XPost: dc.urban-planning, wa.politics   
   From: impeach_obama@yahoo.com   
      
   Texas was its own nation before joining the United States, and   
   many jokes have been made about some Texans still not   
   recognizing that “other government” with which it now is   
   affiliated.   
      
   But lawmakers there are drawing attention by considering a law   
   that would have Texas review how it would respond should the   
   U.S. government no longer be there to send federal tax revenue   
   back to the state.   
      
   The proposal would set up a committee to study what the state   
   gets from Washington, “the effects on the state budget if   
   federal fiscal policy necessitates a significant reduction in or   
   elimination of federal funding” and “a plan to address the loss   
   of federal money.”   
      
   The plan, HB 568, has been introduced by Rep. James White, who   
   said in a statement Texas Self-Sufficiency Act “creates a select   
   committee to evaluate the effects of a possible reduction in or   
   elimination of federal funding on the state budget due to   
   federal fiscal policy.”   
      
   “Due to the fiscal dysfunction of Washington, D.C., and the fact   
   that more than a third of our state’s budget revenue comes from   
   the federal government, Texas needs to study what it would mean   
   if the federal government couldn’t meet its obligations,” he   
   said.   
      
   The plan directs the governor, lieutenant governor and other   
   officials to assemble a committee “to analyze not only our   
   state’s dependence on federal funds, but the impact of federal   
   funding on Texas’ economy.”   
      
   Said White: “My district in South East Texas, for example, has a   
   higher proportion of seniors compared to the state overall   
   percentage. What would happen in the event the federal   
   government eliminated the funds normally allocated to them? In   
   the current economic climate, exacerbated by out of control   
   spending in Washington, Texas needs to study possible responses   
   to federal financial turmoil, and our readiness to adjust to   
   such an event. Texans must govern Texas and Texans need to be   
   concerned about Texas.”   
      
   On the website for the state GOP, David Bellow blogged about the   
   idea.   
      
   “State Rep. James White has proposed a bill that will require   
   the leaders of Texas to start crunching the numbers and figure   
   out what Texas would look like if it had to be self sufficient …   
   limited or no federal support … OUR OWN COUNTRY…. oops, I am   
   getting a little ahead of myself, haha. Hey, I didn’t say   
   secession but that certainly comes to mind when thinking about   
   the federal government having a financial meltdown and cutting   
   off most or all support to the states.”   
      
   Bellow asked: “What would Texas do in the event that the United   
   States of America defaulted? It is a very real possibility that   
   one day the massive U.S. debt will become so large and   
   unsustainable that it causes a financial meltdown. Texas, and   
   pretty much everyone else, would all of a sudden be faced with   
   no more federal funds (which is really just Texas tax dollars   
   given to the feds which is then given back to Texas). Yes, Texas   
   is already a sovereign state, but what would we do if faced with   
   complete sovereignty and no federal money?”   
      
   He explained: “State Representative James White is thinking   
   ahead. He does not want to have to wait until Texas gets cut off   
   from the federal government to determine how Texas will manage   
   on our own. White wants to start planning now.”   
      
   WND previously reported the response of hundreds of thousands of   
   Americans when Obama was re-elected in November.   
      
   They launched petitions expressing their desire to have their   
   states secede from the U.S.   
      
   The move began with a petition on the White House website from   
   Louisianans anxious to properly withdraw their state from the   
   union. In just days, residents of all 50 states had launched   
   similar petitions, gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures.   
      
   The petitions were ignored by the White House until Jon Carson,   
   director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, replied.   
      
   “As much as we value a healthy debate,” he wrote, “we don’t let   
   that debate tear us apart.”   
      
   WND was first to report when a Louisiana man began a petition on   
   the White House’s “We the People” website, asking permission for   
   his state to peacefully secede.   
      
   The Louisiana petition quoted from the Declaration of   
   Independence: “‘Governments are instituted among Men, deriving   
   their just powers from the consent of the governed, that   
   whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these   
   ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and   
   institute new Government.’”   
      
   According to the guidelines of the “We the People” website, when   
   a petition reaches 25,000 signatures, the White House must put   
   the petition in a queue for response.   
      
   Louisiana’s petition quickly reached that threshold and was   
   followed by similar petitions from all 50 states, several of   
   which also topped the 25,000 mark. Texas’ petition got the   
   signatures of tens of thousands.   
      
   “Our founding fathers established the Constitution of the United   
   States ‘in order to form a more perfect union’ through the hard   
   and frustrating but necessary work of self-government,” the   
   White House said. “They enshrined in that document the right to   
   change our national government through the power of the ballot –   
   a right that generations of Americans have fought to secure for   
   all. But they did not provide a right to walk away from it.   
      
   “As President Abraham Lincoln explained in his first inaugural   
   address in 1861, ‘in contemplation of universal law and of the   
   Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual,’” the   
   response continued. “In the years that followed, more than   
   600,000 Americans died in a long and bloody civil war that   
   vindicated the principle that the Constitution establishes a   
   permanent union between the States. And shortly after the Civil   
   War ended, the Supreme Court confirmed that ‘[t]he Constitution,   
   in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed   
   of indestructible States.’”   
      
   However, WND columnists Walter E. Williams and Alan Keyes have   
   both argued secession is constitutional. A column by Williams   
   cites historical evidence from both the Founding Fathers and the   
   Civil War era. Keyes’ argues God-given rights cannot be trumped   
   by man-made law, Supreme Court decisions or civil war.   
      
   An online Texas history recounts Texas’ rebellion and separation   
   from Mexico to form its own nation, with its own president,   
   secretary of state and foreign policy, before ultimately joining   
   the U.S.   
      
   “In a ceremony [in 1846] in front of the Capitol, President   
   Jones gave a valedictory address, the flag of the republic was   
   lowered, and the flag of the United States was raised.”   
      
   http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/texas-preps-for-going-it-alone/   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)