Is Texas Secession even Possible? Can other States Secede?

Growing up in Texas, I have always been familiar with the idea of Secession.  In school I was taught that Texas had the right to Secede as it was once it's own independent nation (republic).  I was also taught that Texas was the ONLY State that had that right!
Over the last several years, talks of Secession have come about numerous times for a variety of different reasons.  There are those that believe that Texas was never properly admitted into the Union in the first place, and others that think Texas still belongs to Mexico, and others still that just simply don't like the Federal Government.  Then there seem to be a large majority of folks who believe that Secession would be suicide, that the Federal Government wont 'allow' it, that the talk of secession is 'Treason', or that its simply just not 'legal'.
No matter which category you fall into, there seems to be a LOT of misinformation, and a WHOLE lot of questions, out there regarding Secession.
Without getting into the claims that Texas was never properly 'Ratified' (or whatever other terminology you may choose) or the claim that Texas 'still belongs' to Mexico; the fact is that Texas IS a MEMBER of the United States of America today.  With that in mind, lets look at the makeup of the good ol' US of A.  Each State is an individual 'entity' in 'Union' with the other 49.  The United States of America is exactly that, 50 individual and independent States, united through a common interest, goal, and purpose.
The US Constitution was designed lay out the relationship between the States and to limit the power of the Federal Government.  The 10th Amendment states that any powers not expressly granted to the Federal Government by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States or the People.
In the interest of staying on track with our discussion of Secession; the question at this point begs to be asked; Is Secession, or withdraw from the Union, prohibited to the States?  Or, conversely, is the ability to refuse withdraw from the Union granted to the Fed?  In both cases the answer is a resounding NO!
Article I, Section 8  (Wiki) is a list of the 18 powers expressly granted to the Federal Government in the Constitution.  Not a single one of them even remotely implies any power over or possession of any or all of the 'several states'.
Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution lays out the 6 things that are prohibited to the States.
During the Civil War, the Federal Government stated that the 'Confederacy' could not be a legal entity due to the provision in A1, S10 that States could not enter into Alliance or Confederation, or make a Compact (agreement) with another state.  Do you remember math class?  In math there is an 'order of operations' (PEMDAS).  If you do things out of order you will not get the correct answer.  The same applies here.  While no State that is a member of the Union may enter into a Confederation, no where is said State Prohibited from leaving the Union!  Did you catch that?  The question becomes, did the State leave the Union prior to joining the Confederacy?  Once a State leaves the Union, it is no longer governed by the Union constitution and thus no longer prohibited from joining into any contract or confederation that it so chooses!  So, Assuming that a State first removes itself from the Union (thus becoming completely independent of Union rule), then joins a separate Union (Confederacy), then there is no question of legality of the new Confederacy!  I don't know exactly how it all happened during the Civil War, and this isn't a discussion of History, this is an analysis of current legality; so, moving on...
Given the fact that we have now established that the Federal Government does not have the power to prevent or refuse an individual States decision to remove itself from the Union, and the States individually are not prohibited from leaving; it would appear that any and all States, individually, have the Right to Secede!  What is prohibited is States (collectively) forming an alliance or confederation before Secession.
Now that we have looked at this from the standpoint of the US Constitution, what else could be a factor in this legality?  Well, each State also has it's own Constitution that governs it's people and lays out it's relationship with the other States and the Federal Government.
I will apologize to all Non-Texans now, as I know very little about any individual State's Constitution other than Texas', and quite frankly, being a Texan, I simply don't feel like looking them all up and analyzing them!  However, if you happen to have an analysis of your State's Constitution that would apply here, please feel free to post it in the comments!
Disclaimers over, lets move on to Texas' Constitution and see if it prohibits or even limits our ability to Secede.  It has often been said that the 'Right to Secede' is protected by the Texas Constitution; however, no where in the text of the Texas Constitution is 'Secession' expressly mentioned, nor is it denied!
Article I, Section 1 states that "Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States".  We have already established that the US Constitution does not prohibit us from Secession, and now we have established that we are only subject to the US Constitution itself, and not to the Federal Government, or its various whims of fancy.  So, there is no conflict here.
Section 2 states: " All political power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit. The faith of the people of Texas stands pledged to the preservation of a republican form of government, and, subject to this limitation only, they have at all times the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient."  Well, I'll be...  If We the People have the right to 'alter, reform or abolish...' then it would seem to me that We the People can certainly choose to Secede!  I have found no other writing in Texas' Constitution that would prohibit us from removing ourselves from the Union.

