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448

Texas’ Border Stunt Is Based on the Same Legal Theory Confederate States Used to Secede (www.thedailybeast.com)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

54 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A clash between Texas and the Biden administration over who controls the Texas-Mexico border continues to escalate this week as federal officials once again demanded the state give Border Patrol agents access to a park that is a popular corridor for migrants to enter the United States illegally.

This comes in response to a recent Supreme Court decision, where the court allowed federal officials to dismantle a wire barrier along the border, prompting a legal battle initiated by Texas. Texas argued that this action, aimed at aiding migrants, infringes on state sovereignty and damages Texas security measures.

In response to this decision, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott released a letter arguing that Texas has a right to control the border and that it supersedes federal government control. Abbott’s accusation that the federal government has breached the Constitution by having “broken the compact between the United States and the States” is almost identical to South Carolina’s 1860 declaration of secession.

Furthermore, Abbott’s letter espouses the fringe theory of constitutional law known as “compact theory,” popularized by Confederate states during the Civil War era and supported by Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 9 months ago

As a South Carolinian, I'm afraid for my mixed race family. I'm going to be getting my son a passport (my wife and I already have ours) and I'm seriously considering fleeing the country if the Confederacy rises again. I will not live in a nation where my wife and son may not be considered equal. I've lived here my whole life, and I used to think we were past all the racism and stuff like the Klan. The last 8 years have shown me how wrong I was. I've lost a lot of former friends to this, and I'm ready to go back to living somewhere I don't have to worry about basic human rights, democracy, and the basic decency of my neighbors.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I think U.S. marshals should be sent in to arrest Abbott.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Why not just execute him? Seems like their MO.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

In the very least.

[–] [email protected] 78 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I see a lot of people in comments sections, including this one, saying we should let states secede because they would lose federal funding and this would punish those states. I get that a lot of this is people joking around. But I would like to point out this isn't an effective way to punish the fascists who are actually causing problems.

The fascists in control of those states are usually wealthy individuals and won't be harmed by this at all. The people who will be harmed by this is our fellow people. Also, not everyone in those states identify as Republicans. Take Texas as an example where a majority of people are not Republican.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/state/texas/party-affiliation/

Only 39% of Texas adults identify as Republican or lean Republican. 21% have no lean and 40% identify as Democrat or lean Democrat.

We are much better off pressing sedition charges against Abbott and his cabinet members if he actually tries something more serious than this or keeps this stunt going for too long.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

While I do agree that people tend to ignore the "normal" people who wil lbe impacted by this: The reason many of those wealthy individuals are wealthy exists in other states. If they are given the ultimatum of "Get the fuck back in the US or we are claiming spacex" then they very rapidly are "punished".

That said: the "Texas is really purple" argument holds a lot less water than people tend to claim. Ever since 2020 (really before it, but that was the big push) there has been a strong push for "democrats" to move to Texas. Because... it is so much cheaper because they aren't paying for social infrastructure and they get a lot of the NIMBY benefits while pretending they are "good people". LOTS of DINOs. They might not be full alt-right magats but there is a reason that the blatant gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement doesn't have much pushback.

That isn't to say that there aren't large numbers of people in Houston and the like who just have no mobility and are increasingly worried they will literally become slaves. But also understand that places like Austin would very much vote for a "moderate Bush-era republican" if the option arose.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

If they are given the ultimatum of “Get the fuck back in the US or we are claiming spacex” then they very rapidly are “punished”.

Sure, that hurts Elon Musk. I would be interested to know how many of the Republican politicians in red states actually have a majority of their wealth and assets in blue states. Sanctions have to hurt the people in control of the red state governments to even be worthwhile.

Because… it is so much cheaper because they aren’t paying for social infrastructure and they get a lot of the NIMBY benefits while pretending they are “good people”. LOTS of DINOs. They might not be full alt-right magats but there is a reason that the blatant gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement doesn’t have much pushback.

I'm not convinced this disqualifies them from our sympathy if a hypothetical secession attempt by their state government causes them undue misery. I've been looking into people moving to Texas.

This is one of the articles I found. It seems like most of the people moving to Texas are going to vote Republican. I would like to read the articles you've seen on the topic as I couldn't find much on Democrats moving to Texas other than this one. At the end it mentions one family moved to Austin and they seem progressive. It's an interesting demographic shift regardless.

But also understand that places like Austin would very much vote for a “moderate Bush-era republican” if the option arose.

Again I don't have a lot knowledge about Democrats in Texas. It seems like if that were true they would run some neo-conservatives that were like Bush. These are the candidates that the Democratic Party is fielding against Ted Cruz in Texas.

They seem progressive, on the surface anyway. Especially this guy:

“I’m a progressive and I do not apologize for it,” Gutierrez said. “That’s the way we win in November, not by moving to the middle, but by inspiring every Democrat in this state to go get new voters and go meet these people.”

I would interested to read any polling date or news articles you've seen about it to be more informed on this.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So you don't think the US would sanction the wealthy individuals or their companies?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

I'm sure most of those Republicans already have enough wealth to live out the rest of their lives comfortably. I don't see those rich individuals struggling financially over sanctions that only affect them if they attempt to engage in trade or move assets outside of those 25 states.

It seems like sanctions would hurt the economy of those states which then financially hurts all of the people living there who are not already rich.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Agreed. All federal money, property, and resources out of Texas, post haste.

Bye TeQxas.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Hmm, I don't know... It seems like Texas has a pretty high GDP. My state (California) has a higher one, though. I guess "everything's bigger in Texas" mostly just refers to their penile compensation vehicles.

Here is some data on the subject... Texas not only has a GDP under a third of what CA generates, but they also require so much federal aid that they clock in at being 30% worse than CA in that area as well. Still, they are far from the worst in this area.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Well yea because Republicans are nothing but tax evading, self righteous racists. Their soul has been sucked out by their own courting of psychopathic hypermasculine morons who couldn’t lead their way out of a telephone booth.

Conservatives are using cartels to push migrants to the border. GUARANTEED.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

This is just more dumb political posturing in an election year. This happens so frequently it is nearly meaningless

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

This is so much more dangerous and destructive than you suggest.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Except the brinksmanship intensifies every year. For the longest time, during the regular years, Republicans never really considered shutting down the government, resulting in America defaulting on its loans. The House Freedom Caucus is trying to do exactly that and getting mad that they can't.

And Republicans mostly privately talked about getting rid of Medicare and Social Security. Paul Ryan would be like, "What?! No, I never said we'd get rid of it! We just to restructure it!" or some bullshit.

And Republicans certainly never assaulted the administrative state the way they're doing now. Project 2025 is an existential threat to the American we've come to know. It's not an understatement to say that it will set us back almost every a century.

Idk, I see this all as a ploy in a grand scheme to fuck shit up.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

And Republicans are the only one of the two major parties who has proven themselves able to both have a long term plan and commitment to see it through. This is a joke until it isn't.

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