Advocating Secession is the Opposite of Patriotic
The deep south bills itself as the home to the height of real patriotism. Presidential politics for the last several decades have required either candidates from the south (Bush, Bush Jr, Johnson, Clinton, Carter) or massive support from southern states. The citizens of the south proudly refer to themselves as flag waving and gut toting. They believe that their maintenance of strong religion based values mean that they are at the forefront of patriotism. They advertise their unwavering support for the military troops and American military operations. Then they spoil the whole thing by advocating leaving the US entirely and forming their own country. I hate to point out the obvious, but you can't be patriotic to your country if you at the same time advocate leaving it en masse.
Where once the Texans were the leaders of southern patriotism and values, they now seem to be advocating high treason. This means that Texans actually don't support the war or the troops. They can't be in favor of national security and at the same time want to disassociate themselves with that nation. Were they to leave the US, they would be abandoning the troops and everything they fought for.
Just to put this in perspective, let us look at the exact same situation in reverse. Let's pretend that it is 2004, just after the reelection of an unpopular president to progressive citizens and New York, Massachusetts, or California decided that it wanted to secede from the Union. Maybe this wouldn't even be a statewide action, just a large number of people publicly advocating that their state secede from the Union. They, and the entire political movement they associate with, would be crucified by the media. They would be called anti-American, and would seek to stick this label to all progressives. Glen Beck's head would explode.
The situation is no different now. This recent secession talk is ironclad proof that progressives are the true patriots and that conservatives actually hate America. Their country takes second place to conservative politics and the demi-gods that it creates. If you disagree with a country you love, you react like the progressives did: you start grassroots movements, make political arguments, and seek to win the hearts of the people to your side and hopefully their votes in democratic elections. Hence, the reaction to the radically conservative politics of the Bush administration were to work hard and elect a progressive Congress and a inspirational progressive president.
The incorrect reaction is to pout and politically "take your ball and go home." When progressives were in the political minority they worked hard and made political movements and arguments. Now that conservatives are in the political minority they scream tyranny and say that they don't want to be American anymore. Grown-ups react to not getting their way by pushing harder and striving to get better; immature children react to not getting their way by kicking and screaming, throwing temper tantrums. At the moment Texas conservatives seem to frighteningly resemble a kid in the cereal isle at the grocery store whose parents won't buy him Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. Who are the real patriots here?
Texas Actually Can't Secede
The argument of whether or not Texas actually has the right to secede from the union has been the subject of much debate. This concept is fundamental to the identity of people from Texas. I have known a large number of people from Texas since I live in Oklahoma. People that are from Texas just think differently. Their perceived ability to leave the US whenever they want in hammered into their heads at a very young age and becomes the root of their sense of superiority over all other Americans. To demonstrate to those who are less familiar with what I am talking about, I would like to share a short story about something that happened to be when I was a camp counselor in Maine the summer after my freshman year of college.
The counselor staff was about 120 people. About half of those were from the US, and about half were from other countries. Of the 60 or so from the US, 6 were from Texas. On the first day of orientation, before the kids showed up, we were asked to create name tags as a way to help us get to know each other better. Everyone was asked to create simple name tag that said two things: your first name and what country you lie in. Of the ~120 people, see if you can guess which 6 were too stupid to be able to get that amazingly simple instruction correct? All 6 of them put 'Texas' instead of 'USA' or 'America'. This was not a problem for anyone else. There were 4 other people from Oklahoma, we all were smart enough to put USA on our tag. Everyone else from the US were able to correctly name what country they belonged to without a second try. But all 6 Texans put the name of their state when asked to name their country. People from Texas just think differently.
The base of the secessionist claim is their assertion that Texas was at one time its own country. While they certainly claimed that they were a completely independent country, the actual truth to this claim is hazy and has decent arguments from both directions. They claim that there is a provision in their revised state constitution when the rejoined the union post-Civil War that allows them to secede. There isn't. The closest thing is that their second state constitution states that they are organized under the US Constitution and thus are solely under its govern. Their claim is that because there is no specific provision in the US Constitution that disallows secession, and that all rights not enumerated are reserved to the states under the 10th amendment, that they are allowed to secede if they choose. This is no different than any other state constitution and they have no more or less right to secede from the US than does any other state.
But there actually are two major reasons that no state is granted the right to secede from the union. The first is the Civil War. The outcome of the Civil War is the proclamation that it is the position of the US government according to its Constitutional powers that no state is able to secede and that any action attempting this is considered sedition to national unity and security giving the federal government the ability to do what is necessary to return the preservation of that union.
The second reason is the Supreme Court Case Texas v. White from 1868. In the actual words of the decision:
When Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States.It is important to remember at this time that according to the concept of judicial review established in Marbury v. Madison, the official issuances of the Supreme Court are the sole final arbitration for the interpretation of the Constitution. Essentially, what the Supreme Court says, is the Constitution. This fully satisfies the Texas state Constitutional requirement to obey the US Constitution and its judicial provision of an "indissoluble relation[ship]" to the rest of the US.
Enough about the delusion of the ability to secede, I think in an argument like this it is important to look at what would actually happen if they got what they wanted. I don't think Texans would actually want to literally secede from the US if they actually thought about it.
