Texas secession?

[MASW]

So, for weeks I've been hearing rumblings that the TX GOP wants to call it quits with the USA (e.g., https://www.rawstory.com/trump-secede/). Personally, I think it would be great. We wouldn't have to bail TX out with federal funds, we'd have a senate majority and a huge advantage in presidential elections...and Ted Cruz would be all theirs. I should say...I went to college in TX and worked in Houston for a couple of years. I have fond memories of the time I spent there, but at this point, I think if they want to go, let 'em go. Thoughts? (I realize this is largely hypothetical--I just want to know what my fellow DUers think.)

[dweller]

1. Mexico called

They want their land back ...

✌🏻

[marble falls]

2. The Aztec and Mayans called ...

[roamer65]

23. ...

https://www.deviantart.com/hillfighter/art/The-United-States-1823-166375652

[Polly Hennessey]

3. Let them go.

I loved in San Antonio for awhile. Terrible place, terrible state. Glad I left.

[JHB]

11. Nah. We don't need a foreign puppet state on our border...

...and that's what it would become. It's only a matter of who gives the biggest bribes.

[JHB]

4. The TX GOP is catering to a crank minority...

...but nobody whose business depends on military-base personnel spending their money in their stores is going to support an exodus of US military bases (not to mention NASA. Houston, we have a problem).

[crickets]

35. Oh, absolutely agreed.

Military bases, NASA, the most recent electrical grid catastrophe (illustrating that TX's go-it-alone attitude is not such a hot idea,) the state's need for federal aid money to recover from said catastrophe, as well as the fact that there's no legal way for any state to secede.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/29/texas-secession/

“The legality of seceding is problematic,” Eric McDaniel, associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune in 2016. “The Civil War played a very big role in establishing the power of the federal government and cementing that the federal government has the final say in these issues.” [snip]

Yet even before Texas formally rejoined the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession was not legal, and thus, even during the rebellion, Texas continued to be a state. In the 1869 case Texas v. White, the court held that individual states could not unilaterally secede from the Union and that the acts of the insurgent Texas Legislature — even if ratified by a majority of Texans — were “absolutely null.”

If there were any doubt remaining after that, late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia set it to rest more than a century later with his response to a letter from a screenwriter in 2006 asking if there is a legal basis for secession.

“The answer is clear,” Scalia wrote. “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, ‘one Nation, indivisible.’)”

Plus a bunch of good reasons listed in other posts. Texas isn't going anywhere.

[Glorfindel]

6. There are a lot of good Democrats in Texas

I'd hate to see them trapped in a foreign fascistic country. I think if we just wait a few more years, Texas will be at least competitive if not majority Democratic. Besides, secession didn't work out too well before, did it?

And welcome to DU, by the way!

[Oldem]

19. They could move to the USA. The only thing

giving me any hope for Texas is that Stacey Abrams' voter registration as set up shop there.

[42bambi]

7. I would rather turn Texas Blue and bring it into the 21st century. Beto would be a good start.

[Deuxcents]

33. Absolutely

This issue was put to rest 150 plus years ago. Just Stop

[Shell_Seas]

8. If you missed it...QAnon Conspiracies And Neo-Confederate Beliefs Behind Texit Movement

The Texit movement is a far-right Conservative movement, which couples well with conspiracies and racism. Which really should seem obvious.

https://livingbluetx.com/2021/02/beliefs-behind-texit-movement/

Also, in the last election, 46% of Texas voted for Democrats and 54% of our population is not white.

Secession is a TERRIBLE idea.

H. R. 1

We need H. R. 1

[TxGuitar]

9. This will never happen

This idea comes around every so often. Understand--this has support of about 20-25 percent of voters in Texas. Can we discuss more serious/real issues? Also remember, more Texans voted for Biden than than citizens in 47 other states. Only California and Florida had more Biden votes. Yes, more Texans voted for Biden than New Yorkers did.

[tinrobot]

10. They want too secede before we turn it blue.

And it will turn blue in this decade.

[LeftInTX]

12. It's not gonna happen...sorry!

Biedermann's bill will not even get a committee reading

He's just trying to score points with some crazy people....

[Blue Owl]

13. All My Secesses Are From Texas

Sounds like a new country hit...

[Stallion]

22. .....and that's why you reside in Tennessee

[Cirque du So-What]

14. Worst idea since...1861

Secession supporters should peddle their wares elsewhere.

[harumph]

15. Not this shit again.

(1) Texas isn't going to secede.
(2) Texas secession is a coo-coo libertarian pipe dream and doesn't represent the majority view of Texans
(3) Texas is the 10th largest economy in the world (Texas GDP is greater than Russia) - and the US can't afford to have it secede any more than California with its 5th largest economy in the world.
(4) Yes, Texas has crazy right wingers - but plenty of liberals too - it's a big fuckin state.
(5) My prediction is that Texas turns blue in less than 10 years.
(6) Accordingly, take this nonsense and hate elsewhere.

