The Texas Secession Movement

[ChairmanAgnostic]

According to friends who still suffer in the Austin heat, the Houston humidity, and the Dallas' modesty, Brexit has been a real shot in the arm for those who wish to leave the union.

The Texas Nationalist Movement was first given a boost by Rick Perry, who on one hand pissed on the Obama administration at every possible turn, while at the same time he was seeking federal aid in times of drought and other disasters. He even suggested that Texas leave the union in several public appearances. Makes you wonder why he wanted to be president - but like so many Tea bangers who hated the federal government, while they ran for national office, rationality and consistency is not a strong point in that group of people.

Texit, as some now name that bowel movement, has the secessionists all in a dither, excited as a fat kid finding the key to candy shop after hours. Obviously, those who seek to leave our country haven't really thought things out.

MILITARY
There are 32 active Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard bases in Texas. Not including the Coast Guard, there are 126,000 military in Texas, by far the most in the country, with North Carolina the next highest at 112,000. Add to that another 50,000 civilians who are directly employed by the Military, and you could see that secession would have an immediate, adverse impact on the employment picture and the state's economy.

NASA, AEROSPACE, AVIATION
Texas boasts that it is the largest employer in the aviation and aerospace industries, with more than 153,000 employed there. Imagine how many would leave if Texas was no longer a part of the USA. Probably the vast majority.

CULTURE
Outside of Austin, there is none, so no great loss either to Texas or the US.


Even Trump has weighed in on Texit. He claimed that he understands how and why Texans are upset at the federal government, and that things would change once he is elected.

Texit is a pipe dream of some demented, short-sighted, irrational folks who hate anyone who is ejumicated, doesn't wear cowboy boots, or a 10 gallon hat. But, then, I thought the same thing about a Trump presidential run.
-
On edit,
There is another boost to the Texit movement - today's Supreme Court decision affirming a woman's right to chooses, unfettered by some bible beating, christianist Texans who give two shits about a woman's real health issues. I don't think we can discount just how crazy some of those bible beaters are in Texas, given how they seem to seed and grow mega churches down there.

[tonyt53]

1. The US government can also stop ALL of the oil and gas from being pumped through TX

Their refineries would be hammered, with the loss of thousand of other jobs. The only reason many companies have headquarters there is because of the extremely low business tax rates. TX wouldn't be able to keep providing those conditions, so those companies would likely move out. Thousands more jobs gone.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. So, it would be to their distinct disadvantage to leave. But,

imagine Washington DC with not one Texan politician to be found. It would be a huge improvement, starting with Ted Cruz.

[PJMcK]

20. Followed closely by Louis Gohmert (n/t)

[Frustratedlady]

48. Naw, I'd jump up and down to see Louis Gohmert leave.

Nails on the blackboard to me.

[TonyPDX]

56. You can take your disparaged asparagus with you, Louis! n/t

[Angleae]

61. Followed immediately by the collapse of the US economy which runs on oil and gas.

The vast majority of refined petroleum products goes through Houston. If that flow stops, so does the US economy (products can't get to market, people can't get to work).

[TransitJohn]

85. they'll just continue producing their own oil

I don't see the point of this argument?

[CincyDem]

2. Unlike Brexit, I'd like to see the Texit vote occur in the other 49 states...

...they'd be gone in a heartbeat.

[kentauros]

73. And just like in England,

they'd collapse the US economy the next day. I don't see a silver lining to that kind of thinking.

[Frustratedlady]

4. If they secede, won't they have to set up a new Lone Star income tax?

That will hurt. Texans I know have bragged that they have no state income tax, but it seems to me they have one but it is hidden by other fees such as mandatory vehicle inspections, higher property taxes, liquor and tobacco taxes, etc. To add an income tax for their new govt. would come as a shocker.

Perhaps I'm all wet and they don't have any taxes.

[Angleae]

62. They'll use a VAT or "fair tax" plan in addition to adding a tax to all exported petroleum products.

Considering how much oil the export to the rest of the US, they'll have no problem with revenue.