Of course, whether technically legal or not, none of this would necessarily prevent the Federal Government from declaring War upon the newly independent State or States as we have seen in History through the Civil War!
There are many practical concerns to be considered before simply saying 'Goodbye' to the Nation that we have been a part of for so long, and becoming once again a Free and Independent Nation or Republic would be a very long and difficult road for sure, which is a discussion for another time.  But the Fact remains, that, YES, Texas CAN Secede if its people so choose, and likely so can any other Independent State of the Union depending upon it's own Constitution. 
Either we are Free or We are Slaves!  I choose to be Free!

Lesser of 2 Evils

    In case you haven't noticed yet, this blog's primary purpose is to encourage an informed public (hopefully) to the end result of getting this Country back to what it was meant to be! All too often these days we hear some variation of the phrase: 'really it's just a question of the lesser of two evils'; or 'voting independent is just the same as a vote for [insert current 'other guy' here]'. Really? Is that really what we have come to? Giving in to the 'lesser of 2 evils'? If it's evil, why would we want it?
    When neither candidate is someone that you really care to support, there is almost always a third choice! I know what you are thinking, 'but there's no chance that an independent can actually win!' Well, if the independent is actually a decent choice, why wouldn't you vote for them? What happened to 'may the best man win'? Why are we so content to settle? Vote your conscious, and let the chips fall where they may. Who knows, if we all vote for someone we truly believe in, that independent may actually have a chance! Even if they don't win, a large enough chunk of people voting independent will at the least shake up the system a little bit and maybe just grab some attention and remind whoever it is that does get elected that they can and will be voted out if they don't pay attention to their boss!
    How much do you actually know about the candidates? Are you planning to vote for one simply because you don't like the other? Are you sure that what you are getting with that vote is actually any better or even any different? Now, don't get me wrong here; I believe that our current administration is purposely and intentionally doing everything within its power (and many things that it does not have the power to do) to destroy this nation! However, I'm afraid that simply voting Obama out of office is simply not enough! Especially not if we replace him with someone who really isn't very different! Just because someone SAYS that they are the answer or opposite of the problem, but can we believe what they say? So, what happens when we get Obama out and we use Romney to replace him? Are you just going to go back to sleep believing that somehow everything is now better? We need to WAKE UP AMERICA!!!! Do some research into who you are planning on voting for and figure out exactly what they DO stand for, and what exactly they plan to do once in office! Romney may be the 'lesser of 2 evils', however he is NOT what this country needs! In fact, if getting him elected is simply going to put the slowly waking sleeping giant back to sleep, then I'd almost rather Obama get re-elected! We, as Americans need to get MAD! Get LOUD! Stand up and VOTE! But don't throw your vote away, cast your vote for someone you actually believe in! Voting independent is NOT throwing your vote away. It is NOT 'voting for the other guy'. It IS a vote AGAINST BOTH of the evils!
    I believe that what we truly need to focus on this election is unseating as many 'incumbents' as possible; then send all the new guys letters stating that the only reason that they got the job was because we were SICK and TIRED of the 'Entrenched BS Politics' of their predecessors and that we REQUIRE of them to listen to their constituents (their BOSSES ie: US!) and that if they don't start seriously working on getting this country back on track, back to the basics of the constitution, and back to being a LIMITED Government that STAYS OUT of our personal and business daily lives that WE WILL REPLACE THEM the next go around and continue to do so until WE have OUR government and Country back!

