The ultimate protection from abuse in virtually every area of life is the right to escape oppression. Simply put, an individual’s ability to leave one jurisdiction or institution and select another typically puts institutions on watch that they best serve their “clients” interests or else they will lose clients. This is certainly true for most private businesses and personal relationships, and used to be true when the US was truer to its “federal” roots.

With the central government and regulatory authorities over-reaching the bounds intended for them by the founders, there is less and less of an opportunity for individuals to escape what they see as undesirable policies, institutions, practices, people. In short, most individuals do not have the option of seceding, something that though the founders intended to allow (all 13 colonies would not have ratified the Constitution otherwise), in practice was never permitted.  In that light, I highly recommend Patri Friedman’s series on secession all week long.