Texas Secession? Perry, One Third of Texans Are Wrong: Texas Can't Secede
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
As if their current governor and his predecessor have not done enough damage to Texans' reputation for Constitutional acuity, nearly 1 in 3 Texas voters think that their state has the legal right to secede from the Union, according to a new Rasmussen Poll.
Umm, no.
On the bright side (such as it is), only 1 in 5 Texas voters would actually like to break off from the Union. Fully three quarters of Texas voters are content to remain part of these United States. Gee, thanks.
This discussion was sparked by Texas Gov. Rick Perry's assertion that Texas has the unique right to secede from the U.S. of A. (Side question: Why the quiescence of the hyper-patriotic right? Why are they not demanding that Perry love this country or leave it—and reminding him he can't take his state with him?)
It is of course an old urban legend that since Texas entered the Union as a sovereign Republic, it has reserved the right to reclaim its old status. Horse-hockey.
Two points to consider. First, there's this brief history of the Lone Star State's 1845 entry into the Union, emphasis added:
When all attempts to arrive at a formal annexation treaty failed, the United States Congress passed—after much debate and only a simple majority—a Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States. Under these terms, Texas would keep both its public lands and its public debt, it would have the power to divide into four additional states "of convenient size" in the future if it so desired, and it would deliver all military, postal, and customs facilities and authority to the United States government. (Neither this joint resolution or the ordinance passed by the Republic of Texas ' Annexation Convention gave Texas the right to secede.)
That paragraph comes from what I can only assume to be an authoritative source on the matter: the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. (Tip of my cowboy hat to an old college pal—from Texas—who posted the link on Facebook.)
Second point: We fought a war over this. Lots of Americans died. The secessionists lost—including the ones in Texas. Secession is no more legal now than it was then.
And while talking about secession undoubtedly plays well among the 3 in 10 Texas voters ill-informed enough to think it's a serious political statement, it also makes the rest of the country (and likely the rest of the state) roll our eyes in bewilderment at the Lone Star Clown.
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Reader Comments
Secession
Hello?....Hello? Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence? What a Maroon! Bob, you Dumb Mass, how the hell you think the US got started! I am sure if you had asked the King of England, he would have said it was illegal too....lol. Some people!
Indecency
It is, discouraging comes to mind, but more so pathetic that so many Americans have no idea of the power we as citizens have. Regardless of whether or not a law exists covering secession matters not. The fact of the matter remains, America was founded by patriots who went against laws to ensure life, liberty, and freedom. The colonists did not say, 'oh wait no, British law doesn't let us secede,' then packed up their guns and sat at home. No. They went against the tyrants and wage a war of freedom.
Regardless if anyone of you nay sayers agree with it or not, any state that has enough people wanting to do it can and will secede whether DC likes it or not.
As many have noted, the US military *myself included* are not segregated. I may be a NYer by birth but I reside in AZ as a home state and if a time comes that AZ wants to secede I stand with my state over the corrupt jackasses in DC. I do not believe in an oppressive federal government having control over states and state affairs. If a state wants freedom from oppression it is an American duty to allow that state to do so, if the federal government does not allow secession they only set in stone the fact that they are oppressive and tyrannical but completely dislodging freedom from the American vocabulary.
Secession is the outright action of freedom, and if a state believes it needs to secede to maintain freedom....secession it should be.
Declaration of Independence
I suggest the author of this article read the Declaration of Independence. It says that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of the ends of people's unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that "it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. If the author of this article does not agree with the Declaration of Independence then he is un-American. Maybe he should read the founding fathers more.
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