Homosexuality

Ok, so I should probably start this with a disclaimer…  While I will ‘cite’ any sources that I use, this post is mainly consisting of what I believe to be ‘general knowledge’ and the rest is simply my opinion.

                Before you comment, or bash me for being ‘anti-whatever’, hate mongering, or whatever other drivel you will come up with, make sure that you actually READ ALL of what I have written below!

                I do NOT support ‘gay marriage’!  Big shocker; right?  I believe that homosexuality is simply unnatural.  Regardless of ‘religion’ or spirituality, etc., nature itself is full of ‘male’ and ‘female’ pairs and requires both sides in order to reproduce.  Before you scientists get after me, yes, I know there is some species of frog that can ‘change’ gender if there are no males available or whatever, but, again, that is nature ‘changing’ the gender to make sure that once again there is BOTH genders available to reproduce!  And furthermore, that is some rare species of frog, NOT a human!  As for the spiritual/religious aspect…  Yes, I’m a Christian who believes in the whole Bible.  I also believe that Jesus Christ came to ‘Fulfill’ the Old Testament Law, and therefore many of the ‘rules’ of the Old Testament no longer apply in a New Testament Covenant, so, no, I’m not going to quote the Book of Leviticus for my ‘religious’ reasons against homosexuality.  There are many places in the New Testament that speak against homosexuality.  The good book also tells me to love all people and not to judge others, but rather to speak against their sin and inform them of the Love of Jesus Christ!

                BUT, this is not a spiritual/religious/science/etc debate.  This is a POLITICAL debate.  One of the greatest things about this country is that while it was founded on ‘Christianlike morality’ [no, not on the religion of Christianity, just it’s moral code! ("The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God." –John Adams)], one of the main morals that it was founded upon was the freedom from persecution and the freedom to practice whatever (or no) religion as each individual pleases, SO LONG AS that practice does not infringe on anyone else’s basic human rights!  God has given us ‘Free Will’ to choose Him or the world as we please.  As far as I can see, homosexuality does not infringe on anyone’s basic human rights to life, liberty, and property (Constitution, the ‘pursuit of happiness’ quote is from the declaration of Independence I believe; however, both apply here.)  That said; I cannot persecute someone for being gay, simply because I don’t agree with it!  I don’t like beets either, but I don’t think I’d get very far trying to outlaw them!

                The biggest problem with today’s government is that everyone wants a law for or against every little thing!  This country was also founded on the basis of a limited government principled in the idea that “a government that governs least, governs best”* (Often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, however no real source seems to exist except by Henry David Thoreau.).

The Housing Bust; who to blame?

The Housing Bust, Socialist caused?

With the entire economy failing all around us it is easy to point the finger and place ‘blame’ wherever we can without actually taking in what happened leading up to this that is the real and true cause of our current problem! With all the e-mails and MIS-information circulating the internet these you can find ‘evidence’ to support whatever you want to think! But, do you really believe that 1 man (George Bush) who only has the power to approve or deny what has already passed through the House and Senate is to ‘Blame’ for all of our ails? No, that can’t be it. If not Bush, then it must be the ‘Democratically controlled’ House! Oh, no, wait; that statement isn’t exactly true either! Yes, the House of Representatives currently has 233 Democrats to the 198 Republicans (4 seats vacant); but any bill must also pass the through the Senate which is currently dead even with 49D to 49R and 2 ‘other’ (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774721.html). That is the basis of our ‘Checks and Balances’ system! No one individual or entity can be ‘blamed’ for any legislation. So, just who is to ‘blame’ for our current state of affairs? Lots of people! Ourselves included! There have been lots of bad decisions made, and many of those were based on mis-information and phantom beliefs structured on ‘sand’. Once again we are proving the ‘Cycle of Democracy’ and how socialist thinking can destroy a nation!

