Now I know that some of you are going to be asking yourself “BigDaddy, your blog concerns itself mostly with the fortunes of those of us who are out of work and who are trying to get jobs. We can understand you commenting on Tea-Partiers and the HealthCare debate since those kind of effect our job search and what we can expect in the way of benefits once we get one. But why, oh why are you wading into this nonsense about these dumb-asses in Texas who want Texas to secede from the union?”
Well I’m glad you asked, my curious friend!!!
First of all I have been amazed, taken aback, astounded even to see what has happened to what passes for political discourse in this country since January 20th. It has increasingly become not only nasty and mean-spirited, but it threatens to degenerate into downright racism, violence, and possibly even treason. It has been interesting to watch the Far-right wing fringe just go completely ape-shit over the fact that not only do we have a Democrat in the Oval Office, but that he doesn’t even look like them in the first place. Every time he comes out witha new plan that could potentially help turn the economy around, or put some people back to work, or enable those who have a job to keep it, or to ensure that people who need health care will have access to it without having to worry about losing their homes afterwards, the wingnuts go on the attack.
It has now gotten to the point where opponents of health care reform are coming to town hall meetings where our President speaks armed withloaded firearms at their sides. They say that they are simply exercising their rights to carry a gun as spelled out by the second amendment. I used to think that this would be a problem – until supporters of health care reform started showing up on the other side carrying their own loaded firearms as well. See, this is what the fringe wingnutters don’t get – Neo-Conservative Republicans are not the only ones with 2nd Amendment rights in this country!!! If you bring a loaded gun to a town hall, expect someone on the opposite side of the debate to bring their own loaded gun as well.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I am not looking for gunfire to break out at a town hall meeting between the two sides – it is what I am afraid might eventually happen. Someone is going to say something about Grandma getting the plug pulled on her, someone is going to say something contrary to that, shouting will commence, threats will be issued, and someone is going to draw as if they were back in Dodge City and we will have a modern-day version of the Shootout at the OK Corral. In the end people are going to die as a result, probably an innocent bystander holding her six-month-old child. Once that happens, will the “Deathers” finally be happy?
That leads me to this idiocy that is being played out in Texas right now. The other day there was a demonstration on the Capitol steps in Austin, Texas in favor of Texas seceding from the United States and becoming it’s own sovereign nation. Now usually I have rolled my eyes at these whackjobs but there was one demonstrator there that caught my attention. If you look at the above posted video, around the 2:10 mark and you’ll see who I am talking about. He’s carrying a poster of President Obama made up to look like The Joker, and if you listen carefully you can hear what he is saying on the video:
Health care…you know…GET A JOB!!! GET A JOB!!! GET A JOB!!! GET A JOB!!!
Now from the looks of this a-hole, he looks like he doesn’t have a job himself at the moment. From the looks of him I would say that he is either retired and is getting a nice pension from some unknown company (maybe Freedom Worksbecause if you look closely at the back of his t-shirt at the 2:12 mark you’ll see the Freedom Works logo) who hasn’t had to go out and look for a job since 1979!!! I will bet you what little change I have in my pocket against what little change you have left in your pocket that this guy has no idea what it takes to get a job these days. I will bet you that if he were to try to go out and get a job himself that he would fail miserably. No I have no idea if he has any physical ailments that prevent him from working, I am just going off of what I see on a few seconds of video tape.
But what really astounds me about this demonstration were the speakers that were there saying how much they hated America, and how they knew that secession meant that blood would be spilled. They are both candidates for Governor of Texas!!!!!!!!They think that they will win election by saying that they hate America?!?!?!? And if (and that is a huge “if”) they actually do secede from the union, would they even have a Governor anymore? Would they then have a President? Prime Minister? Generalissimo? What?!?
