Tanya Robertson submits a ballot secession resolution to Texas State Republican Executive Committee/ Is this a gift to the Democratic party? UPDATE: SREC votes against ballot measure.

Tanya Robertson, member of the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) has submitted a secession ballot resolution to be put on the Republican primary ballot.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/texas-independence-secession-republic-TNM-texian-6654896.php

The leadership  of the Texas Republican Party is against the resolution. I am thinking that Robertson submitted the resolution to force a vote. It is some factional battle in which the Texas Republican establishment members of the SREC will be forced to vote against it and then they can be targeted by Tea Party Republicans.

The Texas Nationalist Movement (TMN) is still collecting signatures. They claim that they have 75% of the signatures, that they are close as they explain at this link.

http://www.thetnm.org/petition_2015_we_are_close

Though the estimate of 75% includes what they estimate are signatures on lists in the field and not turned in. Perhaps a few petitions fell under the sofa or behind the desk. The new deadline is Dec. 15, 2015. So it seems that signatures are not coming in as fast as they thought. They need 68,000 some signatures to get on the Republican Primary Ballot. I would have thought they could have gotten these signatures easily, but  evidently even in Texas there aren't that many far right secessionists.

Maybe the movement is just a website mostly with a small membership.

I think the Democrats are waiting with great hopes that the petition is successful. How tempting it must be for a leading Democrat to condemn publicly the TMN and help them get the necessary signatures. A condemnation by Obama probably would get them the signatures in a couple days out of a reflexive opposition to any opinion Obama has.

Yet it would be so obvious a move that Democrats could be criticized for aiding and abetting a noxious movement inimical to the United States.

However, if either the petition or the SREC places a secession measure on the Texas Republican Party ballot it would be a great benefit to the Democrats.

Changing the international borders of the United States of America is a national issue. Suddenly every Congressional Representative, every U.S. Senator, every presidential candidate, every candidate for national office will have to have a position on Texas secession, the right of a state to secede, and what would be their policy if a state attempted to secede.

I suspect Donald Trump will be caught in a bind. He is the candidate of ignorant opinion, but even for him, Texas secession might give him pause, or maybe not.

Every Texas state elected official would suddenly have to have a position on the same questions. Even local officials would have to take a stand. Questions will come up about Texas secession at the start of the Civil War.

Democrats would speak out against it.

Opinion polls would be taken in Texas. I think there would be enough Texas Republicans that would say they are for it, even though they really aren't, just to express some anti-government or anti-Obama sentiment to amount to some significant percentage that would be for the ballot measure.

National opinion polls would be taken. After all it is a national issue. What policy do people support if a state does attempt to secede.

In Texas there are probably sections of the state which might want to proposed seceding from Texas to be part of the United States of America in the event of a Texas secession. Local groups everywhere would be passing resolutions for and against.

It could provoke a real backlash against the Republicans nationally. The excitement would enable every fringe and crack pot group.

The whole issue of the Confederacy would be drawn into it. Confederate monuments would be looked at differently when secession is no longer a dead issue, no longer settled long ago.

What I think will likely happen though is that the TNM will fall short in their petition drive, but they will have gotten a fairly good list of names to outreach to and to approach when they attempt this again. But also a defeat might make people give up on the movement and a tiny remnant will persist.

The SREC won't adopted Tanya Robertson's resolution, but she has probably earned the determined enmity of the Republican Party establishment which won't be happy until her political career is entirely ended.

Dec. 15th is a date to mark on your calendar.

UPDATE:

The SREC voted against the ballot measure this afternoon 12/5/2015.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/texas-gop-votes-not-to-put-secession-question-on-p/npczK/

The signature effort is still going and they have 6 days. The recent news coverage has probably been of help in getting signatures since they have gotten some publicity.

I think the national Republican party probably freaked out when the Resolution Committee voted for it. It would put Texas secession into the presidential campaigns as an issue.

Republicans were worried that it would make them a "laughingstock." hmmm.

Tanya Robertson has given the Republican Party a lot of heartburn. Perhaps her career can be ended.

