Abe and Myndore - Soon to be countrymen

[Firecrest]

Petition for Texas to secede from US reaches threshold for White House response

An online petition that calls for the State of Texas to withdraw from the U.S. and create its own government on Monday reached the required signature threshold to receive an official response from The White House.

The petition on WhiteHouse.gov asks the Obama administration to "peacefully grant the State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own new government." The petition had surpassed 34,000 signatures as of Monday evening. It was created by a person self-identified only as "Micah H." from Arlington, Texas.

The petition cites the nation's economic woes as an issue and says that the condition of Texas' budget and economy make it "practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union."

Online petitions on WhiteHouse.gov that get sufficient support are reviewed by White House staff and "sent to the appropriate policy experts." To be searchable on WhiteHouse.gov in the first place, petitions currently need to get 150 signatures within 30 days. To get an official response, petitions need 25,000 signatures within 30 days.

Similar petitions from other states have also been filed including: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee. However, unlike the petition from Texas, none of these states had reached the 25,000-signature threshold to get an official White House response as of Monday evening.

According to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, a 1866 proclamation signed by then-President Andrew Johnson clearly spelled out that no state had the right to leave the union:

"...It is the manifest determination of the American people that no State, of its own will, has a right or power to go out of or separate itself from, or be separated from the American Union; and that, therefore, each State ought to remain and constitute an integral part of the United States..."

The flurry of petitions are likely just the consequence of voters unhappy with last week's presidential election results. University of Texas at Austin Assistant Professor Jason Casellas told NBC News that's likely the case in Texas, where 57 percent of the state population's vote went for Republican Mitt Romney.

Catherine Frazier, press secretary for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, told NBC News Monday that the governor "believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it."

"But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government," Frazier said in a statement. "Now more than ever our country needs strong leadership from states like Texas, that are making tough decisions to live within their means, keep taxes low and provide opportunities to job creators so their citizens can provide for their families and prosper."

[Firecrest]

PS - Take California with you. Don't let Oklahoma hit you on the way out.

[Crazy Diana]

abe lives in cali

[abecx]

Nothing new, we have them every election ( people wanting to secede and starting bullshit ). Texas residents think they are better than the rest of the country because we could actually be self sustaining due to the amount of oil we have in and around us. Plus its not big government.

Texas people seem to think we can just up and leave because of our charter/independence, but the USA would come in and fuck us up.

[Hitshade]

[jackslammer]

Red states are the 47%, the takers not makers, the welfare states, etc. even though the GOP blames them for Obama's re-election. 70% of new food stamp recipients are in counties that are solid red, yeah Obama really expanded the food stamp program to buy votes. Obama even won 8 out of 10 of the wealthiest counties in the country, none of which are in the south. I do feel bad that a quarter to a third of kids in the south are living in poverty though, I can't believe the GOP is attempting to deny those in poverty access to Obamacare in their states. Just let the south secede and have them take their precious GOP with them.

[xnskzzxnvs]

those links are biased propaganda from the so called reality-based liberal conspiracy

LLTF

[Firecrest]

As a country, we waste so much time and effort on the extremes. The far right and far left represent a miniscule portion of our population but take up a mammoth portion of our focus and attention. It’s fucking stupid. I hate them both.

Does the average American really have a particularly strong opinion on unions, abortions or gay marriage? The vast majority of America has no skin in the game on any of these “hot button” issues. They feel abortion is wrong because their pastor told them so. Or they think that equal GLBT rights are important because their social sciences professor told them that was a hallmark of an advanced society. They really have no personal experience with any of these issues, and their lives would go on just fine no matter which direction the country went on the issue.

There was a silver lining to the economic downturn of the past few years. It presented us with a great chance to unite on a common cause. Instead, we took the opposite route and split it down the middle. It’s particularly painful this way because neither side is actually wrong. They’re two halves of the same right answer. Government spending is necessary to stimulate a weak economy. Once the economy is back in shape, it is vital that we address the deficit. Both things need to be done, in that order. Instead, our idiot government is too busy pandering to the vocal minority of their parties and disagreeing with the opposition just because they’re the opposition to actually get anything done.

We built a cliff because we thought that our own impending demise would be enough incentive for us to turn to the guy beside us and shake his hand. Instead, we’re just going to stare forward and drive right over the edge.

[xnskzzxnvs]

i'm pretty sure the onion is real life

[Firecrest]

Onion stories always make me laugh at first. Then they depress me. Because what ought to be obviously ludicrious are sadly plausable.