Texans fight on for independence from USA

Manny Fernandez’s recent article for The New York Times makes it clear that while Barack Obama may have rejected the right of self-determination, secessionists in Texas are not going away. The Texas Nationalist Movement, a pro-independence group spotlighted in the article, recently held a rally for secession at the State capital and spent the day lobbying government officials on the issue. As National Public Radio has reported, the States and regions are more divided than ever. Obama’s recent executive orders restricting gun rights have only heightened the tension, provoking a backlash from State governments and sheriffs. Fernandez writes: [T]he response — in which a White House official said the founding fathers established the United States as a “perpetual union” — hardly discouraged the Texas secession movement, which has been simmering for decades but gained momentum after the re-election of President Obama. On the opening day of the Legislature here last Tuesday, supporters of the Texas Nationalist Movement — a group that wants Texas to sever its federal ties and become an independent nation — met with Republican leaders, including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. It was another sign that ideas once regarded as radical and even unpatriotic have found a measure of support, or at least sympathy, among some conservatives. The movement also scored a mention in one legislator’s opening-day speech, though it was not a reference that pleased supporters of the cause. “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,” the speaker of the House, Joe Straus III, a San Antonio Republican, told lawmakers. …The communications director for the Texas Nationalist Movement, Jeff Sadighi, shrugged off the White House response and pointed to a section of the State Constitution that says Texans have the right “to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient.” At the opening of the legislative session, the group rallied on the steps of the Capitol and went to the offices of lawmakers seeking support for a referendum asking Texas voters to accept or reject secession. They got a warm reception: the group’s president, Daniel Miller, met with Mr. Dewhurst for about an hour. “We had a lengthy discussion about the U.S. Constitution, the Texas Constitution and the future of Texas,” Mr. Miller said. “He was cordial and engaging on the issues with which we are concerned.” A spokesman for the lieutenant governor, Matt Hirsch, said that Mr. Miller was one of several constituents who met with Mr. Dewhurst on the first day of the session, but that as a proud veteran Mr. Dewhurst believed in preserving and protecting the Union. Advocates for self-determination are finally being treated with some respect by some in the media and many in State government. This is a radical change from even just a few years ago. It should be pointed out that Lt Governor Dewhurst, who was born in 1945, bases his opposition to independence upon having been in the US military. Of course, a large number of secessionists, both historically and presently, were at one time or another in the US military. But the question that Dewhurst should be asked is does he truthfully consider the USA to be the same one (in terms of values, demography, culture and politics) for which he fought many years ago? The clear answer to this question is ‘no.’ Given all the many problems with the United States in the 1960s, it is still true that things for White Southern conservatives such as Dewhurst have been made far worse since then. In fact, the US media and Dewhurst’s political opponents regularly celebrate the fact that, given present US trends that result from Federal policy, people like Dewhurst are rapidly being displaced. This is not something that just happened without cause; present US trends (which are displacing people like Dewhurst and which will make future generations of his family a small minority with little political influence in their own land) are a result of the policies imposed upon Texas and the other States by the US Federal Government. Those trends could be halted or reversed if Texas were independent.