Stop Texas Secession

I read an interesting article today on the Texas Nationalist Website from a gentleman who recently moved after 15 years in Michigan to Texas.  The gentleman laid out his history and pretty concise, if not misquided, reasons for joining the Texas Nationalist Movement.

The reasoning that struck me was the oft repeated Glen Beck/Tea Bagger mantra of President Obama appointing Czars who report to only him, bailing out GM, taxes taxes and more taxes.  You can easily see that the gentleman has only one news outlet, the so called Fox News Channel.  If the proof cited is that President Obama is functioning completely outside the constraints of Congress, why was their no call for the President’s head when President Bush was doing the same.   President Bush appointed 49 Czars over his 8 years in office to a total of 33 offices.  President Obama has appointed 41 to a total of 37 offices.   Bu in fairness to both Presidents one must look at the Positions the so called Czars held.  Are they really so outside the scope of what is needed to run a government?

And of course he makes no mention of President Bush’s TARP Bailout of the Banks/Wall Street, or of the fact that the federal tax rate under President Obama is the lowest since the Eisenhower administration during the 1950’s.

He further states that the government is wasting on crisis of all purposes by people not representing him.  Did he not vote in the past elections?  Just because his side, which one must assume by his retorhic is in the minority, is no longer in control this spending is now unconstitutional.

Now I do not agree with all that is going on in Washington, I do not agree though that it is on the unconstitutional level  When President Bush was in office, I felt many of his spending priorities were wrong but he and his party were the ones in power and therefore have the say so.  Just because a non-white President from the opposition party, the party we did not vote for, is leading in the way he thinks are in the best interest of the country should not lead us to the level of what some would say is the treasonous act of secesseding from the Union. And do not think that Washington would just let us Texans just peacefully walk away.

The so called Texas Patriots Secessionists just held a rally at the Capitol in Austin to celebrate Texas Independence Day. The group rallied on the steps of the Capitol amid their usual verbiage, signs and historical Texas flags. These Nationalist Texans claim they want to save the state by seceding from the United States. The outrage the group expressed was almost identical to that of the Tea Parties. The speakers expressed their perceived disgust for the growing national debt and the federal government’s treatment of Texas.

The continual mantra that Texas knows how and can take better care of itself than Washington was spoken of by Lauren Savage the vice president of the Texas nationalist Movement. Savage went on to say that they are here to raise interest in the legislature of the possibility of secession to cure the ills of America.

“This is a cake that’s been baking for 85 years,” said Cary Wise, membership director of the Texas Nationalist Movement. “All this administration has done is light the candles.”

The secessionists say they are fed up with federal mandates, the burden of unsustainable taxes and disregarded votes. They claim that secession has been a long time coming and are demanding that state lawmakers introduce a bill that would allow Texans to vote on whether to declare independence.

The Secessionists are none too pleased with their Secessionist Governor Perry and claim he is a fraud and like the other leaders who claim they conservative but once in office become the same as those in Washington, nothing but big government proponents. Perry was even called out to debate the group, but as usual he was not at the the Capitol.

One unique demonstration was used by Gerry Donaldson, host of Our Constitution: Foundation and Principles Radio Show. Claiming that taxes are weighing down Texans and are ultimately unsustainable. A fellow secessionist held a bucket which Donaldson placed bricks in to demonstrate the burden dozens of taxes place on Texans throughout their lives. Just like the Tea Partiers in Washington, Donaldson says he is getting a committee together that will review every bill proposed by state lawmakers and determine if it is constitutional.

It is noted that none of the Tea Partying Republicans and tenthers who continuously harp on the illegality of what the federal government is laying waste to Texas on were among the speakers. Was this group too far out on the fringe for even them? Funny too as was stated in an earlier post, not long ago Texas could not even take care of itself by providing enough electricity to it’s peoples during a recent winter storm. But what is not funny is if the secessionists had their way you would using wood for heat and paying gold for it if you are fortunate enough.

