Effective Secession

It seems that Indiana Democrat legislators have joined their party brothers and sisters from Wisconsin in fleeing to Illinois in order to avoid having to vote on what they deem to be anti-union legislation and thereby shutting down the democratic process altogether.  This is beginning to look like something more than just a stunt, and it's troubling.

Among the several reasons Lincoln gave for the illegitimacy of the South's secession from the Union was that it was actually the death of democratic government.  When one joins a democratic political union, the  unanimously agreed upon assumption, whether explicit or not, is not only that the majority rules, but also that the minority will bow to it.  If, when it appears one will be on the short end of a democratic vote, one exercises the right (if you can call it that) to withdraw from the process altogether, then it signals the end of the democratic process and is, effectively, an act of secession.

This must be stopped...now.