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The role of the secessionist movement in the 2010 Texas governor's race
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(AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
As Independence Day approaches, some Texans are wondering if we may be celebrating another “Texas Independence Day” in the years to come. Governor Rick Perry’s response to the heated rhetoric in the state capitol this April, during the Texas tea party protests, about a possible secession from the union has received nation-wide publicity—publicity that is good for an incumbent governor facing a well-known opponent in an upcoming gubernatorial race.
Governor Rick Perry has locked himself into an ideological battle against Washington over the 10th Amendment (pertaining to federalism and the states' rights). During the recently concluded 81st legislature in Texas, Rick Perry and many conservative legislators were resistant to terms of stimulus funding from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). Perry and others stood in opposition to the federal government on the basis that they shouldn’t tell Texas how it can spend that money in its own state.
According to the Austin-American Statesman, “state lawmakers plugged a hole in the 2010-2011 budget by using $12 billion in federal stimulus money” while Texas’ rainy day fund which is estimated at over $9 billion remains intact. Democrats in the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress “have fumed, saying the $3.2 billion in education money from the federal stimulus should have gone directly to the school districts, instead of to bailing the state out of its budget jam.”
Not acting in accordance with the federal government’s terms for the ARRA could lead to the loss of future stimulus funding. A recent article on dallasnews.com reports that Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin “accused Perry and state GOP budget writers of creating an artificial shortfall in Texas’ education budget, then trying to fill it with federal stimulus money . . . [which] won’t create jobs or extra resources meant for local schools.”
Governor Perry heeds the conservative electorate’s call for secession and a sovereign republic free from the interference of the federal government. Yet, he is more than willing to risk the outcome of educational funding in Texas to keep cash under the mattress. His criticism of Washington’s high spending and “Orwellian” control over the economy is adding fuel to the fire.
Those who are not from Texas may not be familiar with the “secession movement”. There is a network of organizations that raises support for states’ secession from the union based on our “loss” of rights due to government control. While there is nothing that suggests Governor Perry or any other Texas politicians are members of this movement, the mere mention of secession can have dire implications.
TexasSecede.org published a fact sheet about Texas secession on their website. They claim that Texas and other confederate states during the civil war “withdrew from the Union lawfully, civilly, and peacefully, after enduring several decades of excessive and inequitable federal tariffs heavily prejudiced against Southern commerce. Refusing to recognize the Confederate secession, Lincoln called it a ‘rebellion’ and a ‘threat’ to ‘the government’ . . . and acted outside the lawfully defined scope of either the office of president or the U.S. government in general, to coerce the South back into subjugation to Northern control.”
I visited their sister website TexasFlagMan.com. There I found that they sell t-shirts, stickers and patches promoting secessionist propaganda, some including the confederate flag. I looked again at the passage quoted in the above paragraph and noticed the phrase “federal tariffs heavily prejudiced against Southern commerce.” Commerce?—slavery.
TexasSecede.org also said in their fact sheet that the South’s rejoining the Union “only affirmed that violent coercion can be used—even by governments . . . to rob men of their very lives, liberty, and property.” In the span of 5 pages, the fact sheet contained language pertaining to ‘life, liberty, and (specifically) property’ in seven different places. Property?—slaves.
It is not hard to conclude that Rick Perry has enormously divergent views from Democrats in Washington. But, his attempt to gain the attention of President Obama and the national media by pushing the secessionist movement is a very tricky proposition. He must tread lightly or else he might inadvertently get pulled into a delicate debate over racial issues during the 2010 gubernatorial race.
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