The Republic of Texas

Via Orcinus, Texas separatists are up to it again:

But now a newly revived wing of the Republic of Texas is attempting to stage a visible comeback. The group has planted an 1836 Independence flag and declared the unassuming East Texas rail town of Overton their provisional capitol. The group’s so-called “citizens” and elected “President” Daniel Miller set up what they call their provisional government in a 16,000-square-foot building that once was a hospital.

Visitors are invited to apply for passports.

I guess the implications are mixed. The current redistricting fiasco in Texas is driven by the fact that there are more Democrats than Republicans in the Texas House delegation (17-15), so Texas secession would further tilt the House towards the Republicans (redistricting will soon accomplish that anyway). On the other hand, the loss of Texas Senators Kay Hutchison and John Cornyn would leave the Senate with 49 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and Jim Jeffords in the miscellaneous category, shaking things up a bit.

Now, you might be thinking that this would also mix things up presidency-wise, given that the separatists actually claim that Texas has never rightly been part of the United States and that Article II, Section I of the Constitution says “No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President.” But President Bush is safe in the event of a Texas secession; from his bio:

President Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, and he grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas.

Oh well.

AB

P.S. I’m making light of this in this post, but these far-right groups are full of seriously dangerous nutbags with massive ordnance and chemical weapons (cyanide bombs).