[CanonRay]

79. No income tax, but the property taxes are outrageous

and the sales tax is nothing to sneeze at either. Gotta get the revenue someplace.

[Adrahil]

5. They'd also see the closure of many U.S. military facilities....

...and the Johnson Space Flight Center. Also, airlines hubbed in Dallas would likely move those hubs, and Businesses headqaurtered there would probably move. Texas would suffer significantly, IMO.

[WolverineDG]

6. Excuse me?

"CULTURE
Outside of Austin, there is none, so no great loss either to Texas or the US."

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. Snark, by any other name smells as sweet.

[WolverineDG]

66. I thought the new rules banned posts like this

I guess if you're from a state like Texas, though, you're still fair game.

[Jim Beard]

80. Will lose a lot of money in Farm Subsidies.

[cloudbase]

14. And that Dallas modesty, as well. n/t

[clarice]

16. cloudbase....you must realize that most elitist's..

not only hate Texas....they hate the very idea that Texas should exist.

[cloudbase]

21. Yeah.

I've been here a while, and I've seen plenty of Texas bashing. I don't take it personally.

[clarice]

24. Peace and Love to you...you Texan you.nt

[cloudbase]

27. To you as well.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

23. Not true. Most of us never give it a thought. but you folks - - -

And those you keep shoving down our throats! When will your state apologize?

George W. Bush
Ted Cruz
Rick Perry
Little Louie Gomert
Lamar Smith
Joe Barton
Jeb Hansarling

And where did Tom DeLay come from?

[clarice]

26. As soon as other States apologize for their own "marginal thinkers".nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

30. Okay, you win.

After we gave the country our Fat Hastert. Effing pervert, who came to congress broke, and left a multi-millionaire.

[clarice]

33. CA... did you read the OP today in DU GD about the law...

making it more difficult to apprehend these bastards? Reprehensible.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

35. (Insert image of me shaking my head)

Yeah, I read it and was saddened.

Although two other decisions by the robes were great.

[clarice]

41. agreed.nt

[wryter2000]

28. Should California apologize for Reagan?

There are bozo everywhere.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

31. Honestly, both Nixon and Reagan would be tossed from today's GOP

As being too liberal.

[Golden Raisin]

42. Ike too!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

45. Ike was a socialist by comparison.

After all, he warned us about the military industrial complex. How more communistic and unpatriotic could one get?

[wryter2000]

52. True

But Reagan was the face that made the evil move to the mainstream. He put a nice face on it. Before that, "conservatism" looked like George Wallace.

I'm old enough to remember when Wallace was a darling on the college lecture circuit. Gag.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

78. I guess bring from Florida, I have a lot of apologizing to do. Orlando has not had a good few

weeks.

[snooper2]

43. I just say "bless your heart" and move on

[Major Nikon]

53. Yeah, sounds like something a non-Texan would say

[hamsterjill]

7. Well, some of us in San Antonio have a little bit of culture...

I hear what you're saying and agree with you.

As a lifelong Texan, I still hope to see my beloved Texas return to its natural BLUE state.

We are surrounded by idiots. There is no denying that. I honestly don't think there are enough idiots to actually try secession, but then again, I didn't think I'd see some of the idiots in office that I currently see in office either.

I take nothing for granted, but I hope for the best.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. Gotcha.

You used to have some fine pols there, including several senators and governors. I just hope the same does not affect my state of Illinois. Rauner is a more dangerous version of Scott Walker. Richer and smarter, too. And far more devious.