I think though she did this to get ahead in politics, and probably knew that it would be defeated by the general vote.

Article on the Lincoln Highway

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2015/11/holiday_travel_who_to_thank_or_curse_for_america_s_highways.html

One of the persons who shot at the Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis has the Bonnie Blue Confederate flag. UPDATE:

One thing that persons sympathetic to the Confederacy do and think it is clever is fly the Bonnie Blue flag. It is a lesser known flag of the Confederacy.

It has a deep blue field with one large five pointed white star in the center. Most people don't realize it is a Confederate flag and so it is a way of signaling Confederate sympathies in plain view to other Confederate enthusiasts without the public knowing about it.

Well, until now.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203983484164732&set=pb.1151731044.-2207520000.1448488049.&type=3&theater

This is a picture on the Facebook page of a Lance Scarsella. Reports says that from information on the page it seems to indicate that this is the same Lance Scarsella arrested in the matter of Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis. The comment by Scarsella is that it isn't the flag of Somalia.

As reported in Gawker activists found this Facebook page and noticed the Bonnie Blue flag.

http://gawker.com/minneapolis-protest-shooting-suspect-has-a-confederate-1744627811

After today if you think you are going to fly the Bonnie Blue flag and not have people realize it is a Confederate flag, you are very wrong.

With friends like this, the Confederacy doesn't need enemies.

The Confederacy was a violent insurrection over white supremacy and slavery, it shouldn't be surprising that persons who are violent and white supremacists fly the Confederate flag.

Also, there is a fraternity which I have seen flying the Bonnie Blue flag in Dallas and I wonder if they will continue to do this.

UPDATE:

http://www.startribune.com/county-attorney-gets-deadline-extension-for-charges-against-men-accused-of-shooting-north-side-protesters/353970681/

There was a video on YouTube which has been taken down showing the white group involved filming the #Black Lives Matter group, including one of the shooters, saying all sorts of racist trash with two Confederate flags.

Georgetown University changes name of hall named after slave owner president. Neo-Confederate world is tumbling down.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/georgetown-university-to-rename-two-buildings-that-reflect-schools-ties-to-slavery/2015/11/15/e36edd32-8bb7-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html?tid=sm_tw

Everywhere the old order where rationalizations were made to excuse slave owning are being brushed away.

Is the Texas Nationalist Movement resolution actually going to get on the ballot? UPDATE: Tanya Robertson did submit the Texas Nationalist Movement ballot measure

WOAI radio is reporting that Texas Nationalist Movement (TMN) has made a break through in getting a resolution on independence on the ballot.

http://www.woai.com/articles/woai-local-news-sponsored-by-five-119078/texas-gop-asked-to-consider-resolution-14110464/

According to the TNM their resolution had previously been rebuffed by the State Republican Election Committee, but this recently changed.

"That changed this week when SREC member Tanya Robertson formally introduced the TNM’s resolution for consideration by the Resolutions Committee in December."

http://www.thetnm.org/tx_ind_srec#addreaction

However, I checked Tanya Robertson's Facebook page and didn't see that she had mentioned that she was going to introduce the measure. I would think that something big like this would be mentioned. 

The WOAI article states:

Resolutions on issues to be placed before the voters in the primary can only be presented by members of the State Republican Executive Committee.

So Miller says SREC member Tanya Robertson has formally introduced their TNM's resolution for consideration by the Resolutions Committee in December.

WOAI article doesn't mentioned whether they confirmed that Robertson has actually done this.

The TNM also states on their website

The language of the resolution is substantially similar to the TNM’s resolution introduced in the Texas Legislature by State Representative James White as HCR 77 and places the question of Texas independence on the ballot in much the same way as the petition campaign.

Again, in checking the Facebook page I can't find any statement by James White about the TNM. I am checking the link that the TNM page gave. James White's HCR 77 says that Texas has the right to secede, but it doesn't say that Texas should. However, it should be thought of as pandering to secessionists. Other online sources do suggest that Texas State Rep. did actually submit HCR 77. I think going forward it should be understood that White can't take the oath of any Federal office in good faith. 