The Newly Minted King of Texas, celebrating his lifetime position on the peoples payroll, has come out with a novel way to selectively secede from the United States, claiming that opting out of Social Security the State of Texas can save  $60 billion.  King Perry states in his book “Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington,” that “I’ve got the best job in the world, and I want to keep it”.  Tom Petty says it best “It’s good to be King”.

King Perry and the Right Wing Aristocracy in Texas  desperatly wanting to keep their security on the people’s pauyroll, convienently omitted, prior to the election,  that Texas is looking at a bigger budget deficit than the left coasters they love to rail on.  To meet this deficit,  the Aristocracy Party’s seceder crowd lawmakers are proposing an unprecedented solution.

These far-right aritocrats are pushing the idea that  the state could save the state by dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.  Moderate Republicans who wish to be full members of the Aristoctrat Pary and not be thrown to the pitchfork crowd by being labeled, the nasty word RINO or worse yet “Liberal”, are studying the proposal behind closed doors.  The Aristocratic Louie the XVI’s party advisers on health care policy,  The Heritage Foundation, the aristocratic research organization, claims that Texas could save $60 billion from 2013 to 2019 by opting out of Medicaid and the Children€™s Health Insurance Program, dropping coverage for acute care but continuing to finance long-term care services.

The Aristocrat Party State Representative from Pampa, Warren Chisum who has entered the race for Speaker of the House states that €œWith Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a situation where we cannot reduce benefits or change eligibility€ to cut costs, said . €œThis system is bankrupting our state,€ he said. €œWe need to get out of it.  And with the budget shortfall we€™re anticipating, we may have to act this year.€

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has 3.6 million children, people with disabilities and impoverished Texans enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.  So in other words the Aristocrat Party’s new line is “Let them eat Cake”.

The Texas Nationalist Movement leader Daniel Miller went to Austin recently to address the state Senate Health Sub-Committee on the implications of the recently-passed health-care “reform” legislation.  Mr Miller reports that our legislators “…were discussing electronic medical data exchange and increasing the accessibility to health care, seemingly oblivious to the outrage that most Texans are experiencing and don’t know what to do other than continue to go through the motions. ”  Like all politicians on any level, the number one role of any office holder is to get re-elected.  This is definitely not a top tier re-election issue the legislators want their names associated with in the upcoming election season.

He reports “We heard what has grown to be the mantra of many in the Tea Party groups. ‘If we can elect Republicans and take over the Congress and the Presidency then everything will be perfect.’ While this may make for somewhat of a plan, it’s obvious that it’s not much of one.”  Again even our Republican legislators want to get re-elected and this is definately not a top tier re-election issue the legislators want their names associated with in the upcoming election season.

Mr. Miller reports he had the chance to speak directly with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and urged the Governor to put the matter of independence to a vote.  Gov. Perry who is in a close re-election battle response was “Keep up what you’re doing. I support you.”

The Republicans and Tea Partiers speak often of restoring Constitutional government by ousting the Democrats and electing Tea Party and Conservative members.   Mr. Miller believes this won’t work because of the sheer volume of things which would have to be done to accomplish a return to Constitutional government:

That would include:

