In March, some counties in Texas passed resolutions to vote on secession, so there will be an awkward debate at the GOP conference in May. The GOP convention will be held from May 12-14 in Dallas. Secession is defined as:
“To withdraw formally from membership in a federal union, an alliance, or a political or religious organization.”
The pro-secession group, the Texas Nationalist Movement said the 22 of the 250 conventions that were held passed secession resolutions. Their website gives these reasons why Texans want independence:
Texas gets a government that begins and ends in Texas.
Independence is what the people of Texas want.
Texas gets a government that we choose.
An end to the failed Federal policy of unrestricted spending and limitless debt.
A secure border and a sane immigration policy.
A sound monetary policy based on real value.
Texas and the United States are on divergent political, cultural and economic paths.
Independence means an end to the siphoning of Texans’ hard-earned money by D.C. bureaucrats.”
The TNM website also has these useful memes pre-made about how Texas stacks up against other countries. They claim that Texas is the 9th largest economy in the world ahead of Brazil, Canada, and others.
It is highly unlikely that Texas would ACTUALLY vote to secede, but the fact that it is being discussed in the convention means that the movement is growing. Texas Republicans aren’t too worried; it’s just one topic among many.
The modern secession movement revved up in the 90s under Richard Lance McLaren. He is now serving a 99-year prison sentence for kidnapping.
A 2009 poll found that 1 in 3 Texans think that their state has a right to secede. But if it were actually put to a vote, seventy-five percent would stay with the United States. Since then, the TNM has seen its membership go up four hundred percent, and the web traffic has gone up ninety percent. Secession bumper stickers have been popping up all over the state.
The movement is definitely growing, but it’s highly unlikely that Texas would actually secede.
Featured image via Flickr, available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Generic license.
