Let Them Go This Time

Perhaps, as a Virginian, it is completely appropriate that I am all in favor of Texas's secession from the United States. I believe, generally speaking, in soveriegnty and the Tenth Amendment. I just believe that it's a whole lot different than what Rick Perry (Steve Perry seems like a nicer guy) seems to think that it is. In case he forgot, the Civil War (WONA) settled that issue pretty clearly, and Supreme Court decisions since then have toed that line. But if he, and other Texans, don't like the way the Constitution is interpreted, so be it. Off with you. Best of luck, I say.

But a friendly secession would be significantly different than what happened in 1861 following the Secession Convention. This time around, the Federal Government ought to withdraw all of its resources from the territory of the nascent Republic of Texas rather than allowing them to be violently seized by the seceeding state.
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The Department of Homeland Security including Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Transportation Safety Administration? Out of there. Every rifle, truck, pistol, and badge. Every x-ray machine and bomb sniffing dog. They'll be needed to protect the new borders between the USA and the New Republic.
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Social Security Administration? Out. Payments to retirees in Texas only in the way that we make them available to retirees overseas. And with no international agreement in place it might take a while to get all that going. Medicare? Doesn't apply "overseas." Unemployment benefits? Paid in the same way the USG pays for folks who are unemployed "overseas." In other words, not at all.
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FBI? All the special agents should reassigned to new U.S. postings. We'll send our Legal Attache (usually just a few agents) to the new Embassy to the Republic of Texas (once it gets built).
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And the military? Come on home, men and women. Every tank, every jet, every helicopter, every machine gun, returned back to the United States. There are 18 military bases in Texas, and most of the personnel and materiel belong to the United States, not the State of Texas.
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Support for higher education? Done. Ask University of Texas at Austin how long it can survive without federal grants for research and federal loans for its students to attend. And kick all those schools out of the NCAA. Good riddance, Mack Brown and Rick Barnes.
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And then the bill. Send the New Republic a bill for the infrastructure left behind, for the highways, the hospitals, the schools, the university buildings, the airports, for anything that was built entirely or partially with federal funding. How many billions do you think that might be?
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Anyway, I think by now you've gotten YDS's point. Let Texas go. But just make sure they know the real cost before they step out the door.
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Oh but one parting shot: Why is it that no one has described Mr. Perry's comments as treasonous, or as giving aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war? Do you wonder whether someone in the previous administration might have?