For the second time in the last half decade, Texas has made rumbling noises about secession. This time, Texas Republicans have passed non-binding resolution calling for secession, and the reinstatement of Texas as an independent, sovereign nation.
If at first you don’t secede…
If this sounds all too familiar, it means you’ve been paying attention the last few years. In 2012, the wingnut movement in Texas began circulating a petition that garnered a whopping 660,000 signatures by the middle of November in that year. Rick Perry, then the governor of America’s America, tried to gloss over it with a non-comment, but by that point, the damage was done, and Texas had made a fool of itself.
The original petition spoke volumes about the people involved:
Given that the state of Texas maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th largest economy in the world, it is practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union, and to do so would protect it’s (sic) citizens’ standard of living and re-secure their rights and liberties in accordance with the original ideas and beliefs of our founding fathers which are no longer being reflected by the federal government.
The “founding fathers” who didn’t even found Texas. Texas was Mexican land colonized by slave-holding whites. In 1829, Vicente Guerrero, one of Mexico’s founding fathers, declared slavery to be at odds with Mexico’s founding documents — something you’ll note the cowardly founding fathers never did — and this decree ratcheted up tension with the local white slave owners.
Eventually, Texas declared itself independent. The very first thing it did was pass a constitution that made it illegal free black slaves, and declared blacks and American Indians as “unpeople” who had no rights. Mexico was not cool with this, so they invaded to get their land back from these entitled, uppty white folk. Then the United States government got involved, and Mexico ended up losing a lot of land — all because of slavery.
Of course, many Texas lawmakers are ignorant of their own history, which is why they do stupid things that waste time and taxpayer money — like draft legislation to secede from the union.
The resolution has already passed one committee, and it’s clear sailing to the general assembly. Now, stupid resolutions crawl out of committees all the time — see anything drafted by Paul Ryan for proof — and the odds of this working its way through are very slim. Secession from the United States means losing all those delicious federal dollars, and Texas wouldn’t want that.
But that this is the second time in less than a half a decade should tell us something about this population in Texas, and none of it good.
UPDATE: The bill has been shot down (pun intended) by the full State Republican Executive Committee.
Darn. Maybe next time.
H/T: Winning Democrats | Feature image via Flickr