However, over time the honor became less and less important as it was sold to the highest bidder or given out to partially any group which settled within Roman borders (with or without permission) and promised to follow the laws (which they did in varying degree). In time, the title of "Citizen" lost any real value. Sound familiar?
As more and more diverse peoples settled within Rome's boundaries and the Empire lost its ability (and will) to enforce "Pax Roma" ("Roman Peace"). Pax Roma meant the adoption of Roman laws, customs, traditions, values, language, and culture.
Rome eventually became a hodgepodge of many differing peoples living in their own mini-kingdoms, speaking their own tongue, following their own customs, and so forth. Of course, there was a merger in varying degrees of cultures, values, and laws, but the single cohesion that was once Rome was gone.
If any of this sounds familiar, it should. Not only are we confronting "balkanization" here in the United States, we're seeing throughout the West thanks to unrestricted migration (which looks more like an invasion than a immigration) and weak, ineffectual or incompetent politicians. However, not all of this is coming from outside. Much of it is coming from within our own country.
Then there are those ethnic groups who have already simply established their own defacto enclaves complete with a dominate non-English language, traditions, and so forth. In some areas in Europe, like London or Paris, there are areas with their own police force and court system to enforce Sharia and other laws (recently, religious "police", used to enforce Sharia law, have been reported in New York).
The official police have little or no real authority within these areas. Unwary residents (and tourists) not following prescribed guidelines risk being detained, arrested, and/or fined! In the U.S., we even have some groups and prominent individuals attempting to supplant our National Anthem with their own. They even are demanding their anthem be played at all events where the National Anthem is played. Some are insisting that their own flag be flown alongside (or above) the Stars and Stripes.
Recently, here in the U.S., we had another shooting in a major city, Rge shooting took place in a heavily black neighborhood, As a result, a large crowd had gathered and was becoming unruly. The police dispatched all available officers along with EMS as you would expect in order to render assistance and bring the situation under control. However, when officers arrived a riot almost broke out. Why? Because one of the police officers was white!
While you'd expect the residents to cooperate under the circumstances, the situation suddenly got worse. The residents began to block officers as tried to provide assistance ad started becoming aggressive. The reason was because there was a white officer present. In order to calm the situation and get to the wounded individual, the white officer was persuaded to leave the scene (along with the "encouragement" of his fellow non-white officers).
Around the world there are literally hundreds of separatists and secessionists movements. Some of these exist as part of a nationalist movement to push out the last vestiges of colonialism or to carve out a historical homeland such as "Aztlan" (whose name ironically means "land of whiteness") among Hispanics.
Aztlan is a mythical or semi mythical homeland of the ancient Aztecs who believed the land, which comprises much of the western U.S., was given to them by their chief deity, Huitzilopochtli (where have we heard a similar story like that before?). Beginning in the late 1950's, Chicanos of the southwest United States adopted the myth as history, and with it all the symbolism that went it.
They've created many of the trappings of expected of a nation---a flag, an anthem, media, promoted a cultural revival and even created a quasi political organization, "La Raza" (which means "The Race"), to help elect or promote like minded individuals, and to serve as a loose shadow government, all of which whose sole aim is to resurrect Aztlan.
But the Chicanos aren't the only ones. In Hawaii, there is a strong movement to reclaim Hawaii's historic sovereignty. What many people don't know is that unlike the other states, Hawaii was once an independent nation with its government, head of state, laws, and everything else which goes with being a sovereign country.
Other groups, such as the League of the South, a political and cultural revival organization, seeks to recreate a "free and independent Southern Republic". Their goal is not to revive the Antebellum South, but to protect the history, traditions, heritage, and culture of southeastern United States, which had been largely settled by Northern English, Scots, Irish, and Welsh colonists (along with a strong Spanish and French influence), unlike the North whose primarily settlers were English and Continental Europeans, especially Germans.
Politically, they maintain that the states voluntarily joined the union, and thus had the right to leave on their own accord, something President Lincoln vigorously opposed.Joining the union was not a one way Faustian bargain. Many historians and students of the Constitution tend to agree that the Founding Fathers would have supported the South's assertion in that regard.
A group with a similar objective is the 2nd Vermont Republic. Vermont was a independent republic from 1771 through 1791. The group, formed in 2003, has been relatively successful locally. Leaning libertarian, it opposes the "tyranny" of a corporate run America and loss of control by ordinary citizens. There is also an effort to include New Hampshire and possibly Maine in this newly reconstituted republic.
Even Alaska has a growing independence movement under the auspices of the Alaskan Independence Party, which was founded in 1984, and whose ideology is basically conservative and libertarian. They call for a limited government, low taxes, strong gun rights, and more direct government.
On the coast side, you'll likely find mostly a college educated younger population which is considered extremely liberal. Groups like Antifa and BLM are popular and active here. There are vibrant LGBQT communities, especially around Portland. Western Oregon is primarily rural. The population is older and more settled with families having lived there for generations...and they are conservative. What they call "traditional" with "family values", and one other thing. They all want a divorce.
Specifically, they want a divorce from their fellow Oregonians on the other side of Cascades. The reason is as old as the U.S. itself. The capital of Oregon, Salem, and it's largest city, Portland, are heavily dominated by progressives, which doesn't set well with these conservative farmers.
Unfortunately, with the population differential on either side of the Cascades, there is no way the conservative Westside has or will ever have a equal say. Therefore, 13 western counties representing 63% of the land mass but only 9% of the population, are seeking to merge with the equally rural and conservative state of Idaho.
The divorce is called the "Greater Idaho Movement', and it's definitely taken root, and Idaho is interested. There's even countless precedents for similar divorces going back to the founding of the country. It's nothing personal. Sometimes things just don't work out. For instance, in 1861, 48 western counties in Virginia decided they didn't want to secede from the Union and voted to remain. Those counties became the West Virginia in 1863. (the new state was originally named "Kanawha").
A breakup of this size would be significant. Not only would it change the map, but it would also affect the state's representation in Congress. It could also impact the direction both states takes on local issues for years or decades to come.
Such a move could also set the stage for other successions, not to mention the possible creation of modern city-states. Imagine dominate cities such as Atlanta Georgia or Louisville Kentucky, which are the economic engines of their respective states, could become more independent while incorporating adjacent areas (Louisville is facing its own potential succession problem. There's a growing interest in southwest Jefferson County to break away from an ineffectual metro government and merge with neighboring Bullitt County).
Hypothetically, some have proposed some areas going the racial, ethnic, or religious route by becoming semi-independent enclaves such as East LA in California or Laredo Texas which both have a 95% Hispanic majority. South Fulton Georgia is 93% Black while Jackson Mississippi and Detroit Michigan are both over 80% Black. Dearborn Michigan has the largest Muslim population in the United States and growing.
America was founded to welcome all peoples who came here legally and sought freedom. Migrants were expected to leave the past behind and become Americans. The government has twice devalued the status of "citizen" by granting amnesty to thousands who came here illegally and appears to be prepared to do it again. But one has to wonder if, after 200 years, the time has come for each to go their own way just as Rome did.
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Video: Breaking Up? Nationwide Separatist Movement is Growing
Aztlan and the Chicano Movement
Territories of the United States
'Greater Idaho' movement to absorb rural counties from Oregon gain momentum
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