WEBVTT

NOTE Secession is Not a Dirty 4-Letter Word

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.440
It is an honor to be here at the prestigious Mises Institute to talk about a very important

2
00:00:08.440 --> 00:00:13.240
topic, especially after the reelection of President Obama.

3
00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:19.120
We all saw this word pop onto the radar, and so it's an exciting topic.

4
00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:22.840
I'm glad the Mises Institute has taken on this very controversial topic, but as I talked

5
00:00:22.840 --> 00:00:28.420
to Dr. Thorn about, they're not afraid to tackle controversial topics.

6
00:00:28.420 --> 00:00:29.420
So who am I?

7
00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:41.420
I'm Mark Kreslins. I am a talk show host on AM 930W FMD in Mid-Maryland. It's a number one show out there because we tackle topics like this.

8
00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:51.420
I'm a married man. My wife Patti is here. I'm a father of four. In a former life, I used to be a senior legislative assistant for two different members of Congress.

9
00:00:51.420 --> 00:00:56.540
I'm a gentleman by the name of Richard Baker from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a gentleman

10
00:00:56.540 --> 00:01:00.420
by the name of George Wartley from upstate New York.

11
00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:05.860
Currently I am the executive director of Oklahoma Liberty, and I don't know how many of you

12
00:01:05.860 --> 00:01:10.980
have been following the news in Oklahoma, but we are beginning to ratchet up the rhetoric,

13
00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:13.860
if you will, there in the state.

14
00:01:13.860 --> 00:01:16.420
We're a headliner sort of organization.

15
00:01:16.420 --> 00:01:21.620
for advancing ideas out there that resonate very, very well with the community in Oklahoma.

16
00:01:21.620 --> 00:01:24.660
I don't know, how many of you have been to Oklahoma?

17
00:01:24.660 --> 00:01:25.660
Good?

18
00:01:25.660 --> 00:01:30.140
Well, you have probably seen that not as there are only just one church on every corner,

19
00:01:30.140 --> 00:01:33.780
but there's probably two or three churches on every corner in Oklahoma.

20
00:01:33.780 --> 00:01:39.860
It's a very Christian state, and therefore, this message of secession and unenable rights

21
00:01:39.860 --> 00:01:42.600
resonates very, very well there.

22
00:01:42.600 --> 00:01:48.480
And so we're able to contextualize and compartmentalize secession and these other companion ideas of

23
00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:54.360
nullification and interposition into this idea of natural rights and it's very easily

24
00:01:54.360 --> 00:01:56.120
accepted out there.

25
00:01:56.120 --> 00:02:03.360
And so we're making some real hay out there regarding secession conversations but nullification

26
00:02:03.360 --> 00:02:05.520
specifically.

27
00:02:05.520 --> 00:02:09.280
I'm here really because I make my living sort of crafting messages.

28
00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:15.200
I try to figure out ways to get the message across about a concept or a philosophy or

29
00:02:15.200 --> 00:02:16.800
a piece of legislation.

30
00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:18.400
That's what I do for a living.

31
00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:22.880
And my job in Oklahoma is to try to stir people to consider something different.

32
00:02:22.880 --> 00:02:25.940
My favorite topic is secession.

33
00:02:25.940 --> 00:02:29.600
I talk about it all the time on the air.

34
00:02:29.600 --> 00:02:32.920
Professor McClanahan will go into his legality.

35
00:02:32.920 --> 00:02:36.200
Ryan will go into an example of self-determination.

36
00:02:36.200 --> 00:02:42.280
What I want to do with this very small section I have is to talk about secession not being

37
00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:48.760
a dirty four-letter word. And I chose that specifically because we've been trained to

38
00:02:48.760 --> 00:02:52.120
sort of look at it this way. And I'm going to speak a little bit more extemporaneously than my

39
00:02:52.760 --> 00:02:58.360
the scholars in the room here. I'll be glad to answer any questions or talk afterwards. But I'm

40
00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:02.520
going to speak a little bit more extemporaneously because I'm trying to message even with you folks

41
00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:06.520
You're here because you're interested in the topic of secession.

42
00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:10.520
So some of my comments are going to be extemporaneous, and some of them will be right from my scripture.

43
00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:14.520
But let me begin with a statement. Secession is not a dirty four-letter word.

