Texas GOP To Vote On Whether To Break From United States

AUSTIN, TX -- Proponents of Texas seceding from the Union will be given an opportunity to vote on the matter at the GOP state convention being staged in Dallas.

Hold off on your hearty yee-haw, secession fans: The vote is largely symbolic, let alone likely to pass. But the groundswell of support among many Texans for seceding from the Union illustrates the appeal of such a scenario despite the near-impossible odds such an uprising would ever come to pass.

Delegates comprising members of a group called the Texas Nationalist Movement secured time to air a resolution for voting on the matter of secession at the convention, the Houston Chronicle reported. The Texas State Repbulican Convention began on May 12 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on May 12 and is scheduled to end on Saturday.

A platform item calling for Texas independence passed a special committee on Wednesday, the Chronicle reported. Even though it's highly unlikely to pass, that step alone represents a victory for supporters calling for Texas to be its own nation, the Chronicle noted in its report.

The Chronicle previously reported activists with the the secessionist group named the Texas Nationalist Movement had helped pass independence resolutions in at least 22 county or district conventions in March.

The resolution to allow a vote on secession went before a 31-member platform committee that decides what topics are to be formally discussed at the convention. Tanya Robertson, a GOP official with the State Republican Executive Committee who herself has advocated for a secession vote in the past, told the Chronicle the item passed the committee "overwhelmingly."

Robertson was palpably excited in telling the Chronicle about the significance of just having a vote approved on the matter: "It's going to be available for delegates to debate and vote on Friday during the convention," she said. "This is pretty big. This is really pretty huge."

High-ranking GOP officials have largely avoided addressing the idea of seceding from the Union, distancing themselves from such talk.

But every now and then, even GOP leaders fuel secessionists feverish dreams of secession. In 2009, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry hinted about the plausibility of a divorce from the Union given its disagreements with Washington. He made the comments during a prototypically enthusiastic crowd of Tea Party activists in Austin.

"There's a lot of different scenarios," CNN and numerous other media outlets quoted Perry as saying. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

His words were later parsed, analyzed and broken down to determine if he actually promoting the idea of seceding from the Union.

"The Obama team falsely suggests Texas Gov. Rick Perry advocated secession," an outfit calling itself FactCheck.org intoned. The center for public policy study is based at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

That stuff's made in...Pennsylvania?!?!

PolitiFact weighed in with its own verdict, deeming a White House spokesman's assertion Perry wanted to secede from the union as "false. Still, they did rate Perry's explanation a "mostly true."

But those of us in Texas who have long watched its politicians play to a crowd know how they're able to whip their base into a frenzy -- even while vaguely supporting their visions for Texas.

The idea of a Lone Star nation isn't unprecedented. It's the only state that was, in fact, its own Republic for many years. and many in Texas -- imbued with a pioneering spirit -- long for a return to that sovereignty. The fact the state was once a country is worn like a badge of honor to many in the Lone Star State.

Texas was its own country from 1836 until joining the U.S. in 1845 -- sixteen years before it would secede with 10 other states to form the Confederacy.

In envisioning a modern-day Republic of Texas, the most ardent proponents like to point out that if Texas were to secede, it would be among the world's major economies with a gross domestic product that exceeds those of established countries.

But the dream of seceding from the the U.S. is just that -- a dream. Interestingly, Texas could split itself up in different parts to form separate states (apparently nothing stops officials from doing that) but a previous U.S. Supreme Court ruling left no doubt that seceding is not a legal option.

Still, members of the Texas Nationalist Movement are no doubt shaking in their boots with excitement at just being able to formally debate the matter this evening -- even while knowing it'll never happen. But a secessionist can dream, no?

We found an interesting primer below about the logistics involved in pursuing secession from the union. Enjoy, and a hearty yee-haw from us to all y'all.