[clarice]

8. Respectfully..I live in Texas, and I can pretty much assure you....

that among the sane populace...even among the Righties......mostly EVERYONE thinks that "Texit is a stupid idea.
I'm sure however that there are a very few "lone nuts" here who are for it, but you have those
types of people in every State. Don't worry, we aren't going anywhere.lol

[Zippyzagnut]

10. Can you sane ones

maybe corral 'em into a corner of the state and fence 'em off?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

12. A wall, not a fence. And we'll have the Texans pay for it!

[clarice]

15. Booooooooo.nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. Ok, that one went beyond the pale.

[clarice]

19. No worries CA.... we just get picked on a LOT down here. Peace.nt

[clarice]

13. We're good at that ! lol

[Agnosticsherbet]

18. This does not appear to be a revolt against neoliberalism.

and appears to be more of the revolt against the perceived loss of power by Conservative white Texans in a modern, multi-cultural Country.

[clarice]

22. Just HAD to throw "WHITE" in there huh?nt

[Agnosticsherbet]

37. It is my perception that the majority of people who champion secession, are part of the old power

structure in Texas. That was predominantly white going back beyond the civil war.

If I am an in error and there are large numbers of minorities, I would like to see that data.

[clarice]

40. Yes...Texas has a VERY diverse population.nt

[Agnosticsherbet]

47. But are the Texas secessionists diverse?

[Texasgal]

64. How can they be diverese

when it is such a small amount of people?

[clarice]

67. No.... that's why I said that they are A VERY small minority......

Sane Texans of every political stripe ignore this talk.

[Agnosticsherbet]

68. And that is my impression, also.

[clarice]

69. AG... there are "fringe thinkers " everywhere... in every state..BTW...

you seem to be a very intelligent unbiased person... good on ya.

[Agnosticsherbet]

70. Fringe doesn't bother me as long as they don't try to force everyone else to think the same thing.

[clarice]

83. agreed.nt

[wryter2000]

25. Bye-bye postal service

Try mailing a letter, dipshits. Oh, and kiss your social security good-bye.

They are such idjits.

[clarice]

29. Thanks ..a well thought out, objective, progressive retort.nt

[wryter2000]

54. You know I meant secessionists, right?

I do not mean to include all Texans in that.

[clarice]

65. My sincere apologies. nt

[wryter2000]

72. No problem

I wasn't clear. There's a lot of Southern bashing here, and I don't mean to contribute to it.

[Paladin]

32. Wishful thinking on the part of you DU Texas-Bashers. (nt)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

38. I honestly love Austin.

Great people, nice music, good food, pretty town.

A bit hot, but heck, it is 92 in Chicago today.

[Paladin]

49. We native Texans get tired of the inevitable exception being made for Austin.

And I say that as someone who grew up, there. There are plenty of friendly, scenic places in the state. And the secession movement has never caught on with anything close to a majority of the state's population. Way too many military personnel, Social Security recipients and college-educated urbanites for it to get much beyond a Rick Perry shoot-from-the-hip bit of idiocy.

[TwilightZone]

34. Nah, most Texans laugh at the secessionists.

It rarely tops 20% in polls. You can get 20% of the population to agree on anything.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

36. Like Trump.

Which is pretty damn scary.

[blogslut]

39. Thank you for reminding me.

I forget about my DU trashcan sometimes. Now I get to add two new words: secession and texit.

Buzzwords and regionalism, so lame.

[Golden Raisin]

44. And no more FEMA aid

and Fed $$ bailout after the first major hurricane or other natural disaster. Plus they'd have to pay for the construction, upkeep and maintenance of all their major roads, bridges, etc.

[LanternWaste]

46. Magical thinkers mocking buffoons are bemusing for a slow Monday.

It's a fun to giggle at secessionists as it is to giggle at people who believe imaginary, faith-based borders are real.

Magical thinkers mocking buffoons are bemusing for a slow Monday.

[clarice]

81. "Giggle"???? nt

[Nevernose]

50. I had a secessionist CC professor once

In Texas, in the early 90s. He was a truly bizarre man who was fond of poorly deconstructing common sayings and parables. "They say you can walk a mile in another man's shoes, but you don't learn anything except shoes. I say: can you walk a mile in another man's feet?" Gems like that.

