The natives are restless. Across America, independence movements have sprung up, calling for individual states to secede from the Union.
According to a recent Newsweek article, secession campaigns are active in twelve states: Oregon, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Louisiana, California, Washington, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania. That list does not include two more states with active independence movements: Alaska and Florida.
In Texas, the Texas Nationalist Movement is making significant strides in its campaign for independence. TNM is pushing for a statewide, nonbinding referendum allowing Texans to voice their opinion on a single question: “Should the state of Texas reassert its status as an independent nation?” The movement collected 140,000 signatures for this question to be placed on the Republican primary ballot this year.
Indeed, Texas independence has become a mainstream political issue in the Lone Star State. The Texas Republican Party’s “official legislative platform” includes a plank calling for an independence vote. A recent poll of likely Texas voters found that 23 percent would vote for Texas independence if allowed to vote on the question.
Why do some Texans want to secede from the United States? I can think of three reasons.
First, Texans are alarmed by the federal government’s open border policy, which has allowed millions of immigrants to enter the country illegally and enabled drug traffickers to smuggle illegal drugs, including fentanyl, across the nation’s southern border.
Second, many Texans are concerned about the spiraling national debt, which is growing by one trillion dollars every 100 days.
Finally, many Texans are offended by attacks on traditional Texas culture by the federal government and the East Coast mainstream media. The Biden administration’s push for transgender participation in girls’ varsity sports is just one example of the federal government’s disdain for the cultural values of the Heartland.
I am not a resident of Texas, but I support the Texas independence movement. I believe Texas will thrive as an independent nation.
After all, Texas’s economy is the eighth-largest in the world. The state has abundant energy resources and has been the top exporting state for 22 years in a row.
Perhaps, most importantly, Texas is an agreeable place to live and do business. That’s why Texas has attracted so many Californians and California corporations.
I’m beginning to wonder if a nation of 330 million people can maintain a healthy democracy under a government dominated by soulless bureaucrats, repressive government regulations, and an obsession with race and sexual orientation. I also wonder whether a healthy national discourse about major public policy issues can occur in a social media environment easily manipulated and censored by governmental agencies and their corporate lackeys.
On the other hand, Texas has demonstrated that a clearly defined geographic region with a well-educated population, abundant natural resources, access to sea lanes, and a traditional work ethic can prosper.
Maybe it is time for Americans in all 50 states to ponder whether they would be better off leaving the Deep State with its weaponized legal system, political corruption, and universities-inspired culture of victimhood to strike out on their own.
The people living in the states that make up Flyover Country might prosper as smaller political units, and the coastal elites would be glad to see us go.
