Glenn Beck responded to the wave of post-election secession petitions (which have now hit all 50 states) during both his radio and television programs Tuesday, relaying a simple message to his audience: taking part isn’t smart.

“Now how do you think that’s going to work out?” Beck asked on his radio show. “I mean, how dumb do you have to be?  Really?  You’re putting your name on a list that goes directly to the White House, and you’re putting your name on a list and saying, ‘yeah I think we should secede, I think there should be a Civil War.’”

When co-host Stu Burguiere pointed out that the petitions request a “peaceful” secession, adding that it really is just a place to “make a statement,” Beck appeared unconvinced.

“Uh huh…[And] do you think that these people don’t forget who made a statement to them?  Are you out of your mind?”

Beck continued to say that many of the signatories are probably thinking something along the lines of, “They voted for this, let ‘em have it!”

“Instead of focusing on, ‘I’m not doing anything with you guys,’ just focus on the positive,” Beck countered.  “What are you going to do?  Anyone who wants to secede, that issue’s been settled.  Now I don’t happen to agree with it, because I don’t understand how the Constitution could be a suicide pact…that’s what the Civil War settled.”

Here is video from Beck’s radio show:

On his television program later that day, Beck continued to explore the role of the Declaration of Independence in modern-day secession petitions, and how the petitions could justify tighter control by the federal government.

“This is exactly the kind of fuel the president will use to order measures to ‘protect’ the Republic.  And he’ll have the Department of Homeland Security at his disposal to enforce them.”

Noting that President Obama signed his 141st executive order expanding the “partnership” between the Department of Homeland Security and local police, Beck said that when the federal government gets involved, local police almost always take a back seat.  Moreover, reports of the Social Security Administration buying 174,000 hollow-point bullets suddenly become much more troubling.

“If the government begins arming itself against the citizens at the federal level, and say ‘by the way, we’re your new state police,’ that would indeed be the point in the course of human events where it becomes necessary to dissolve political bands,” Beck said, concluding with a passage from the Declaration of Independence.

But, Beck said, “secession is not an option,” and so it is up to you to contact your governor, find out what your kids are learning, and change the media.  Because the next step isn’t going to be easy.

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Related:

• 30 States Petition Federal Government to Secede After Election
• ‘There Is No Right to Secede’: See the Alleged Letter Where Justice Scalia Shoots Down Idea of Leaving the Union