I think that we all can agree that what has happened is that too many ‘sub-prime’ loans were issued to individuals and entities that were not ‘qualified’ or otherwise ‘capable’ of re-payment! Well, why on earth would we lend something to someone who has no viable/provable means or history of re-payment? It is simply complicated… Everybody today seems to have a sense of ‘entitlement’. They seem to have forgotten that our constitution grants us the right to the ‘pursuit’ of happiness and seem to think that we are ‘entitled’ to be happy; That by being ‘Americans’ that we are ‘entitled’ to the ‘American Dream’. That ‘entitlement’ philosophy is in it’s most basic, socialism! ‘You have extra, and I have none, so you give me your extra, then we will both have some’! Everybody thought that they had the ‘Right to Home Ownership’ and the less fortunate and LAZY complained! The bleeding hearts said, “it’s ok, we will find you a way to have a house” instead of: “if you want a house, then lets work on getting you better trained for a better job so that someday you may be able to afford one!” And the pressure was applied to the Government by lobbying groups such as ACORN. These groups coddle low income families and lobby government for ‘social justice’.

Now, let me step back for a minute and explain the difference between a ‘right’ and a ‘priveledge’. I remember as a young teen going to visit the local Justice of the Peace with my sister, who had received a speeding ticket, for a Boy Scout or School report of some sort. Once the JP was done with my sister, he talked to me. He explained to me that driving was a ‘priveledge’ that, if not taken responsibly, could be taken away! A ‘right’ on the other hand is something that no one can take away from us! If my sister were to get too many tickets she would have proven irresponsible and her driving ‘priveledge’ would be taken away. That obviously would not make my sister ‘happy’ but nowhere is she ‘guaranteed’ happiness. She only has the right to the ‘pursuit’ of happiness, her own actions are what determines if she actually achieves it or not!

Sho what is ‘social justice’? According to ‘Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English’ Social Justice is: the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society. I don’t know about you, but that clears it up for me! Ok, maybe not. Let’s break it down. ‘Social’ is a way of relating to a group or community of people. ‘Justice’ is basically ‘fairness’ or ‘equitableness’. So ‘Social Justice’ is ‘fairness and equity for a group or community’. The last line of the Pledge of Allegiance is “and Justice for All.” No where does it say that we will all achieve equal status! It just guarantees equal treatment under the law! The ‘right’ to pursue a higher status, way of life, the American Dream is Capitolism! The demanding of equal status without having worked for and achieved for yourself, is socialism!

Ok, now that we are all on the same page, back to the issue at hand. These groups that are lobying for ‘Social Justice’ are claiming that everybody ‘deserves’ an equal standing or status. They feel that it isn’t ‘fair’ that some own their own homes and others rent while others still rely on handouts and government programs for housing. So, due to the immense pressure applied by these lobbying groups the government, who doesn’t want to offend anyone and must be ‘Politically Correct’, started to apply ‘affirmative action’ to the lending industry. They told the lenders to no longer worry about the statistical, on paper, doesn’t even take into account race, sex, creed, etc factors that they have used for decades to determine if someone is capable of re-payment and told them that they have to lend to a certain number of people of X race or in Y neighborhood. This is part of the Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA. The CRA is a federal law that evaluates weather or not a banking institution is meeting the credit needs of the ENTIRE community and prohibits them from only lending to ‘prime’ financial candidates, a practice termed ‘Redlining’. The baking industry obviously didn’t like this, but under the act, if they are determined not to be meeting the needs of the ‘entire’ community, the penalties are very very stiff! So, the banks started lending, knowing full well that they would just ‘sell off’ these ‘sub prime’ loans to larger Lending Agencies’ such as Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac. Then the big investment banks and firms started touting these loans as Guaranteed or Secured, because they are after all required by the government so they continued to make these loans. This became big business! All over the TV and Radio you constantly see advertisements that ‘even you can get into your own home’ reguardless of credit history and whatever other ‘standard’ credit requirements. These loans are often high interest, due to the high risk, but that’s ok because the banks are making money and can sell the loans off to bigger firms and the bigger firms will buy them because they are going to make money and there isn’t any risk because the government is guaranteeing them! All of this is great, until these individuals and entities who couldn’t qualify for these loans before, couldn’t pay them back! Surprise, surprise! Well, the banks aren’t making that interest money if no payments are being made. Well, the government guaranteed these loans, so let’s sell them up again to them! Oh, what do you mean you didn’t guarantee them; You forced us to write them…. Now there is lots of land foreclosed on and no one to buy it because the banks all got burned and don’t have any money to lend out anymore!

