politics

Canada had this problem with Quebec until it was made abundantly clear to the morons running the QC separatist movement that they can leave, but they can't take the dollar with them.

Once the people pushing this nonsense realize it will completely cripple their economy, they'll stop being stupid, at least in this particular regard.

Starting a new currency from scratch is exceptionally difficult and I doubt, with the debts that texas has, that it will be even remotely fungible to pay off their owing surplusses and create a functioning economy.

Just because texas doesn't have ridiculous tax laws on the rich doesn't mean that those tax laws will remain the same once papa government comes calling with the enforcers threatening imprisonment or death for not funding them.

Governments require money to run and texas does not currently have the freedom from financial liability to just go 'we're gonna go our own way', regardless how much they pretend.

There's no world in which a part of an internationally recognized country just outs and picks up their trade agreements, business agreements, and government continuity without fulfilling their former financial obligations.

I actually can't believe how unbelievably uneducated these people in power are that they think it's going to be smooth sailing leaving the republic. Even assuming the president and congress ok's it, you need to literally create all the fundamental requirements for a 'country' from scratch again and prove stability before anyone will conduct business with you and, spoiler alert, breaking away from a country with 11 carrier strike groups is the epitome of stupidity and objectively does not show stability.

Also, being part of a democratically elected government means you can't make a decision like this without a vote (See brexit and the hilarious ramifications of that for a near 1:1 example of what happens when you fuck around with this type of decision and the only reason the UK didn't completely collapse immediately is because they didn't actually adopt the euro and the pound has [had] it's own economic power)

So I looked up what "federalizing the National Guard" means in this case.

The National Guard is a unique entity in that it answers to both state and federal governments. Troops can be mobilized by a state governor or the president, depending on need. The National Guard personnel restricting access to Shelby Park are on state orders as part of Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s sweeping border security initiative.

In theory, the president or the defense secretary could divert those troops by tasking them with a federal mission.

“There are a variety of statutes that allow the president to federalize the National Guard in different circumstances. But the only one that would clearly apply in this case is the Insurrection Act,” said Joseph Nunn, counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program.

Nunn described the Insurrection Act as a “nuclear bomb hidden in the United States Code” and explained that using it would be politically costly.

“The Insurrection Act gives the president sole discretion to decide whether the criteria for invoking it are met,” he explained. “There are quite literally no safeguards to stop it from being abused.”

Historically, Nunn said, presidents have only invoked the act to federalize National Guard troops as a last resort. That was the case in 1957, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower mobilized the Arkansas National Guard to enforce a Supreme Court ruling on desegregation.

So, this would mean USURPING the Governor's control of the Texas National Guard in order to get them to do something else.

THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT BIDEN TO DO.

THIS IS A STUNT.

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SECESSION.

They want to be able to point to Biden's actions in this and say "Bad" in twelve different ways.

They ALSO want someone to invoke the insurrection act so everyone can have carte blanche to use it whenever they want LATER, no matter who is in control.

This is a horrible precedent to set.

This whole situation is bad.

Rep. Joaquin Castro said: "Governor Greg Abbott is using the Texas National Guard to obstruct and create chaos at the border."

The best option here might be to let his own idiocy backfire on him. I just hope there's a way to do it without more loss of life.