There has been a lot of talk lately about secession, but the most surprising example of this came during a tea party rally in Texas not too long ago, from the mouth of none other than Texas governor Rick Perry. Although he stopped short of actually calling for Texas to secede from the United States of America, he nevertheless lit something of a firestorm by saying it might in time become a more popular and even viable notion.
Naturally he has been the recipient of a great deal of criticism, as well as outright support for his statements. Nevertheless, I would have to suggest that if any single state would have a chance of success as a nation in its own right, Texas would have to be one of them. With a wealth of natural resources, agricultural land and facilities, and coastal territory, it might well become a wealthy, prosperous, powerful nation in it's own right.
The true test, however, would be in it's overall success in the long term. The major problem they would have to face would of course be resistance from both within and without to the act of secession. Though they might well weather that storm, however, there is one other that might eventually destroy them.
I am talking here about the prospects for increased illegal immigration. Unless Texas were able and willing to secure their border, they would be doomed in a relatively short period of time by an influx of aliens who would fill their schools, jails, clinics, and hospitals, drain their social services, and flood the job market, all while proving an unbearable tax burden. Crime would of course skyrocket in many, in fact probably in most areas.
I am sympathetic to those in Texas who wish to secede, and feel it might well be a worthwhile experiment. However, unless Texas has the will, determination, courage, and ability to adequately secure their borders, they would soon find themselves flooded with a horde of illegal immigrants who would quickly turn their new nation into the same kind of third world hell hole as the cursed nation from which they came.
Also, by the way, Texas might want to seriously consider closing its border with Mexico as well.
8 comments:
I agree with Chavez, on how to handle a secessionist movement: laws, people in the street, and the military.
Ren, the US isn't Venezuela (yet). States have a constitutional right to secede here (Tenth Amendment). Sure, it's an impractical solution for most states, like those with small populations, landlocked and with limited resources, but its still a guaranteed right. So actually, they would be following the law. The wonder is more haven't tried it. The Civil War gave the secessionist idea a bad rep, but that doesn't mean it's always a bad idea, or inappropriate. The federal government needs to be kept in check, and if they can't restrain themselves, then its up to the people in the states to rein them in, by any means necessary.
I'm guessing his statement was what you call a publicity stunt, so I'm not expecting to see the nation of Texas any time soon.
Rufus-
This is just a guess, but I'm thinking he's mulling over the idea of running in the primary for the Senate seat that's coming up for re-election. It's held by a Republican, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, but there's a lot of dissatisfaction
among Republicans with her.
You're probably right, I doubt it myself. It would be cool though if someone was to seriously try that. There's been a lot of talk about it. Who knows, maybe at some date there might be a valid movement in that direction. It would be interesting, to say the least.
It shows why the GOP is dying. It's a reactionary idea, out of touch with any reality.
Isn't all political opposition "reactionary"? Tell the truth Ren, if they were wanting to secede to form a socialist state, would you feel that way? There's nobody wanting to secede at this stage anyway, it's mostly rhetoric. They are just against the unprecedented levels of government spending, and government control over businesses to the extent the feds are now "firing" CEO's.
I don't agree with them totally on everything, but I do on a lot of things, and they do make a lot of good points.
At least they are trying to go about their protests in a responsible manner. They're not throwing firebombs and rocks, or dropping objects from bridge overpasses down onto passing cars, or breaking windows, assaulting police, or anybody else.
I have yet to know of a case where a conservative group tried to shut down a speech or appearance by a liberal or leftist speaker, as has happened repeatedly on college campuses where leftists shut down appearances by conservative speakers. The most recent example of this was at some college at North carolina, where Tom Tancredo literally had to run for his life.
Yet, the tea parties are "reactionary". Please, give me a fucking break.
I'm all FOR the secession of Texas...and they can take Romo & those silly Cowboys with them...WE could always make Canada out fiftieth state:)
MR, The problem with that theory is Canada wouldn't be the fiftieth state even if they went along with that, which I can almost guarantee you they wouldn't. If Texas left, it wouldn't be long before others would follow along with them, either forming a new nation with them or on their own. They wouldn't all necessarily be states of the old confederacy either, though those states would certainly make up probably most of them.
The most troublesome problem for the old states would be in keeping the plains states in the union. Once the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma join in, which would be a very big possibility, the rest of you might have a hard time feeding yourselves. By the time two or three years goes down the line, and depending on how things goes, you might add a few other states to the mix. There might even be serious rumblings in Ohio and Indiana.
If Texas were to seriously move in that direction (which I seriously don't think they will) it would send shock waves reverberating throughout the world. It wouldn't be pretty, but if things got that bad, I don't see what could be done about it short of military intervention, which would just make matters worse in its own right.
As for Romo and the Cowboys, I'm afraid you'd probably be stuck with them. I doubt the owners would be able to resist the urge to relocate to one of the remaining official US states. Then again, from the looks of things, all Texas might have to do is paint the Texas borders to look like an end-zone and the Cowboys would have a hell of a hard time getting past it.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, by the way.
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