44
00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:22.520
My primary focus during my little time here is to address the importance of words as change agents.

45
00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:26.520
They're change agents in any major political move throughout history.

46
00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:31.520
Words have always preceded those changes, right?

47
00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:37.880
However, it's important to get the words right.

48
00:03:37.880 --> 00:03:44.500
And against the counsel of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin and Sean Hannity, I committed the

49
00:03:44.500 --> 00:03:50.320
mortal sin of most conservatives, I read Saul Alinsky's book Rules for Radicals.

50
00:03:50.320 --> 00:03:53.020
I actually read it.

51
00:03:53.020 --> 00:03:55.720
And you know, it's a great book.

52
00:03:55.720 --> 00:04:01.000
One chapter in particular, he discusses the words, he has a chapter called The Power of

53
00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:09.400
of Words, it is not just that in communication as in thought we must ever strive towards

54
00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:17.400
simplicity, it is more than that. It is a determination not to detour around reality.

55
00:04:17.400 --> 00:04:23.040
This is my favorite line in this chapter, to pander to those who have no stomach for

56
00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:31.840
for Straight Language and insist upon bland, non-controversial sauces is a waste of time.

57
00:04:31.840 --> 00:04:38.460
And I got to tell you, on the ground, I see this, pandering by changing the definition

58
00:04:38.460 --> 00:04:43.800
of terms that really are change agents is a waste of time.

59
00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.660
It takes away the power of the word.

60
00:04:46.660 --> 00:04:49.760
So secession is just one of those powers.

61
00:04:49.760 --> 00:04:55.200
Elinsky goes on to describe this by his description of the use of the word power.

62
00:04:55.200 --> 00:05:01.840
This is what he says, striving to avoid force and vigor and simplicity of the word power.

63
00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:06.000
We soon become averse to thinking in vigorous, simple, honest terms.

64
00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:10.400
When I started the organization I did in Maryland, I fled from Maryland down to Oklahoma here

65
00:05:10.400 --> 00:05:16.240
about eight months ago, by the way, because Maryland is a lost state in terms of political,

66
00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:18.080
real political change to the positive.

67
00:05:18.080 --> 00:05:22.080
There's a lot of political change going up there to the negative.

68
00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:25.640
So we left Maryland to come down here and to Oklahoma.

69
00:05:25.640 --> 00:05:29.880
Now when I started the group up there, the first thing I said to the group when we started

70
00:05:29.880 --> 00:05:34.200
this idea of trying to think back, think about taking back power from government, I said

71
00:05:34.200 --> 00:05:38.600
this, it takes power to reduce power.

72
00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:40.520
And isn't that true?

73
00:05:40.520 --> 00:05:41.520
It takes power.

74
00:05:41.520 --> 00:05:44.340
You can't reduce power by carrying signs.

75
00:05:44.340 --> 00:05:47.320
You can't reduce power by writing letters to the editor.

76
00:05:47.320 --> 00:05:51.280
You can't reduce powers by writing books about power.

77
00:05:51.280 --> 00:05:56.800
You actually have to take power in order to reduce power in the context of where we're

78
00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:00.560
fighting right now in this current 21st century.

79
00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:05.200
So power is a very, very important word, is a term.

80
00:06:05.200 --> 00:06:11.500
Words have power and there can be no substitute for the right word.

81
00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:18.620
And I believe firmly that secession is the right word for this time.

82
00:06:18.620 --> 00:06:21.420
It is the word we cannot back down on.

83
00:06:21.420 --> 00:06:23.100
We cannot lose this.

84
00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:27.540
And I will tell you, against the counsel of many people in my talk radio career, I've

85
00:06:27.540 --> 00:06:31.620
been told, don't use secession, don't talk about secession.

86
00:06:31.620 --> 00:06:35.700
Can we use withdraw, or how about separation?

87
00:06:35.700 --> 00:06:37.820
Can we find another way to describe this?

88
00:06:37.820 --> 00:06:40.900
And I say, no, no.

89
00:06:40.900 --> 00:06:42.220
Why?

90
00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:45.380
Because there's power in words.

91
00:06:45.380 --> 00:06:47.580
Words have power.

92
00:06:47.580 --> 00:06:49.740
They do a couple of things.

93
00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:52.860
They draw your attention to something, right?