Texas Wouldn't Want to Secede Anyway
To anyone that sits down and thinks about the economics and politics of breaking away from the US, the idea seems like it would cause nothing but harm to the newly formed country of Texas. They would be hit with a multitude of problems that were once solved as a component of being a member state in the federal government. Texas would lose a massive amount of its current commerce if it were to become an independent state. It would experience a massive outflow of people, many of which would be the people that would cause the most harm to the state. It would have to suddenly face issues of national security that it historically would not be prepared. All in all, leaving the US would prove to be devastating to Texas--those that advocate it should be held accountable to what it is they are actually preaching.
One of the first problems that would occur would be its loss of trade abilities. The people of the state are very much against NAFTA, so there is little evidence that they would want to join it as a member nation. Even if they flip-flopped and decided to join NAFTA, that would require months to put in place, months that would be harsh on the Texan economy. They would no longer likely be much of an avenue for current US/Mexican trading as we would seek to minimize tariffs by routing that traffic through New Mexico and Arizona. They would lose American border protection; while this would be able to aptly be performed by Texas, it would add a significant new cost to the budget. Texas would lose massive amounts of tourism as fewer people would be willing to vacation in Texas if it required a passport and customs checks in and out. They additionally would lose the use of the US Dollar as a currency along with the ability to acquire FDIC protection for its banks. This would require stabilization of the banking system as a new fiscal and monetary plan was created as billions would flow out of the state in favor of US banks. Keep in mind with all these considerations that there is little evidence that there will exist the political will to increase the tax base enough to cover the additional costs of sovereignty.
One of the first things to happen would be the loss of federal institutions. Secession would invalidate Texas' ability to be involved in the Social Security program. This would cause a massive cost to Texas to either fund a replacement (huge tax increase) or discontinue the program leading to a mass exodus from its people that are forced to rely on Social Security. It would additionally end their ability to receive Medicare benefits or contribute to US based retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s. This would cause another mass exodus of refugees returning to the US. Let us also not forget that secession would also dis-enroll colleges in Texas from membership in the NCAA in all sports. I would imagine the fans of sports like these will soon get tired of watching Baylor, UT, Tech, and A&M play each other over and over again. Colleges period would suffer as many would chose not to go to schools in Texas or work there once they get degrees in favor of a more open career in America. Many of the people that would leave Texas would be its best and brightest.
At the same time as the exodus of federal institutions would occur a massive exodus of business from Texas. One of the first that comes to mind is the use of Texas as a hub for airlines like Southwest. Dallas and Houston are large hubs for flights. They would instantly pull out of using these as hubs putting many thousands out of work. Airlines would no longer use a foreign country as its domestic hub, particularly considering the extremely restrictive nature of international flight routes by the FAA. Because of the inability to gain FDIC protection, large banks in Texas would move their primary operations to the US to be able to maintain their American consumer base. There are similar effects that could be considered for many businesses as the economic effect of the billions that flows through Texas would dry up as its costs would inevitably increase and their former customers would prefer to "Buy American." These actions would lead to a massive increase in unemployment, decrease in population, and runaway increase in crime rates
The most important reason that real Texans should oppose secession is the state's inability to maintain its national security. They would lose everything that belongs to the US military and would have to spend many years trying to reacquire a new military and equipment. It's going to take more than just some rednecks with deer rifles. Plus, it is important to remember that Texas not historically known as a military power. This is a state that during its national sovereignty lost a war to Mexico. Let me say that again, Texas lost a war to Mexico. It is an instance that solidly proves that it didn't consider itself a true independent nation. Texas loved to tout itself as a nation until Santa Anna showed up and started kicking the shit out of Texas. It was then that they instantly came crying back to America, an actual country, to come save them from the Mexicans. The list of countries that have lost wars to Mexico is a short one, but there is Texas' name shining brightly at the top.
In total, the quality of life for Texans would suffer severely in the case of secession. It would devastate the entire country and become the worst thing that ever happened to it. And, in that instance where it occurred I think it would only be prudent for the US to keep a database of everyone that advocated Texas secession and disallow any of them to ever enter the US.
Conclusion
All those that are true citizens of both Texas and the USA should be calling for the resignation or impeachment of Gov. Perry. It is one thing when some crazy radicals like Todd Palin (Sarah Palin's husband and Alaska secessionist) advocate secession. But it is another when the supposed political mainstream of a state espouses that position. It is obvious that in one way this is meant only to appease the radical political demagogues. But it is important to outline that he is cowing to these radicals at the risk of destroying the entire state.
There is no evidence that this will actually happen in the foreseeable future. But arguments from nuts like these have to be chronicled and refuted when, like Texas secession, there are so many radicals that they cannon be simply ignored. Even if their stated goals are not meant, we have learned what lengths political radicals have gone (especially anti-US government activists that advocate secession like Timothy McVeigh) in pursuit of these goals. Political radicals have the real ability to hurt national unity and harm real Americans. I do not in any way advocate abridging their right to free speech; but inherent in that same freedom is my ability to point out how stupid and poorly thought out their arguments really are.
Freedom of speech additionally dozen not mean that you cannot be held accountable for your positions. And in cases like Governor Rick Perry and other Texas secessionists, I think we should move on from this Conservative anti-American rhetoric and try to create a little unity to solve those problems that threaten to divide us. The answer to a call for national unity is to make your country better, not cut and run with your head between your legs.
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