A Movement called TEXIT: THE LONE STAR REPUBLIC

The Supreme Court decision to allow federal officials to remove parts of a razor-wire barrier Texas had erected along the border with Mexico—a case of D.C. overruling Governor Greg Abbott—has sparked further calls for the Lone Star State to declare independence from the United States, in a movement called Texit.

. . .Texit is the antidote to a failing federal system.

Newsweek

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How Greg Abbott's Border Fight Bolsters Calls for an Independent Texas

NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE

How Greg Abbott's Border Fight Bolsters Calls for an Independent Texas

BY JAMES BICKERTON ON 01/23/24 AT 11:54 AM EST

"Texas' razor wire is an effective deterrent to the illegal crossings Biden encourages. I will continue to defend Texas' constitutional authority to secure the border and prevent the Biden admin from destroying our property," said Abbott. 

The concertina wire was installed on his order as a key part of his effort to control illegal immigration.

The de facto leader of the Texit movement, Daniel Miller, remembers as though it were yesterday when he concluded Texas should leave the United States: Saturday, August 24, 1996, at approximately 2 p.m., in the hall of a hotel in the eastern Texan city of Tyler. Such was the impact of that moment that the technology consultant compares it to the "line in the sand" that lore recalls was drawn by his fellow Texan, William Travis, at the Alamo, shortly before it was stormed by Mexican troops in 1836. That legendary siege led to the Republic of Texas, an independent state for nine years before joining the American Union in 1845. Miller, now 50 and the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), is hoping to reverse that transition.

Yet despite increased support, the movement has faced several recent setbacks, not least failing to get a referendum vote on Texan secession on the upcoming Republican primary ballot. Critics have also labeled the independence crusade a fantasy that has no chance of success, at least peacefully. But this has not deterred Miller, who remains convinced of his campaign's eventual success.

Miller said:

"I think the trajectory the federal government is on, the trajectory that Texas is on, I think we are headed in that direction so whether by conscious decision or collapse of the federal system in its inability to meet its basic requirements, I think Texas becomes an independent nation definitely inside of 30 years. . ."

What an Independent Texas Looks Like

Miller envisages a successful independence referendum leading to a process of negotiation between Austin and Washington, ending with two independent but closely linked countries. 

He said: "Once the vote comes back in the affirmative, nothing changes immediately. Texans will begin a process to move toward independence that involves changes to our state constitution, statutes that follow the constitutional changes, evaluation and execution of international covenants, treaties, and agreements and the negotiation of issues with the federal government.

Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, hopes to revert the state to an independent one as it was before 1845.TEXAS NATIONALIST MOVEMENT

"If the federal government follows its near-century long policy of respect for the right of self-determination, we would expect the relationship with the remaining United States to be cordial and cooperative."

The Battle to Break Free

Any bid at secession would almost certainly result in intense legal disputes, with the Supreme Court ruling in the 1869 Texas v. White case that a state leaving the union is unconstitutional. 

• Miller disputes this view, saying: "Article 1 Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution lists all actions that are prohibited to the states. Withdrawing is not in that list. Therefore, under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, the lack of an explicit constitutional prohibition means it is a right reserved to the states and the people."

Professor Matt Qvortrup, a political scientist and lawyer, told Newsweek that Texas v. White "is based on somewhat shoddy jurisprudence" and could be overturned by the Supreme Court. . .

The British academic, author of the 2022 book I Want to Break Free: A Practical Guide to Making a New Country, has studied independence movements across the globe and interacted extensively with Texan nationalists, including addressing the TNM's TEXITCON three-day conference in Waco last November. . .

Asked about the Texan secessionist campaigners' chances, Qvortrup said the Lone Star state is "probably the only place in America that has that sense of identity" typically associated with an independent state. 

• For a referendum to take place, the academic argued there would need to be "a political change probably within the Republican Party," followed by a legal battle that could well end up in the Supreme Court. 
• Qvortrup admitted this would be very tough, but added: 

"100 years ago I think there were about 35 countries in the world. Now it's 195. It's actually not completely impossible to see how countries could establish themselves. . ."

'Divorced From Reality'

However, James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, argued that the debate over Texan independence is more about internal Republican politics than a serious project in its own right.

• He told Newsweek: "Texas nationalists calling for something akin to a Texit represent some combination of fantasy and symbolic gesture, each divorced from reality...The GOP party apparatus has become the favored dwelling place of extreme and esoteric elements, where such factions are treated much more seriously than they are among the general public.

"In some areas, they sometimes succeed in moving the center of the party to the right, and in attracting attention to ideas and proposals that have little relation to reality—like the idea of an independent Texas."

Rep. Chip Roy outside the U.S. Capitol on September 12, 2023, in Washington, D.C. He has claimed the U.S. has entered a "constitutional crisis."DREW ANGERER/GETTY

Miller bitterly contests the suggestion that Texan nationalism is a right-wing cause, arguing: "For independence movements to be successful they must be trans-partisan in nature." Before co-founding the TNM in 2005, he spent two years studying secessionist movements worldwide, including those in Scotland, Catalonia and Quebec. He attributes Scotland's vote to remain part of the United Kingdom—by 55 percent of the vote to 45 percent—to independence being intertwined with the left-leaning Scottish National Party, and he believes secessionists must "really cut across all those normal ways that politics seeks to divide us" to succeed.

CONTINUE https://www.newsweek.com/2024/02/09/texas-independence-texit-1863224.html