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First of all, allow me to say that, despite the fact that I live here, I have no great love for the state of Texas. I hate the weather and so many of the people are fiercely nationalistic about the fact that they live in the only state which used to be its own country.

Now that that's out of the way, because of its history as an independent republic, Texas is the only state which has the legal right to secede from the Union. When Texas agreed to be annexed, that was one of the stipulations put into its constitution.

In light of today's disgusting declaration by SCOTUS that human beings live only by permission from the government, in light of the fact that a flag-burning amendment may soon take us down the path of no longer being able to protest government oppression, and in light of the fact that McCain-Feingold is taking us down the path of one-party rule, I find it unlikely that the United States will be saved.

Now, imagine this:

Enough people fet up with the ever growing government presence in American life (not necessarily all Objectivists) move to the state of Texas, spend a while (maybe a long while) building up resources and trying to gain local and state offices and, eventually, have enough of a voice in the state government to secede from the United States and set up a nation that finishes what the American Revolution started.

People on this board and elsewhere constantly talk about trying to fix the current state of things, but few people actually do anything about it. I love this messageboard, ARI, etc., but let's face it...Objectivist organizations basically do little more than preaching to the choir. What will it take before Objectivists are ready to admit that the United States is beyond hope? What will it take before they decide something has to be done, other than trying to talk other people into seeing it our way? I may just be feeling unusually pessimistic because of today's decisiont, but I'm pretty close.

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First of all, allow me to say that, despite the fact that I live here, I have no great love for the state of Texas.  I hate the weather and so many of the people are fiercely nationalistic about the fact that they live in the only state which used to be its own country.

Now that that's out of the way, because of its history as an independent republic, Texas is the only state which has the legal right to secede from the Union.  When Texas agreed to be annexed, that was one of the stipulations put into its constitution.

This isn't true. It's a myth clung to by Texans. Texas had to renounce secession after the Civil War. No state has SPECIAL status that grants it more rights than any others. All states are equal in that regard.

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This isn't true. It's a myth clung to by Texans. Texas had to renounce secession after the Civil War. No state has SPECIAL status that grants it more rights than any others. All states are equal in that regard.

We did give up the cecastion right as a part of reconstruction but we do still have 2 special grants that others don't. One is we are allowed to fly our state flag at the exact same height as the US flag, the official rule I think is the state flag has to be just a smidge (one inch) lower than the US flag and the other is we still have the right, in theory, to split into five seperate states.

The flag issue has to do with defference of the state to the federal government though it really isn't unusual to find two flag poles mounted at the exact same height in Maine as it would be Texas. Though we were given grant to hold our flag at the same height. Silly and minor but some Texans get off on that sort of thing. As for the being able to split into five seperate states, it was something that was "offered" to us by the US because of the whole size issue. I think my county is bigger than many of the things that pass for states in the frozen northeast. So by breaking us up into five smaller states would make us into more "manageable" territories. Houston, Dallas, Austin, El Paso, and Corpus Christi would have ended up being capitals of small states but the same way all those states that were once a part of the Louisiana purchase were.

Oh, and for those of you to the northwest of Texas, the border of Texas did actually stretch just about to the Canadian border but got sold off by Mexico to the current small size a long time ago.

And yes, I'm one of those rigid Texas bigots. I've lived in everywhere from San Diego to Gramercy Park and quite a few other places between but I always come back and plan to stay.

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We did give up the cecastion right as a part of reconstruction but we do still have 2 special grants that others don't. One is we are allowed to fly our state flag at the exact same height as the US flag, the official rule I think is the state flag has to be just a smidge (one inch) lower than the US flag and the other is we still have the right, in theory, to split into five seperate states.

All States have the ability to split with permission from the Federal government. I wouldn't call that "a right." During the mid-1800s, Southerners wanted Texas to split (to add to the slave power in the Senate), but Texans were opposed to it.

And yes, I'm one of those rigid Texas bigots. I've lived in everywhere from San Diego to Gramercy Park and quite a few other places between but I always come back and plan to stay.

I like Texas too. I intend to visit one day.

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Facts and a reasoned argument based on those facts.

