "Collin" Subject: Re: inland additions "" what I have learned from a book called "Identities in North America," Edited by Robert L. Earle and John D. Wirth, is that Cascadia is a region including Alaska, B.C., Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and N. California. And, after the passage of NAFTA, many regional trade groups using the name "Cascadia" have been working to represent these states and provinces. "" 2. NEWS RELEASE, 04/01/93: CONTACT: Stanford University News Service, (415) 723-2558 "NORTH AMERICAN COMMUNITY WON'T REPLACE NATIONAL IDENTITIES" http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/93/930401Arc3342.html "" STANFORD -- Canada, the United States and Mexico are in the process of creating a new regional identity and institutions - a counterpart to the European Community but with a small "c" on community, says Stanford University historian John Wirth. Wirth and Robert Earle, a career foreign service officer and visiting scholar at the North American Institute in Santa Fe, N.M., spoke recently to a Stanford audience about their efforts to gather a group of prominent authors, politicians and scholars to speculate about the possible shapes of a future North American identity. "Three separate countries are creating a new, larger community. This is virtually inevitable, although few people have ideas yet on what it will be like," said Wirth, president of the institute. ... ... After a February colloquium on the environment, the North American Institute issued a report endorsing the idea of a new North American Commission on the Environment, which was announced in vague terms in September 1992 by the environmental ministers of the three countries. Colloquium participants from the three countries agreed that "supra-national enforcement powers were not necessary to assure the kind of public and political accountability which asserts a powerful force in its own right," their report said. Instead they will recommend to their own governments that they negotiate an agreement for "data exchange, technical training and public information which [will] form the basis of environmental laws." ... ... The "key dynamic" to a North American identity involves "the relationship between individual and group identities," Earle said. The book's authors discussed this dynamic at a recent 14-hour brainstorming session. Mexico has a "counter-reformation collectivist past," he said, whereas the United States places a high value on individual liberties and "Canada is in its perpetual, permanent massive struggle" between individual and group rights. Despite these different histories, Wirth said, the authors' discussions and drafts suggest that "a pluralism across a range of institutions and places is possible. We tend to see it coming together in a sense of community." "" 3. "Identities in North America: The Search for Community (Comparative Studies in History, Institutions, and Public Policy)", by Robert L. Earle, John D. Wirth: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0804724873/qid=1103400633/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1816846-8566231?v=glance&s=books (3) Vice Versa: 1. "State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Centuryby", Francis Fukuyama http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801442923/qid=1103408847/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-0024018-0148027 "" From Publishers Weekly: This slim volume, derived from lectures Fukuyama presented at Cornell in 2003, picks up one of the loose threads from his decade-old The End of History and the Last Man. He asserts that the lack of "organizational tradition" in "failed or weak" nations such as Afghanistan and Haiti represents the greatest threat to an orderly world. "" 2. "Against Leviathan: Government Power and a Free Society", by Robert Higgs http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0945999968/qid=1103410351/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-0024018-0148027 Amazon.com: "" What is fundamentally wrong with government today? In "Against Leviathan", economist and historian Robert Higgs offers an unflinching critical analysis of government power. This book combines an economist's analytical scrutiny, an historian's respect for the facts, and a refusal to accept the standard excuses and cruelties of government officialdom. Topics include such programs as Social Security, the paternalism of the FDA and the War on Drugs, the nature of political leadership, civil liberties and the conduct of the national surveillance state, and governmental responses to a continuing stream of "crises," including domestic economic busts and foreign wars both hot and cold. "Against Leviathan" is a thorough and penetrating critique, and a significant contribution in this current time of crisis and unchecked expansion of government power. "" ------------------------------ A Homerun, October 6, 2004 Reviewer: Alexander E. Paulsen "AlexP" (Jacksonville, Fl United States): "" The best thing about this book is that Higgs exposes the underlying issues without his own poitical axe to grind, and he is willing to give credit where credit is due. Overall his attack is relentless and his arguments very convincing. Even the most rabid Demo-publican will not be able to factually dispute anything presented here. Like Bovards works, this book is meticulously researched. Read this and it will become intuitively obvious to the most casual observer the futility of government action. Think of this book as a bull$h** vaccine. After digesting this work any reader will be more likely to pick out and filter the BS coming from DC and their media lapdogs. ""