94
00:06:52.860 --> 00:06:58.020
So even in this room, when we talk about secession and we talk about the potential of a state

95
00:06:58.020 --> 00:07:05.460
or a few states withdrawing, seceding from the union, that makes us all a little bit

96
00:07:05.460 --> 00:07:07.140
nervous, right?

97
00:07:07.140 --> 00:07:08.520
We don't know what happens.

98
00:07:08.520 --> 00:07:13.640
We know former examples where it didn't happen, however, we forget a couple of examples where

99
00:07:13.640 --> 00:07:15.560
it did work well.

100
00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:21.800
When we left Great Britain, right, that was a good secession, yay, secession on that one.

101
00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:27.960
How about in 1787 when we essentially seceded from the Articles of Confederation?

102
00:07:27.960 --> 00:07:28.960
A good one.

103
00:07:28.960 --> 00:07:35.360
Nobody hung, nobody shot, nobody tried for treason, secession is not a bad word.

104
00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:39.760
It forces you to draw your attention.

105
00:07:39.760 --> 00:07:44.280
It provokes you to think perhaps a little differently about the idea.

106
00:07:44.280 --> 00:07:46.040
I'm going to play a little game here.

107
00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:47.600
Who said the following things?

108
00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:52.640
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!

109
00:07:52.640 --> 00:07:57.440
You are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside

110
00:07:57.440 --> 00:08:01.400
are full of bones of the dead and everything unclean.

111
00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:02.400
Who said that?

112
00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:05.000
Jesus, that's right.

113
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:12.480
Tough words, right? Whitewashed tombs. Everybody knew what that meant. It was not a favorable

114
00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:19.160
term to be called a whitewashed sepulcher. Who said this, crouch down and lick the hands

115
00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:28.520
which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you. Samuel Adams. Listen to those words.

116
00:08:28.520 --> 00:08:31.960
Words down and lick the hands that feed you.

117
00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:33.840
Deliberate choice of terms.

118
00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:38.760
Now, he could have said, you know, we don't like King George, he's not that good, let's

119
00:08:38.760 --> 00:08:41.200
keep asking him to give us more liberty.

120
00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:45.660
But he said, no, stop crouching down, this is another one.

121
00:08:45.660 --> 00:08:47.560
One death is a tragedy.

122
00:08:47.560 --> 00:08:53.240
One million is a statistic, Stalin, right?

123
00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:56.120
All of these words had a couple of things in common.

124
00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:01.560
They shocked, they stirred, and they forced a reaction.

125
00:09:01.560 --> 00:09:06.040
Secession is that exact same word, and so I just make the appeal, especially to those

126
00:09:06.040 --> 00:09:11.240
who are writing on this and they're scholars, don't give up the word.

127
00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:13.000
The word is an important word.

128
00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:17.840
It was used over a million times after Barack Obama's re-election.

129
00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:23.000
When a million people signed out of the White House website and said, please let us succeed,

130
00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:25.520
of course we know that's not how you do it.

131
00:09:25.520 --> 00:09:30.920
I mean, you secede, you just secede, you don't ask for permission, right?

132
00:09:30.920 --> 00:09:35.120
But, a million people, the word entered into our vocabulary,

133
00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:40.220
it sort of entered into the public discourse for the first time, certainly in my generation.

134
00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:42.120
And I represent some of the white hairs in here.

135
00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:48.220
We probably, when was the last time you heard secession that popularly spoken of?

136
00:09:48.220 --> 00:09:52.320
Words are really important. Change words are used to inspire.

137
00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:56.720
You miss 100% of the shots that you don't take, said Wayne Gretzky.

138
00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:57.720
Makes sense to us.

139
00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:02.400
If you don't take the shot, you're going to miss it every time.

140
00:10:02.400 --> 00:10:05.320
General George Patton was full of provocative change words and quotes.

141
00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:08.880
Here are a couple of his more memorable phrases.

142
00:10:08.880 --> 00:10:12.400
Live for something rather than die for nothing.

143
00:10:12.400 --> 00:10:12.900
Right?

144
00:10:12.900 --> 00:10:16.760
Now to the troops, that meant something.

145
00:10:16.760 --> 00:10:21.360
In case of doubt, attack.