1. Repeal 16th Amendment (Income Tax)
2. Repeal 17th Amendment (Direct Election of Senators)
3. Repeal 23rd Amendment (Electors for Washington DC)
4. Repeal Federal Reserve Act
5. Restore gold & silver backed currency
6. Repeal €œexecutive orders€ that effect things outside of the executive branch
of the government
7. Repeal PATRIOT Act
8. Repeal National Healthcare
9. Repeal No Child Left Behind
10. Amend Constitution to properly define interstate commerce
11. Bring the National Guard home and place them under the command of the Governor
12. Restore the State Militia system
13. Defeat or repeal Cap and Trade
14. Repeal American Heritage Rivers Initiative
15. Eliminate Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
16. Place troops on the border to secure it
17. End birthright citizenship
18. Eliminate the Bureau of Land Management
19. Eliminate the Department of Education –
He really dislike this one as it is listed twice – here and # 26
20. Eliminate the EPA
21. Repeal the Emergency and War Powers Act
22. Repeal NAFTA
23. Eliminate Personal Income Tax Division of the IRS
24. Eliminate National Endowment for the Arts
25. Eliminate National Wild Horse and Burro Program
26. Eliminate Dept. of Education
27. Eliminate Dept of Energy
28. Eliminate FEMA
Forget about the folks who live on the Gulf Coast
29. Eliminate FDIC
30. Eliminate Freddy Mac & Fannie Mae
31. Eliminate Administration on Aging
32. Eliminate Administration for Children and Families
33. Eliminate Administration on Developmental Disabilities
34. Eliminate Administration for Native Americans
35. Eliminate Children’s Bureau
36. Eliminate Family and Youth Services Bureau
37. Eliminate Head Start Bureau (HSB)
Forget about the Kiddos
38. Eliminate Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI)
39. Eliminate Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
40. Eliminate Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE)
41. Eliminate Office of Community Services Block Grant (OCS)
42. Eliminate Office of Family Assistance (OFA)
43. Eliminate Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
44. Eliminate Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)
45. Eliminate President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID)
46. Eliminate Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
47. Eliminate Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
48. Eliminate Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
Eliminate Social Security for our elderly, hmmmmmmm
49. Eliminate Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
50. Eliminate Indian Health Service (IHS)
51. Eliminate National Institutes of Health (NIH)
52. Eliminate Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
53. Eliminate Office of Minority Health (OMH)
54. Eliminate Program Support Center (PSC)
55. Eliminate Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Admin.(SAMHSA)
56. Eliminate Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
(ONCHIT)
57. Eliminate Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI)
58. Eliminate Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB)
59. Eliminate Employment Standards Administration (ESA)
60. Eliminate The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)
61. Eliminate Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP)
62. Eliminate Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
63. Eliminate Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
64. Eliminate Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
65. Eliminate Women’s Bureau (WB)
66. Eliminate Job Corps
67. Eliminate Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
68. Eliminate Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
69. Eliminate Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
70. Eliminate Internet Access and Training Program
71. Eliminate Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
72. Eliminate Bureau of Human Resources
73. Eliminate Bureau of Information Resource Management
74. Eliminate Bureau of Intelligence and Research
75. Eliminate Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
76. Eliminate Bureau of International Organization Affairs
77. Eliminate Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation
78. Eliminate Bureau of Legislative Affairs
79. Eliminate Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
80. Eliminate Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
81. Eliminate Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations
82. Eliminate Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
83. Eliminate Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
84. Eliminate Bureau of Public Affairs
85. Eliminate Bureau of Resource Management
86. Eliminate Bureau of South Asian Affairs
87. Eliminate Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation
88. Eliminate Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
89. Eliminate Office of International Information Programs
90. Eliminate Office of the Legal Adviser
91. Eliminate Office of Management Policy
92. Eliminate Office of Protocol
93. Eliminate Office of the Science and Technology Adviser
94. Eliminate Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
95. Eliminate Office of War Crimes Issues (They blew the Bush war crimes)
96. Eliminate Bureau of the Public Debt
97. Eliminate Community Development Financial Institution Fund (CDFI)
98. Eliminate FHA
99. Eliminate HUD

We actually agree with some of the suggestions but come on we do have to have some compassion for our citizens.

An easier route Mr. Miller would like is for Texans to restore the limited government envisioned by the Founding Fathers by Seceding from the United States.

“Secession eliminates the Federal bureaucracy in Texas with one simple act,” he said. “Imagine it. No more bailouts. No more over-taxation. No more multi-generational debt. No more porous borders. No more tax and spend programs. No more oppressive Federal Government. No more.”

Mr. Miller said the TNM is continuing it’s effort statewide on the “Let Texas Decide” campaign with the goal of  presenting a petition with more than a million signatures demanding the state put the issue of Texas independence before the voters to the  Texas legislature Jan. 11, 2011.   It is interesting that the “Let Texas Decide” campaign link  is to a fund raiser for the TNM to fund The TNM programs.

We think a very telling moment is when the legislators sat stonefaced.  Ya think.  They need more than 6 months to spin that they are not supporting leaving the Union.  So just wait til after the election and they will once again have the time to be your friend.