Scott Horton Interviews Christopher Ketcham

February 14th, 2008

Christopher Ketcham, a freelance reporter and writer for many venues including Antiwar.com, discusses modern American secessionist movements like the Second Vermont Republic, the drawbacks of centralized power and possible pitfalls of radical decentralization, his upcoming article for Radar about federal plans for martial law and upcoming movie about corruption in Brooklyn.

MP3 here. (53:16)

Christopher Ketcham, a freelance reporter based in Moab, Utah, writes for Harper’s, Mother Jones, GQ, Salon and many other venues.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Civil Liberties, Secession.

5 Responses to “Christopher Ketcham”

  1. Joey Says:
    February 15th, 2008 at 9:16 am

    Scott I listened to the secessionist show. I think you may want to change your argument a bit regarding the Articles of Confederation because of 2 points:

    1. The full/complete name of the AOC is, “The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.” The title alone suggests that secession was not intended by the writers. Of course some might say that it had so little centralized power no none would want to seceede from it

    2. Technically the AOC are still in effect because of Article 6in the US Constitution:
    “All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.”

    Since the AOC qualifies as an “Engagement entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution,” it is still in effect. I once had it explained that it was kind of like DOS is still the operating system running Microsoft office, but no one knows about it.

    Also 2 points of related trivia;
    1. according to the book, “In the Absence of the Sacred” by Jerry Mander, the AOC were heavily influenced by the Iroquios Confederation.

    2. The Great Law of the Iroquios Confederation (NOT the US Constitution) is the longest-running, continuious constitution still in effect today. It is about 600 years old and pre-dates Columbus

    Love the show

    Joey King
    Nashville

  2. Game Cat Says:
    February 15th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    I can’t resist:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_Me_Liberty

    Now how about some comparison with:

    The European Union (pretty functional but currently moving to further centralization and additionally getting into control freakery, alas). Decisions are rather “local” to each country (though not local enough for some, see Belgium, a federation of two quite different regions), with recommendations to adapt national law coming down from Strasbourg. So if Berlusconi things that kleptocracy is cool or Tony thinks war is okay, not everyone is affected. I also think the level of shame among peers in such a disparate setting is easier to keep at a reasonably high level.

  3. Chris Says:
    February 15th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    Interesting interview. Reminds me of the Nine Nations of North America.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Nations

  4. Maureen Says:
    February 15th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    You may want to check out this new documentary about California secession movements -

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dr0i_B0FNRY

  5. Carol Moore Says:
    March 7th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    Check out http://secession.net. Also http//middleburyinstitute.org which sponsored the 2006 and 2007 North American secession conferences.

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