146
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:27.260
That's what Patton said, don't, those aren't wallowing your doubt, just go.

147
00:10:27.260 --> 00:10:28.260
Change words.

148
00:10:28.260 --> 00:10:33.620
A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten

149
00:10:33.620 --> 00:10:35.360
minutes later.

150
00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:36.760
Profound.

151
00:10:36.760 --> 00:10:43.800
I'm going to read a speech here that you all are going to remember, but I want you to really

152
00:10:43.800 --> 00:10:46.560
focus on the power of words in this speech.

153
00:10:46.560 --> 00:10:53.620
I'm going to pull a Marco Rubio here.

154
00:10:53.620 --> 00:11:02.040
They tell us, sir, that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an adversary.

155
00:11:02.040 --> 00:11:04.000
But when shall we be stronger?

156
00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.720
Will it be next week or the next year?

157
00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:11.720
Will it be when we are totally disarmed and when a British guard shall be stationed in

158
00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:13.820
every house?

159
00:11:13.820 --> 00:11:18.260
Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?

160
00:11:18.260 --> 00:11:23.880
Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying sublimely on our backs and hugging

161
00:11:23.880 --> 00:11:29.900
the delusive phantom of hope until our enemies shall have us bound hand and foot?

162
00:11:29.900 --> 00:11:35.920
Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means with which the God of nature

163
00:11:35.920 --> 00:11:38.500
hath placed in our power.

164
00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:42.780
Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty and in such a country as

165
00:11:42.780 --> 00:11:49.220
is that which we possess are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.

166
00:11:49.220 --> 00:11:53.140
Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone.

167
00:11:53.140 --> 00:12:02.220
There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight the battle with us.

168
00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:05.340
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone.

169
00:12:05.340 --> 00:12:09.340
It is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

170
00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:11.660
Besides, sir, we have no election.

171
00:12:11.660 --> 00:12:17.180
If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest.

172
00:12:17.180 --> 00:12:21.300
There is no retreat but in submission and slavery.

173
00:12:21.300 --> 00:12:26.440
Our chains are forged, their clanking may be heard from the plains of Boston.

174
00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:27.520
The war is inevitable.

175
00:12:27.520 --> 00:12:28.520
And let it come.

176
00:12:28.520 --> 00:12:30.740
I repeat, let it come.

177
00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:31.740
We all know that.

178
00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:32.740
Patrick Henry.

179
00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:33.740
Saint John's.

180
00:12:33.740 --> 00:12:36.960
Imagine if you were in the audience there.

181
00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:43.920
Those words would have meaning to you in ways that they don't in a paper or even in a book,

182
00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:48.680
and that is not to slight anybody who does that for a profession.

183
00:12:48.680 --> 00:12:53.320
But these words have power, and we cannot give up.

184
00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:56.640
Secession is not a dirty four-letter word.

185
00:12:56.640 --> 00:12:59.120
Change words force us to stop and react.

186
00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:02.080
This is the business of messaging.

187
00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:04.280
They cause you to stop and listen.

188
00:13:04.280 --> 00:13:10.760
Every campaign, and I've worked on a number of national campaigns while working as a senior

189
00:13:10.760 --> 00:13:16.240
legislative assistant in Congress, and I'll tell you folks, we spent hours and rooms messaging

190
00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.360
what words are going to connect.

191
00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:23.420
What words are really going to have the impact that we hope they'll have to move the voter,

192
00:13:23.420 --> 00:13:28.860
to get the voter to stop and say, you know, I think I'm going to look into this guy or

193
00:13:28.860 --> 00:13:30.960
gal a little differently.

194
00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:36.720
We spent hours working on certain words that we could get out into the public.

195
00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:40.800
And my contention here is secession is just another one of those words.

196
00:13:40.800 --> 00:13:46.360
Right now in Oklahoma, we're in the process of messaging, nullification, and interposition.

197
00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:52.520
I cannot tell you how many legislators that I run into tell me this, can we come up with

198
00:13:52.520 --> 00:13:55.080
a different word, please?

199
00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:57.040
Does it have to be nullification?

200
00:13:57.040 --> 00:14:00.040
And I say, yes, it has to be nullification.

201
00:14:00.040 --> 00:14:01.040
Why?

202
00:14:01.040 --> 00:14:06.040
Because it stops people to think and consider, what are you doing?