Both Robertson and White may well support the TNM. I am just not finding confirmation using Google.

I think the State Republican Election Committee would be very opposed to getting a TNM measure on the ballot.

The deadline for signatures is December 1, 2015. The TNM website isn't reporting numbers.

If the TNM measure did get on the Republican Party primary ballot it would be a huge benefit to the Democrats in Texas and across the country. It would be a disaster for the Republicans.

The Texas Republicans would have to decide whether to debate against it or for it.

If they argue against it they are indirectly rejecting secession, the Confederacy, and the general spirit of cranky anti-Federalism that now pervades the Republican Party. Are they going to argue that remaining a part of the United States of America and the Federal government a good thing and at the same time rail against all things Federal as good Tea Party members.

If they argue for it, then they join the ranks of the officially crazy in the public mind. It undermines the image of the Republican Party as being more patriotic than the Democrats. A Republican who argues for the TNM position will find that he or she will have to face their record as having supported the TNM in any election they face, and any institution that works with them will be criticized. Whether they can take the oath of office for a Federal position in good faith can be doubted.

For the Democrats this can be used nationally to discredit the Republicans, more so if it passes. It would bring under suspicion Republicans everywhere whether their patriotism for the United States is basically contingent.  Also, if the TNM resolution passed, or even made a better than expected showing, fringe groups everywhere would feel empowered. Republican Party establishments everywhere would be besieged by secessionists groups.

I do think that the TNM is struggling to get the necessary signatures. If they were making real progress I would think they would be posting numbers to encourage petition collectors to work the home stretch with only about 15 days to go. 

The Texas Republican Party establishment strategy is to ignore them to avoid giving them free publicity. WOIA probably well understands that their coverage aides the TNM.

If it was every thought that the TNM had any reasonable chance it would be disastrous for the Texas economy.  How many national headquarters of major businesses would have to leave? What would be the value of mortgages on property in Texas? Would companies want to build national distribution centers in Texas?

In the national job market, many would not want to move to a state and buy a home that they might not be able to sell if they had to move out of Texas. Companies in Texas, universities in Texas might find it difficult to recruit people from a national labor pool.

Finally, why would secession stop as an issue at the state level. If large sections of Texas don't want to secede wouldn't it be reasonable to break up Texas so some sections could stay part of the United States of America? That is one question secessionists don't really consider. They want a geographic area to secede, but aren't too fond of further secession.

However, all of this very likely idle speculation since it is not likely that this measure will get on the ballot.

If it does get on the ballot it brings to the front Confederate statues and flags and other such things. After all when you honor violent secessionists doesn't that send a message of encouragement to people who make up  groups such as the TNM?

I personally love the idea of an America where you can drive for thousands of miles.

UPDATE:

Tanya Robertson did submit the Texas Nationalist Republic ballot measure to the SREC and defends doing so. Our exchange is as follows:

·        
Conversation started Saturday

·        

11/14, 3:12pm

Edward H. Sebesta

Is it true that you submitted the Texas Nationalist Movement resolution to the SREC?

·         Wednesday

·        

11/18, 10:54pm

Tanya Robertson - TX SD11 SREC Committeewoman

I submitted it to be added as a March 1st Republican Primary ballot initiative.

·        

11:00pm

Edward H. Sebesta

How unpatriotic. I don't see how you can do the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag in good faith. Also, I want my home in Texas to remain in America. Also, are you aware that the 1st Republican president was Abraham Lincoln who preserved the Union?

I presumed you were being misrepresented.

·        

11/18, 11:04pm

Tanya Robertson - TX SD11 SREC Committeewoman

Whether you agree with it or not, the people of TX should have a voice in the matter.

·        

11:08pm

Edward H. Sebesta

We live in a Republic not a democracy, both at the national and state level. Let them see what means they can find to get something like this on the ballot. Not every measure goes on the ballot, there is a requirement for signatures for a reason. Yet you have aided them. You have assisted a group which seeks to disunite the United States of America. You can not claim to love our country.