Third Palmetto Republic

In the popular sense of the word, Russia, Canada and France are all nations. In other words, they are independent governments. In this sense of the word the United States today is “one nation” as the Pledge of Allegiance states since it it thus far remains a single, self-ruling government. This understanding of the word, though popular, is not accurate. “The idea of a nation (from the Latin word natio which derives from natus “(of) birth”) implies a common blood relationship.” This blood relationship defines something tribal and cultural which people generally do not mean when they talk of the United States as a country. Typically what people mean by “nation” is an independent state. “[T]he word state derives from an Italian term, lo stato, coined by Machiavelli to describe the whole of the social hierarchy that governs and rules a country… A state, then, may be defined as an institutional structure charged with exercising authority within a definable jurisdictional purview (which is often territorial in nature).” In more common terms, a state is an independent country.

South Carolinians are certainly unique even in the South, yet we are not our own nation of people. We are part of a broader Southern culture (and beyond that we are also part of the broad North American civilization that includes Canada and the United States and which is much different in terms of language, religion and culture from neighboring Latin America). Our nationality and culture would remain even despite great political change. An Italian was ethnically and nationally an Italian no matter which of the numerous independent states he was from in the Middle Ages. The Italians didn’t have to be united and forced together under Mussolini to start being Italian. Likewise, a Southerner is Southern no matter which of the Southern States he is from – and irregardless of whether these were independent, dependent or abolished all completely. Unassimilated immigrants who live in South Carolina remain part of the nation from which they come.  In all of the United States there are many different nations: the Hawaiians, the Lakota, the Amish, the Seminole, etc.

So, we are not South Carolina nationalists since South Carolina  is not a nation. We are, however, for the independence of South Carolina. We’re South Carolinians and patriots and secessionists and are very proud of our land and country – that of the Palmetto State. We understand that a free South Carolina has numerous advantages over remaining with the United States. We want to grasp these advantages. We want to forge our own future towards prosperity and security free of the orders that come out of Washington, DC.

This post will be continued with a piece on “country” – what is our country?