Secession is like a bad penny. It keeps turning up every few years, promoted by the most angry fringe of the Texas Republican Party.
Well, here we go again. Fredericksburg Republican Rep. Kyle Biedermann has announced plans to file a bill in Austin calling for a referendum on Texas’ statehood.
Mostly, Texans just ignore this nonsense, as they should. But given the unrest we’ve seen recently, it may be time to point out what a colossally bad idea this is.
First, it’s illegal. That much has been proven by Texas itself. In 1869, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case called Texas vs. White that the U.S. Constitution provides no legal means of exit for member states. States aren’t members of the union until they change their mind. They are part of a bond the court called “indestructible” and the Pledge of Allegiance calls “indivisible.”
In 2006, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia reaffirmed that bond when he wrote, “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”
Biedermann has been promoting his silly idea and himself, of course, at every opportunity, appearing on Newsmax, Glenn Beck and a Fox affiliate in Austin. He has gathered almost 7,000 signatures on a petition. He uses Britain’s recent departure from the European Union as an example.
But Texas is not Britain, and the USA is not the EU. The European Union is a loose association of nations that joined together with preexisting protocols for a member to exit. Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union states that “Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.” The U.S. Constitution contains no such off-ramps.
Even if we ignore the law and adopt this unpatriotic plan, there are other problems here. Secession would be massively expensive. If it were to become a nation, Texas would have to establish its own military, its own citizenship and immigration laws, not to mention new taxes. If Biedermann’s fancy were to become reality, it would almost certainly mean a Texas income tax.
We agree with Plano Rep. Jeff Leach who wrote on Twitter: “Based on what you’ve said the bill does, it seems like the most anti-American bill I’ve seen in my 4+ terms in the Texas House. It’s a disgrace to the Lone Star State. The very definition of seditious. A true embarrassment.”
Talk of secession is irresponsible at any time. But just weeks after insurrectionists stormed the Capitol in Washington, the timing couldn’t be worse.
If Biedermann doesn’t want to be an American any more, that’s his right. If he wants to move Texas toward an income tax, he’s free to promote that agenda, and even convince a few thousand people to join him. If he’s more comfortable in a place like California where endless referendums have crippled progress, Southwest Airlines is booking flights. But none of those are good reasons for Texas to leave the United States.