I must also agree with Burgess on the point that while I can not put my shock and dismay into words over todays SCOTUS decision, it's not "over" by any means. It just means the fight is seriously on. It reminds me of when my companies trading website went down and I had literally hundreds of very understnably pissed off phone calls stacked up in front of me going on hour 48 of the worst time in my career trading. I did your normal triage review and I looked at the brokers I managed before turning the phones on to "answer" and screamed out "oh yeah baby, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war" and then pressed the "on" button on the phones. I spent almost 12 hours straight on the phone with literally no time for even bathroom breaks.

I viewed the bad stuff as a challenge. It's when the crap is hitting the fan, that is when you can really shine. At the time, my brokers took my quote from Shakespeare as 1/2 insanity and 1/2 bravado. To this day my office views that week from hell as our finest hours. We literally took the worst that could happen to us as an office and somehow managed to turn it around and come out ahead in the end. Sure, there were numerous bloody noses along the way and some hurt feelings but in the end we won the day(s).

So I view the SCOTUS decision today as a real recharge in the piss and vinegar engine to get me active again with LI again and really back fighting again. I've been so busy with work and personal crap I've been ignoring politics and activism for too long. So for me, I treat this insanely illogical and bad bad decision as a phone with seven blinking lines and a warning message on my Bloomberg that all trading web trading systems are down and that I'm on my own.

Cry havoc!

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All States have the ability to split with permission from the Federal government. I wouldn't call that "a right." During the mid-1800s, Southerners wanted Texas to split (to add to the slave power in the Senate), but Texans were opposed to it.

I like Texas too. I intend to visit one day.

Sam Houston, the real father of our state was REALLY opposed to the whole confederacy notion but he got pushed aside and the rest was history. Juneteenth was recently enough as irony would have it. Texas is big. There is something for everyone. From insane bars and streets loaded with strippers to vast deserts to mountains etc. All the touristystuff you could ever want to do.

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This isn't true. It's a myth clung to by Texans. Texas had to renounce secession after the Civil War. No state has SPECIAL status that grants it more rights than any others. All states are equal in that regard.

Almost right. Texas does have the legal power to split into five separate states if it so chooses. :)

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In theory, that would give Texas a mighty powerful block of 20% of the votes of the senate (roughly, it's late and I've been dealing with retail real estate brokers all day so my cognitive abilities are shot) so that means that if they could stick together through thich and thin they would present a hauntingly powerful force to be reconded with inside the senate.

Mind you, that is pure theory. Reality is the state is so fractioned we are lucky if we can agree on an official state leprosy causing mammal (we call them armadillo's BTW) that destroy crops and cause countless damage to farms statewide but make neat mounts with bear bottles after taxidermy in BBQ restaurants statewide. I understand that if you are not from Texas, this previous sentance makes absolutely no sense whatsoever; however if you are from Texas you will understand exactly what I'm talking about. Especially if you live in an area where there is agriculture.

That is one of the things I like being about being a Texan tried and true: you either "get it" or you don't. Kind of like Objectvism. And I don't mean to demean the philosophy in any way shape or form by that comment. It's just that there are some people out there that no matter how much explaining you do, they will never truly understand what you are talking about.

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There are two conditions necessary to justify founding a new government: (1) the government is not protecting individual rights and (2) a new government will.

If a government becomes tyrannical, the legalities of secession become irrelevant, since it has abandoned objective law anyway.

Edited by GreedyCapitalist
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Okay, so I stand corrected about being able to secede...and I may have been overly pessimistic in giving up on America, but my main point is that it's time for more direct action, and I stand by it.

Moose, I understand your frustration. However, in some respects things are better than they have ever been in America.

I remember when the top tax rate for individuals was 78% -- try getting rich under those conditions -- and corporate profits were taxed at 33%.

Then there was the time the Federal government imposed nation-wide wage and price controls on virtually every business in America -- it was almost like Directive 10-289 -- all because the Fed had expanded the money supply and pushed inflation to ridiculous levels.

Then there was another episode where the Feds took control of the petroleum refinement and distribution system; we had to wait hours to get a tank full of gas and federal inspectors came to our business to insure that no thermostats were set below 78 in summer or above 68 in winter.

And of course we had a military draft that enslaved hundreds of thousands of young Americans, sent them to the horror of Vietnam and forced them to fight without giving them a chance to win.

Fortunately, America recovered from all of these things. And as Harry Binswanger pointed out, the last time an eminent domain challenge reached SCOTUS, the decision was 9-0 in favor of the government. So, we have made some progress.

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