If Texas Secedes From The Union Will I Be An Illegal Alien?

The graphic on the left comes from Sunday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, showing Texas slip sliding away from the Union.

The article accompanying the graphic, titled "What if Texas really did secede?" has me worried.

If Texas secedes from the Union will transplanted Yankees, like me, be deported due to being illegal aliens?

A sampling of what is in this news story that has me worried...

Some 177 years after a violent divorce from Mexico, some unhappy Texans are again touting separation from the motherland, this time after a presidential election didn't favor one of the reddest states in the country.

Perhaps it's no surprise. Texas is the only state that has twice tried breakaways, experiencing the spoils of victory in 1836 but the torment of defeat in 1865.

What if Texas really did secede?

Pros and cons
Plentiful resources could be the difference
Texas is uniquely positioned to survive because of resources and population. It has one-fourth of U.S. oil reserves and one-third of the natural gas. The state's gross domestic product was $1.2 billion* in 2011, which would make it the world's 14th-biggest economy.

The challenges would be immense

The uncertainties are overwhelming: How would Texas manage healthcare and Social Security? How would it retire its share of the national debt? How would it repay federal loan guarantees for infrastructure and transportation projects?

*$1.2 billion? I suspect the correct figure is $1.2 trillion.

Is America Making A Case To Kick Texas Out Of The Union?

I don't know if most Texans pay any attention to what the rest of America, or the world, thinks about Texas, or Texans.

If they don't, maybe they should.

This morning the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had an amusing article, well, amusing to me, article about Texas titled Should Texas secede from the U.S.? A case can be made.

Below is that article in its entirety....

A total of 125,746 people recently signed a petition on the White House web site asking the Obama administration to allow Texas to secede from the United State.  It was, of course, rejected.

The reactionaries who rule the Lone Star State have been restless ever since Obama was elected in 2008.

"When we came into the nation in 1845, we were a stand-alone nation, and one of the deals was, we can leave any time we want.  So we're kind of thinking about it again," Gov. Rick Perry told an early Tea Party rally.

Perry has since rejected secession.  He sought to become America's 45th president in 2012 only to find himself, in a Republican candidates debate,  unable to identify the three Cabinet departments he had pledged to eliminate.

It begs a question, however.  What would the rest of America gain -- and lose -- were the Texas Nationalist Movement to achieve its goal of secession?  The gains:

--Fewer awful presidents:  Lyndon Johnson orchestrated the Vietnam War, in which the United States was stymied by what LBJ called "a raggedly ass little fourth rate country."  George W. Bush took us to war in Iraq on a lie, at a cost of nearly 5,000 American lives and as much as $1 trillion.

If Rick Perry ever moves to the White House, the governor  already defined his governing philosophy:  "I think it's time for us to just hand it over to God and say, 'God, you're going to have to fix this'."

--Greater respect for the law:  Texas has resisted efforts to clean up dirty air in its petroleum-producing regions.  Then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay once likened U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials to Hitler's Gestapo.

Rick Perry has opined:  "Frankly, I pray for the President every day.  I pray for his wisdom. I wish this President would turn back the health care law that's been passed, ask that his EPA back down these regulations that are causing business to hesitate to spend money."

Just last week, Texas State Rep. Steve Toth introduced a bill in the state House that would allow police across the state to arrest any federal law enforcement officers who tried to enforce a federal ban on military-style assault weapons and/or high capacity magazines.

--Fewer awful members of Congress:  Former Sen. Phil Gramm championed letting Wall Street run free.  Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, has threatened to introduce a bill of impeachment against President Obama for using executive powers to promote firearms safety.  Tom DeLay tried to impeach President Clinton. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, reacted to assassinations at Sandy Hill Elementary School in Connecticut by saying of the slain principal:

"Chris, I wish to god she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out . . . and takes him out and takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids."

Those are the doofuses.  Others are dangerous.  Under chairmanship of Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2006 tried to strip away tanker safety requirements and oil spill protections from Puget Sound -- and every place else in the country.  Sen. Maria Cantwell and then-Rep. Jay Inslee threatened to raise hell, and stopped it.  (Barton is the guy who apologized to BP after the Gulf oil spill.)

--Less climate idiocy:  As energy industry strumpets, Texas politicians have turned a blind eye toward climate change . . . even when Texas was hit in 2011 with a massive drought, prolonged 100-degree plus temperatures and wildfires that scorched hundreds of thousands of acres.

Gov. Perry proclaimed three days of April, 2011, as "Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas."  Then, he ran for the Republican nomination as a global warming denier, claiming scientists "manipulated data" that human activity is contributing to climate change.

If Texas were to secede, in sum, the rest of the United States would have fewer wars, enjoy a higher proportion of smart politicians in Washington, D.C.,  and be better able to tackle issues ranging from climate change to gun violence.