So who should we blame? The president who finally signs the bill after it has already been argued, hacked and hashed by the 535 members of congress? That doesn’t seem fair, just, and equitable…. So let’s blame the ‘democratically controlled’ Congress! Ok, I can go with that somewhat. The democrats do basically control the House which is where laws are written, but how do explain it passing the Senate? If it was purely a Democratic ticket item, it would have died there! So it must have passed on by popular support! Where did that support come from? The very vocal bleeding heart socialists! AND the unwillingness to tell someone NO! You didn’t earn it! Everybody is so caught up with being ‘Politically Correct’ and unwilling to offend anyone that we have PC’d our way to an absolute economic mess! Should the government ‘bail out’ Fannie Mae and the like? Possibly, it is their fault, and our lack of outrage that caused this mess! It needs to be handled very very carefully and I don’t want to foot the bill for it, but if we can wake up and quit coddling people and hold people responsible for their own actions then it will be worth it! Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening.

WAKE UP AMERICANS! AMERICA IS FALLING APART DUE TO YOUR APATHY!

In GOD we trust. All others PAY CASH!

Mis informed populus spreads 'Campaign of Lies'

Excerpt: "As the presidential campaign moves into a final, heated stretch, untrue accusations and rumors have started to swirl at a pace so quick that they become regarded as fact before they can be disproved..."

I wanted to share with you an article that I read on MSNBC this morning. (Article Here)

As you all know, I try to verify all of my 'Facts' before I present them here and I also try to distinguish between what is fact and what is my (or someone elses) opinion! With the vast amount of information being promulgated by both sides and their supporters it is virtually impossible for me, a 1 man team, to wholly verify everything that I see, and I know that I too have put forth some half truths and probably some flat mis-truths, and for those, I apologise, and if you see one, PLEASE bring it to my attention, with reference of course.

This article that I read this morning brings to light what we have all known for years. That politicians will be politicians and say whatever it takes to get elected! And that goes for ALL SIDES! I don't care if you are a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or some other obscure party. We are ALL 'Citizens' and thus we should all try to do our best to make an informed decision and VOTE based on that information! I have a list of 'Facts' to research about these candidates so long that it would take me until the next election to prove/discredit them all! And some of them are pretty stinging! I often will chose to put something out before it is completely verified dou to the relatively harmless magnatude of the claim should it be wrong. I also will often mark those items as not-quite-verified. Please, PLEASE, I implore you to do your own research! If you vote without the proper information you are dooming yourself to becoming a subject instead of a citizen. If you chose not to vote, you are already doomed! The only way that we can ensure the way of life that we have become accustomed to and feel that we deserve is to arm ourselve with knowledge and demand that our government listen to US! We are the Nation! We are the controllers of this government! Make sure that your voice is heard!

The bottom line is: VOTE!

Alaska's Resources - ANWR

We have all heard about Alaska's vast natural resources, and we all remember the Exxon Valdez and the pipeline incident that has environmentalists doing everything in their power to keep us from any further exploration anywhere, but especially in ANWR (Artic National Wildlife Refuge); But what exactly is the ANWR? Where is it? What is the issue? Alaska is HUGE! Its the largest state by physical size and it is the least densly populated not to mention that it is the least payed attention to in daily life! Most of us don't know anything about it really. They don't even have an NFL team, so what exactly is up there that the environmentalists are so worried about?