203
00:14:06.040 --> 00:14:08.260
That messaging worked.

204
00:14:08.260 --> 00:14:13.440
We passed our legislation out of the House of Representatives in Oklahoma by an overwhelming

205
00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:15.840
majority of 72 to 20.

206
00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:21.120
The idea of nullification in the legislature of Oklahoma is becoming commonplace.

207
00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:29.740
In fact, Tom Woods is coming into the Senate on Wednesday to counter a guy who the opponents

208
00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:29.740
become a dirty word because, as we all know, we were raised in a public education system that said the War of Northern Aggression was all about slavery and if we ever succeed again, if that ever comes up again, well, get out the shackles, because we're going to start tying people up right away, baloney, baloney, we've got to defend that word because we can point to 1787 as a peaceful secession, right? Nobody was hung. So the word is powerful.

209
00:15:29.740 --> 00:15:34.740
We have to get it back on our terms, and again, we saw this in the Obama re-election.

210
00:15:34.740 --> 00:15:39.380
Here's one thing for sure, the 40 and under crowd are comfortable with change words.

211
00:15:39.380 --> 00:15:43.840
And there's some 40 and under crowd age in this room here.

212
00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:46.900
They're comfortable with change.

213
00:15:46.900 --> 00:15:50.680
Us all gray hairs, we can't change, come on, that's the way we've always done it.

214
00:15:50.680 --> 00:15:52.280
We've got to do it that way.

215
00:15:52.280 --> 00:15:56.740
Be prepared, there's a tidal wave of change coming and we better get out in front of it.

216
00:15:56.740 --> 00:16:00.740
We better start embracing it, we better start understanding the under 40 crowd, they are

217
00:16:00.740 --> 00:16:04.700
prepared for these kinds of changes.

218
00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:08.660
Look at how they think about marriage, look at how they think about the male-female distinctives,

219
00:16:08.660 --> 00:16:13.660
look at how they view drugs, look at how they view work, libertarianism, the false left-right

220
00:16:13.660 --> 00:16:18.180
republican-democrat paradigm, Christianity, a whole range of ideas.

221
00:16:18.180 --> 00:16:22.480
They have a whole different view than those of us who have salty hair.

222
00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:26.840
And they're willing to do things different, and they're coming into power.

223
00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:30.720
I suggest that as the mature people, we help guide.

224
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.160
We fulfill our role as mentors.

225
00:16:33.160 --> 00:16:39.080
And part of that is not being afraid of the message behind secession.

226
00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:43.760
Finally, secession lends itself to a populist discussion.

227
00:16:43.760 --> 00:16:47.840
And we all know populism is always behind major societal changes, from the civil rights

228
00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:52.280
movement to the labor movements in Poland to the Lithuanian secession movement to Catalonia

229
00:16:52.280 --> 00:16:59.080
and now populism is always behind it. There's always that populist sort of Elmer Gantry character

230
00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:04.400
in the background screaming out, we've got to change, we've got to change. Secession fits

231
00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:10.320
right into populism. Why? Because it tells Washington D.C. you've gone too far and now

232
00:17:10.320 --> 00:17:17.080
we are going to rethink our relationship with you. Because we are not a nation, we are a

233
00:17:17.080 --> 00:17:25.080
We are a union. We must remember that. That we are a union. And that's a critical distinction as I talk around the state of Oklahoma.

234
00:17:25.080 --> 00:17:30.080
If I get any commentary back from people, it's when I tell them the difference between a nation and a union.

235
00:17:30.080 --> 00:17:38.080
And suddenly the borders of Oklahoma matter, and they begin to think, we really can stop Washington, D.C.

236
00:17:38.080 --> 00:17:42.080
Of course you can. We always could.

237
00:17:42.080 --> 00:17:47.320
So, I wanted to finish with that and I want to conclude by asking you to join this effort,

238
00:17:47.320 --> 00:17:54.280
this growing effort with Mike Church on radio, Brian's going to speak, Ryan's going to speak.

239
00:17:54.280 --> 00:18:01.560
Join this movement of people that are pushing a new message that secession is not a dirty

240
00:18:01.560 --> 00:18:03.260
four-letter word.

241
00:18:03.260 --> 00:18:03.760
Thank you very much.