Now I know that there is no way that this could actually happen, and if they tried it, they would not only lose the battle – but quite possibly their freedom and even their lives. Secession from the Union is now considered Treason in this country – its in the Constitution now (I think). Besides, if they actually did try to secede, and they then have to do battle with the United States of America – what are they going to do battle with? What resources are they going to have on their side? Most of the Texas National Guard is deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, what are you going to fight with. What, are you going to tell your citizens to arm themselves and prepare to do battle against the 133rd Airbourne? Are you prepared to see Dallas, Houston and San Antonio get carpet bombed and turned into Baghdad West?!?
Seriously, think about what secession actually means, and think about what what it would mean to your economy. Could you support yourselves if no other state is willing to do business with you? Can you survive if your only trading partner is Mexico? Also, think about what else you would lose if you secede from the union:
- The NFL – Kiss the Houston Texans and the Dallas Cowboys goodbye. If you think that Roger Goddell was tough on Donte Stallworth, try selling tickets for that new stadium of yours when now one will put you on their schedule. Then again Goddell might just yank the franchises and move them “for the good of the game”. The Texans would go to Los Angeles and America’s Crackwagon would move into their new home in the desert of Las Vegas. Besides, I grew up a Los Angeles Rams fan and had to watch the Cowpunks beat my Rams every year in the playoffs, so I won’t miss them one bit. Yeah, go ahead and secede and take the Cowboys with you!!!!! The only downside is that we lose the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders as well, but as long as we still have the Raideretts it all evens out.
- The NBA – How many times can you see the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs play each other? Because no one else is going to play them, that’s for sure!
- The NHL – Don’t count on the Dallas Stars taking the ice.
- Major League Baseball – Think the Houston Astros andthe Texas Rangers can stand playing each other 162 times a year?
- NASCAR – They have two dates a year at the Texas Motor Speedway that will be given to other tracks if secession happens. I can see one date going to Rockingham and the other going to a night race in Vegas.
- The Big 12 – A lot of BCS honks will not be sorry to see Texas and Texas A&M go by the wayside. Texas Tech goes bye-bye as well.
- The Mountain West – Say adios to both TCU and SMU as they will both lose out on any hopes of BCS money. It’s not a total loss however as this would clear the way for Boise State to join the MWC.
- The Cattle Industry – Do you think that Americans will buy beef from Texas? Don’t count on it, they’ll be more apt to buy beef from Wyoming or Colorado or any of the other Western States where cattle are raised.
- Tourism – Taking a trip to Texas will be like trying to take a vacation in Cuba – darn near impossible and seen as akin to burning the American Flag.
So, are we seeing the bigger picture here? And I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet:
- Economic turmoil – With all of Texas’ industries, entertainment and tourism embargoed by the United States and possibly other countries, there would be no customers for goods produced in Texas. Eventually businesses would have to start laying off workers in an effort to survive. But since they would be laying off their own customers, their business would suffer even more because Texans would not be buying anything. This would bring about a complete and total economic collapse of Texas’ economy, and the new country would enter into it’s own “Great Depression” from which it might not recover for years, thus becoming a Third World country.
Now I know a lot of this seems far-fetched and that there is no real possibility of Texas actually seceding from the Union. But this is what these secessionists don’t seem to understand. Forget whatever military consequences there are – think about the economic consequences. Think about all of the jobs that are going to be lost because of this, not to mention all of those Texans who might not want to secede from the Union pouring across the borders into New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. And how are you going to replace all of the workers that you lose as a result? Are you going to throw open the Mexican border? I can imagine there might be more than a few secessionists who would have something to say about that!
Right now, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll only 18% of those polled support succession. If you add that up out of a population of 24,326,974, then after all of the people who didn’t want to secede from the union flee across the border there would be a grand total of 4,378,855 people left in the state. That’s an estimate of how many people would be left to fight off the Army and the Marines who would be sent in there to restore order. Like I said before, the National Guard wouldn’t be able to be called in since they are fighting two wars in two foreign countries under what flag?
So, you see how stupid an idea this is? Massive unemployment, instant economic collapse, military action from which there is no real defense, and the incarceration and possible execution of those who led the drive for secession as traitors. Trust me when I tell you Texas – it’s not worth it!!!
Then again, if I don’t have to see that damned star at midfield anymore…