[SCantiGOP]

25. Thanks for the sanity

Vermont has racists and Qanons and Trumpers; and Texas has liberals and Austin and some powerful social movements.
You would end up having to split neighborhoods to get everybody segregated.

[Sibelius Fan]

16. Can someone tell me why the Alamo and its story are held in awe?

Jim Bowie and the rest were a bunch of thieves and liars who had given up on the USA and become Mexican citizens. Their main complaint with Mexico was they didn’t allow slaves. Yet they’re held up as great patriots. Why?

[packman]

24. Because John Wayne died there

And all those white guys killed some darker skinned guys which makes many Texans proud

[EndlessWire]

17. Hahaha!

Well, read this:

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1123851/gov.uscourts.txwd.1123851.5.0.pdf

This was filed in Texas. Can you imagine being a judge having to hear this?

I like Texas, too, but if they want to go, let them give it all up, then extract revenge when they want back in. Of course, they'll have Trump as a dictator by then, and we'll probably be at war with them. We'll probably just have to figure out where to house the refugees.

Then, we'll have to occupy Texas.

[Initech]

18. Here's what I would tell secessionists:

You want Texas to secede? Here's what you would give up in the process:

- Texas would lose 36 congressional representatives
- Texas would lose 2 United States senators
- Texas would lose the support of the US military
- Texas would lose all of the benefits and subsidies provided to them by the US government

I could literally go on and on.

[MiniMe]

21. No Social Security, No Medicare

Don't see it happening solely because of that.

[Ilsa]

27. No money for Medicaid, education, etc.

Football would become a three season sport in texas high schools. A Bible class would be required for graduation.

[Stallion]

30. Bring Back the Southwest Conference!!!!!

National TV markets killed it but we wouldn't have to worry about that now

[sandensea]

20. Besides losing the 2nd most important state, Texas secession would create ANOTHER 3rd world neighbor

One which would, before long, become a far more serious security risk than Mexico ever was - and that we'd have to bail out sooner rather than later.

The Texas dollar would go the way of the Confederate dollar faster than you can say scalawag.

[Goodheart]

26. Houston, Austin, and San Antonio would then secede from Texas.

[TexasTowelie]

36. Dallas and El Paso too.

You might want to include Fort Worth and most of the counties along the Rio Grande River in South Texas. All were won by Joe Biden in 2020.

[blogslut]

28. I'm getting pretty sick of this nonsense

Texas cannot secede from the US. It is a myth promoted by lazy grifters who trade in outrage.

Your idea that such a thing "would be great" is insulting to the millions of Texas Democrats who work hard to change things.

[Captain Zero]

29. Biden should close our biggest military base there now

Just in case they do. Destroy the facilities on the way out.

[Progressive Jones]

31. Big Money alone in Texas will never let this happen. Then throw in the citizens who oppose it. nt

[quickesst]

32. for Texas, it is wishful thinking....

....and for the left it is...... wishful thinking.

[Crunchy Frog]

34. I'd be in favor of it.

I'm sure that's not a popular view.

[struggle4progress]

37. Putin's stooges

Russian Bots, Bucks Helped Push Brexit Vote Through
January 19, 20197:01 AM ET
Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday
SCOTT SIMON

... Cambridge Analytica, which is a big data company that worked for the Trump campaign in the end - and it was owned principally by one of Trump's largest backers, Robert Mercer - was also involved in helping the early stages of the Brexit campaign in England.

And the man who spanned both countries and pushed for both, really, was Steve Bannon ...

Calexit leader quits secession effort to make his home in Russia
By Madison Park, CNN
Published 8:00 AM EDT, Wed April 19, 2017

The Russia-based leader of a Calexit campaign has backed off efforts seeking California’s secession from the United States and announced that he intends to “make Russia my new home.”

Louis Marinelli, president of the Yes California Independence Campaign, wrote in a farewell statement that he would withdraw efforts to get the question of secession on California’s 2018 ballot ...

[tanyev]

38. Your mention of Cruz made me realize that he and Cornyn would instantly be out work if TX seceded.

All the Texas representatives in the House, too. Some of them might love to fling the word 'secede' around, but you can bet none of the TX GOP federal representatives really want it to happen.

[JI7]

40. Yes , it's just about distracting from real issues where they are failures

and appealing to racists.

[JI7]

39. How do they secede when 46 percent of the state voted for Biden

Beto got 48 percent.

And many of the areas that contribute to the state economy are mostly democratic areas.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

41. It will never happen, but I'd like to see Texas vote on the issue. nt