Texit on March Texas GOP primary ballot

On Friday noon (December 1), the Texas Nationalist Movement announced that their “Texit Petition” had enough signatures to put the question of Texas secession – Texit – on the Republican Primary ballot next springtime. Unless the Democrats put the question on their primary ballot, this question will attract many people toward the Republican primary and away from the Democratic primary. Specifically it will attract voters in favor of secession, or at least putting an intrusive federal government on notice. Regardless of that, it puts the Republican Party of Texas on notice: RINOs not welcome.

The Texit question

The Texas Nationalist Movement is the largest organization in Texas pushing for secession. They have been pushing the Texit (“Texas Exit”) question for more than a quarter of a century. Until now, they haven’t had a reliable measure of the support they enjoy. Support for, and attention to, the movement seems to rise and fall with the level of federal government unfriendliness. It got little attention during the Bush Junior administration, because most regarded George W. Bush as a “Texas Favorite Son.” But the Obama administration provoked a great deal of attention to a movement to separate Texas from a federal government determined to destroy human liberty. Donald J. Trump seemed to let off a bit of the “steam” behind the movement.

But then, not only did Joe Biden “win” under suspicious circumstances, but the Supreme Court refused to hear Texas’ lawsuit questioning the results of the Election of 2020. Texit has been in the background of Texas politics ever since.

Nearly three years ago, for the first time, a Texas legislator (Rep. Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredericksburg) introduced a bill to put the Texit question on a general election ballot.

Unfortunately, it got “chubbed.” (“To chub” is Texas parlance for killing a bill with procedural delays. In Congress the comparable verb is “to pigeonhole.”) That summer, TNM started a petition drive to put the question on the 2022 primary ballot. That drive failed, too. After that, talk of secession seemed to have faded back into the background.

Second time the charm for petitions

Last March, Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Greenville) reintroduced Kyle Biedermann’s original Texit Act. He and the TNM expected the bill to get further, because so many of the original “chubbers” got “primaried.” Alas, that was not to be. So the TNM again ginned up a Texit petition drive – actually separate drives for the Republican and Democratic primaries.

The legal deadline will actually pass on December 11. But this result was different from the result two years ago.

TNM announced on their site the details of the success of the Texit Petition. Per the Texas Election Code, they needed 97,709 signatures. They got more than 102,000.

The Texas State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) was supposed to meet yesterday to decide what the Republican primary will look like. Dan Miller, head of TNM, published this Open Letter to the SREC on Friday.

Yesterday evening, Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge published his take on the Texit Petition.

Mr. Durden had no details on any decision by the SREC. But he did repeat TNM’s conclusion that the SREC’s wishes and desires were not relevant. In fact Dan Miller threatens to bypass the SREC to force the question onto the ballot. But first he wanted to try to ask them nicely. At time of writing, the SREC has said nothing about its decision-making on the matter.

Newsweek covered the Texit Petition on Friday. They say they reached out to the Republican Party of Texas for comment.

Reaction

Naturally the case of Texas v. White, 19 L. Ed. 227, suggesting that secession was unlawful, came up. Contrary to popular belief, the case involved $10 million of bonds made payable to the State of Texas to settle boundary claims, perhaps arising out of the Compromise of 1850. During the War Between the States, Texas’ legislature sold those bonds to pay for equipment for Confederate forces. After the war, the Reconstruction or “carpetbagger” government sued to claw back those bonds.

The Supreme Court held that the union was indestructible; therefore Texas never changed its status. On that ground, the Confederate legislature sold the bonds unlawfully; therefore the sale was null and void. (See also this discussion.)

Since that time, opponents of secession have cited Texas v. White as proof positive that secession cannot occur. Dan Miller treated the issue last July. On the day after the announcement of the Texit Petition results, someone posted the link to X.

Texas v. White appears to depend solely on Federal victory in the War Between the States. The “holding” is not a matter of law at all, but strictly a consequence of military victory. So the only thing Texas v. White really proves, is that Texit might mean war.

Importance of Texit to Texas’ richest resident

TNM also shouted out directly to Elon Musk, head of X and head of Tesla.

Elon Musk has not answered at time of posting. But he might have to weigh in, depending on the results of the primary vote. His Tesla company’s Gigafactory Austin is now open and has produced the first Cybertrucks for nationwide delivery. As a result, Texas has an automotive industry – with him leading it. Thanks to Musk’s SpaceX company, Texas has an aerospace industry as well.

In other reaction, the National Libertarian Party declared their support for Texit.

Texas once again has a border dispute with Mexico, over the continued passage of migrants into Texas. Dan Miller has addressed this issue since Gov. Greg Abbott first strung buoys in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, the most active illegal crossing point. Mexico has created a diplomatic crisis, and the federal government cited that as a “harm” of Texas’ border policy. Currently the Governor and Attorney General Paxton are seeking an en banc hearing before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

More to the point, the Texas Nationalist Movement now has its wish: the Texit question will appear on a ballot. To win, they’ll need to address every instance of federal interference with the affairs of Texas and Texans. Will Texas’ foremost industrialist endorse the proposition? He hasn’t yet – but he might soon have to decide. So might many other people, in and out of Texas.