NOTHING! Now, don't get me wrong here, I am not discounting Alaska's contributions, accomplishments, or citizens. More specifically I mean that in the small area of ANWR where the major deposits and natural resources that are being constantly debated, there is NOTHING! Let me give you a little excerpt about ANWR and the specific region that is in question [exerpt from: http://www.anwr.org]

"Lastly at the top of ANWR, there is a special area of 1.5 million acres on the Arctic Coastal Plain called the “10-02” Area. The 10-02 Area takes its name from the section of the Congressional bill, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), that expanded ANWR in 1980. In Section 10-02 Congress set aside 1.5 million acres of the Arctic Coastal Plain specifically for “oil and gas exploration”. This 10-02 Area is classified legally neither as “refuge” nor as “wilderness”, rather defined and separated by Congress for oil and gas exploration due to its well-known geological evidence of potential large hydrocarbon deposits. The 10-02 area, is bordered on the north by the Beaufort Sea, on the east by ANWR “wilderness” area and the U.S. Canadian border, and on the west by the Canning River and ANWR outer border. It is completely flat and barren with no trees, hills, or mountains. Nine months of the year is covered with snow and ice and practically void of life. Three of those months are in total 24 hour darkness. In the 6 weeks of summer the coastal plain is dotted with thousands of lakes and is covered by boggy tundra on permafrost (permanently frozen ground)."

Ok, so lets get this straight. We have "30 years" worth of oil, plus natural gas etc all in a very small region that is basically barren wasteland that was originally set aside for future production, yet we cant do anything with it? This makes no sense! And the environmentalists are playing on the ignorance of the general public saying that we shouldn't produce these resources because they are in a "Refuge". Well, this area actually ISN'T in a refuge at all now is it? This area is not "Protected" by any laws. And there aren't any endangered species there. And nobody is asking for permission to explore the actual refuge or wilderness. Just the very small area that was initially se aside for production! This is the same as going to your grandmothers house where she has everything she needs to bake some cookies. The only reason that she has all those ingredients is to bake some cookies for you; but the City Council has been pursuaded by the group against cookies to not allow the baking of any cookies within the city! It just doesn't make any sense!

By screaming about the endangerment of NOTHING these select few groups of people are effectively forcing our fuel prices higher and higer and keeping us dependent on foreign resources! Educate yourselves America! Don't fall pray to the fray! Make your own independent INFORMED decision! Lets take back our country! We have the resources, lets develope them!

As always please see my full blog for more posts and useful links! Click Here.

A true American Patriot!

An excerpt from/about Lee Iacocca's new book!


I think he is dead on, and it is scary! I am afraid that it may be within my lifetime that (and possibly very soon) the time will come that all red blooded American Patriots will have the responsibility and duty to exercise our 2nd amendment right to 'Fix' our government! It seems that our government is beginning to get too big for its britches. As more and more people rely on government welfare programs the government itself gains more power OVER its people when the power is supposed to come FROM its people. If we as a nation continue to ask more and more that our government to take care of us as individuals and as we begin to expect it to do so we will soon no longer be a democracy! We will become an autocracy headed for monarchy! History has told us that socialism and its brethren don't work in practice and that totalitarian rule only begets greed and lust for more power which is a self destructive cycle all its own! History has also shown us that true democratic societies only have a shelf life of about 200 years as citizens move into comfort that their government CAN take care of them to complacency that their government is taking care of them to the need for their government TO take care of them, to total dependency at which point the government does not belong to the people, the people belong to the government! Our democracy was started 232 yeas ago, and with the information age moving everything along faster and faster, we have thus far 'beat' the 'shelf life' of democracy, however, we (as a society in general) have definitely become 'complacent' and I fell that we are moving ever closer, dangerously close, to dependency! unfortunately there are many who not only disagree with this, but are directly opposed to this 'theory'. We, as a nation/society/democracy cannot afford further complacency! We must act. This is possibly the most important election this country has seen (certainly the most important that my generation has seen) and I am gravely afraid that the country will make the wrong choice and that this great nation will come crumbling down, and that I will be here to see it...