The case against:  America would lose on the technology front, the literary front, the culinary front and the music front were Austin, Texas, to be taken from it.  Texas would depart just as changing demographics -- the rising Hispanic population, emigration from the north -- promise to loosen the good-old-boy grip.

Of course, there's also what to do with the 3.1 million Texans who voted for President Obama, and the state's non-Tea Party Republicans.  George (Sr.) and Barbara Bush could enjoy dual citizenship, and decamp for Kennebunkport, Maine.  It wouldn't be that easy for the state's enlightened folk, who need help from the outside.

God help us and spare us what Gov. Perry would let happen to air and water quality if set free to work his -- oops, God's -- will.  What improvements there are now come almost entirely courtesy of federal law and the hated EPA.

The number of people executed in Texas, not all of them guilty, would soar without the Supreme Court-imposed inhibitions on executing youthful offenders and mentally ill defendants.

Still, the let- 'em-go temptation is there, particularly when America is forced to listen to the theology of Rick Perry or the science denial of a Rep. Barton or Rep. Ralph Hall, absurdly the chairman of the House Science, Space Technology Committee.

Then, too, the attitude of Texas' rulers is, "Never say never."  The Texas Nationalist Movement  met last week with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.  And House Speaker Joe Strauss III declared:

"Our economy is so vast and diverse that if Texas were its own country -- and no, don't worry, that isn't something we're going to do this session -- but if we were, we'd be the 14th largest economy in the world."

Hey, don't tempt us.

Doonesbury Has My Aunt Asking If I Will Return To God's Country If Texas Secedes From The Union Again

In my mailbox, this morning, I found another Christmas card from my favorite Auntie A, who lives in Eastern Washington, near Othello, overlooking the Columbia River.

A blogging a couple days ago, titled My Aunt Told Me She Will Believe Corporations Are People When Texas Executes One I blogged about that day's Christmas card from my favorite Auntie A and how my Auntie mails me stuff she reads relating to Texas, often focusing on the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, a governor who  regularly causes jaws to drop in other parts of the country.

Today's Christmas card from Auntie A included a strip from a Doonesbury comic. It has been years since I've regularly enjoyed Doonesbury. Is Gary Trudeau banned in Texas? I have no idea.

I think the characters in this particular Doonesbury comic strip are known as Duke and the son of Duke.

In the comic strip Dukes asks his son, "SO HOW DO WE MAKE THE CASE FOR TEXAS SECEDING?" To which Duke's son replies, "POP, CHECK OUT THE PETITION TEXT. IT'S FILLED WITH ERRORS IN SYNTAX, USAGE AND PUNCTUATION. YET OVER 120,000 TEXANS SIGNED IT.

To which Duke says, "WOW, THAT'S AMAZING." And then starts a sentence with, "SO LOSING TEXAS..." to have his son finish Duke's sentence with, "DRAMATICALLY IMPROVES THE GENE POOL! THAT'S OUR ANGLE!"

Well, the above, from Doonesbury just seems really rude to me. Losing Texas improves the American gene pool? Am I understanding correctly?

Regarding this Doonesbury comic strip my Aunt had this to say....

Thought you might enjoy this comic strip. If Texas does secede, will Perry be president?! 'Tis one of his ambitions. Will you need a passport to visit us? Will Texas oil need to be taxed by states?! Will you move back to God's country if Texas secedes?!

Well,  I have to say, watching Top Chef Seattle has had me wanting to move back to God's country, regardless of the secession status of Texas.

This week's Top Chef Elimination Challenge, featuring Pacific Northwest berries, had me homesick. Every episode of Top Chef Seattle seems to feel the need to have Dungeness Crab, which also contributes to the homesick feeling. And then there is that God's country scenery. Has Top Chef ever filmed in such a scenic location before?

Texas Secede! And Other Nonsense

The "I vote to SECEDE" baseball cap that I ordered weeks ago finally arrived on Saturday, in plenty of time for 4th of July Tea Parties. Click here to go to a website where you can get your own Texas Secession stuff, like t-shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, key rings and aprons.

The goofy governor of Texas, Rick Perry, caused a nice big brouhaha when he mentioned the Texas Secession option at a Tea Bag Party awhile back. This week's FW Weekly's cover article is a very amusing take on what Texas will be like after it gets out of the Union for the second time.

Apparently 31% of Texans believe Texas has the right to opt out of the United States, with 19% of Texans wanting secession to happen.

A few weeks ago I opined that this would be a bad thing because Five Flags Over Texas sounded wrong. I was wrong, the title for this week's FW Weekly cover article is "Seven Flags Over Texas." I'm real bad at math. I subtracted a flag when I should have been adding one. Seven Flags Over Texas does not sound as wrong as Five Flags Over Texas.

Click here to read a Texas Secede FAQ.