Anyway, during one of his many rants on the benefits of Texas secession, he mentioned that Texas wasn't really a state, and all we'd need to do is exercise our second amendment rights and scare off the federal government. Texas was made a state with a 3/5s vote n the House, but, since Texas was a foreign nation, it would have required a majority vote in the Senate. Therefore guns. Now that I think about it, maybe the first person to ever mention the UN black helicopters to me...

The point is: this shit's been floating around for years.

[Avalux]

51. There is no movement. Poor Texiters!

Good post, but I do have a bone to pick with you about one of your statements - this one:

"CULTURE
Outside of Austin, there is none, so no great loss either to Texas or the US."

I'm sorry, but Austin is bulging at the seams and is no longer delightfully weird, it's actually becoming quite lame. Ever since they tore down the Liberty Lunch for condos and made it almost impossible to get cheap good food - I've lost interest in what once was a fun and unpretentious town.

San Antonio is actually the most culturally diverse city in Texas.

[Jim Beard]

84. It has become like all other "Cool towns" that are discovered.

The masses move in and want McDonalds and all the other crap they left.

[TonyPDX]

55. Oh please! Oh please! Oh please! Oh please! Oh please! n/t

[tirebiter]

57. We've gone to war over the whole secession thing already

The Texiters are under the illusion that things might be different this time?

[PatrickforO]

58. This is the logical end of the decades of corporate propaganda telling us to hate the

government so we will ignore the MIC and Wall Street's rape of the treasury.

So...TX secedes and all of a sudden has all the problems of a small nation. Gosh, what to do? Oh, golly, we're gonna have to raise taxes because we have to pay for services. I mean have you seen those roads? Since we don't get those evil Federal dollars any more it's gonna cost us about 3X as much.

And all the jobs we lost from those war contracts...geez. But hey, we can export oil until it runs out and we don't need to toe no line to no EPA. What?? The people in Dallas are revolting against pollution caused by our total deregulation and don't like the increasing number of oil spills? Hey, suck it up! This is Texas!

Plus we got good news. We don't need no common core and we've decided to deregulate and privatize schools. They's gonna be an Evangelical brand of madrassa schools. Yep. We's gonna have our kids memorize the Bible in school. They don't need none o' that egghead devil-science! Nope. The world is 6,000 years old...

[LiberalFighter]

59. Rather than have Texas secede just have their supporters leave the country.

Go south efn idiots. They should enjoy living in Mexico.

[LiberalFighter]

60. It should be pointed out to those delusional crackpots

that Texas is the way it is because of Texas government.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

63. Witch they elected. Which. Whatever.

[clarice]

82. And what glorious State do YOU call home?nt

[Skittles]

71. WTF is Dallas modesty?

[Darb]

75. Not letting on that

you are shagging your first cousin.

[cherokeeprogressive]

74. Does not exist.

Give it a fucking rest already.

[Darb]

76. Cherokee Progressive?

Is this Elizabeth Warren?

[Lance Bass esquire]

77. As an ex Texan

Nothing would be more rewarding than to watch their lone star faces reaction to what would follow if they ever did leave the states.

Hiway funding and infrustructure budgets...gone.
Military bases and money they generate. ..gone.
Military equipment to fight off invading hoards...gone.
Hurricane and Flood disaster funding..gone.
Medicare..SS and unemployment benefits. .gone
Homeland Securry and Coast Gaurd ..gone.

I cold keep goin but you get the picture.

They want to leave but keep all the goodies.

Ain't gping to happen. .

[Bucky]

86. "Culture: Outside of Austin, there is none" -- Good heavens you're an ignoramus

Houston, Dallas, Ft Worth, San Antonio all have thriving arts scenes--including loads of state & municipal government supported arts. Houston is more of an international city than New York or LA, only our multicultural flavor is more blended than the segregated feel that I get on the other coasts.

There's the real Texas... and then there's the cartoon Texas in your head that's full of outdated stereotypes. Please learn which one is real, or at least restrict your comments to topics that you have a clue about.