UPDATE! Texas Gov. mentions "Secession" at Austin tea party

[Felch]

No. The 101st Airborne did that. The Supremes are just a bunch of Ivy League *******s who think they're better than the rest of us.

[Felch]

Props on the Senator Davis avatar by the way.

[Impaler[WrG]]

It sounds like Texas dose have the unique right by its Anexation treaty to divide itself into as many as five states all of which would automatically be admitted to the Union. Other states in the union may not do so without the consent of Congress (per the Constitution) but if my reading is correct Texas was 'pre-aproved' to do this. Could this serve as a Senate stuffing measure for the GOP if actually enacted?

[chequita guevara]

Maybe. I believe parts of the RoT are already parts of others states: New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

In any event, an act of Congress can be overturned by a subsequent act of Congress.

[Boris Godunov]

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/hey-rick-can-we-talk.html

Hey Rick, Can We Talk?
by Nate Silver @ 12:18 AM

Maybe Democrats should take Rick Perry up on his idea that Texas should secede from the Union.

Consider:

-- If Texas were not in the Union, the Democrats would currently have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate -- or at least they would once Al Franken gets seated. This is because, in a 98-seat Senate, only 59 votes would be required to break a filibuster.
-- If Texas were not in the Union, the Republicans would operate from a significantly weakened position in the House, since the net 8-vote advantage their congressional delegation gives them in the state (they have 20 seats to the Democrats' 12) is by far their largest.
-- If Texas were not in the Union, George W. Bush would never have become President in 2000 -- not because he'd be constitutionally ineligible (Bush, despite his Texas twang, was born in posh New Haven, Connecticut). Rather, he wouldn't have had enough Electoral Votes to defeat Al Gore.
-- If Texas were not in the Union, Barack Obama would have won the Electoral College 389-147 instead of 365-173 (note that there are two fewer votes total, because there would be two fewer Senators). The vast majority of Texas' electoral votes would be redistributed to lib'rul states like California (which would go from having 55 electoral votes to 59) and New York (34 rather than 31).
--If Texas were not in the Union, Bush would still have defeated John Kerry 269-267, but Kerry would have an easier go of things, winning the election if he'd won either Iowa or New Mexico; he would not have had to win Ohio or Florida.
-- If Texas were not in the Union, there'd be a good case for making football an Olympic sport, which would sure as hell beat rhythmic gymnastics.

This all sounds like a pretty good deal to me, provided there weren't import duties on Shiner Bock.

And of course, there's the billions in Federal $$ we could send to other states where actual proud Americans live, including all those NASA jobs and the military bases.

[The Mad Monk]

You're late, we've moved on to Oerdin's thread.

[Ben Kenobi]

Great.

You'd also lose about 20 percent of your military in one fell swoop.

Texas has the highest total number of servicemen. CA is something like 15th despite being the largest state.

This is why I think it's hilarious that people believe Texas wouldn't be able to defend themselves. I'm sure they could do a much better job if they didn't have to drag behind all the California folks.

[Q Classic]

Nobody is saying that Texas wouldn't be capable of defending themselves.

I think the general opinion here is that nobody is really interested in invading them to keep them around.

[Dr Strangelove]

Actually Texas is where we store all the military equipment not currently in use, which includes thousands of tanks, APCs, artillery pieces, helicopters, jets, etc., etc.

Seriously, Texans can leave the country anytime they want to. We have no "iron curtain" to keep our citizens from emigrating.

[Ben Kenobi]

Umm, Doc I don't think that's how secession works.

They want to take it all with them. Frankly, they have that right as a state.

[chequita guevara]

The right of secession was settled twice, once by civil war, once by Supreme Court case. No state has the right to secede. On the other hand, we could kick Texas out.

[SlowwHand]

Well honey lips, why don't you?

[chequita guevara]

Who says I ain't trying?

[SlowwHand]

Good deal. The help is appreciated. Thanks to you, I think it's clear as to why Texas would leave.

[MrFun]

The right to own slaves was settled by civil war.

fixed