Throughout my childhood numerous attempts at family game night have ended with an upturned board, raised voices and people pouting in their respective rooms. The recent behavior of many Georgians has recently taken a turn eerily similar to that of an angry elementary schooler as they, along with a disturbingly high number of other states, have started petitions for secession from the United States.

The catalyst for these petitions was the reelection of President Obama in November. Obama won both the popular vote and that of the electoral college. These petitions would almost certainly not have been created had Romney won the election. Even more interestingly, all 50 states, 26 of which voted blue in the election, have created petitions. Even in many of the states whose electoral votes went to Romney, the population was not politically homogeneous. In fact, as a response to some citizens’ petition for Texas’s secession, a petition was filed requesting that, should Texas secede, Austin remain a part of the United States.

These petitions for secession demonstrate a disrespect for the principles of democracy and are a transgression with which I fundamentally disagree. Such actions seek to corrupt and take advantage of democracy, the same governmental feature they claim to be trying to protect by seceding. These are not democratic in the least. Respecting democracy only when it works in your favor is to not respect it at all. That in itself is the greatest evil of the action. That one president, a widely considered moderate one at that, would have the power to completely alter and destroy the future well-being of a state in four short years seems unlikely. Seccession seems a hot-headed, not well thought out solution to a made-up problem. Strongly democratic states such as California did not launch attempts to secede as they trudged through the George W. Bush era.

If secession were to become mainstream, there is no saying where it would end. A state with a close governor election could attempt to split into two states. No one candidate can cater to the needs of every citizen, and that is why terms have year limits. As long as we are a majority ruled democracy, seccession can only be seen as an affront to what our nation supposedly holds dear.

I can understand the possible disappointment of someone at the election of a candidate they do not support. They need but wait their turn, however, to have their concerns realized as the natural political cycle turns to favor them. Secession is the problem, not the answer.