Foreign Policy is a pretty serious magazine. But when Texas last talked about secession, Annie Lowrey at the magazine took notice and had a good laugh about it. At that time, Rick Perry was publicly calling for secession—something she called, “A piece of asinine political rhetoric.” But she did take the whole thing seriously enough to blow it so full of holes anyone would be an idiot to bring it up again.
This time around, of course, Rick Perry is against secession. But this isn’t because he’s learned anything. He is just hoping that by 2016, he may not be too stupid to get the Republican presidential nomination. (He is wrong.)
Most of Lowrey’s analysis focuses on what a hostile withdrawal from the Union would do to Texas. This makes sense, because, as she points out: in Texas v. White, the Supreme Court found that secession was illegal. That was 143 years ago—a long time in terms of stare decisis. So if Texas is going to go, they are going to have to do it against the will of the United Other 49 States of America.
If somehow Texas managed to secede, they would have to put enormous resources into securing their borders. What’s more, their main trading partner—the UO49SA—would be gone. They would have a hard time trading with others in the region, except for maybe the socialist states that aren’t that keen on the USA. But probably not. And Texas would likely become a narco-state.
Lowrey sums it up:
Which I think is really the best approach for Texas now: shut up and pay your damn taxes!
