Local GOP affiliate in Texas officially backs secession from the United States

The Denton Record-Chronicle in Denton, Texas, reported this week that the Denton County Republican Party has officially passed a resolution proposing a referendum on whether the state should secede from the United States and establish itself as an independent republic.

On April 15, the party’s executive committee voted in favor of a resolution backing House Bill 1359, introduced in the Texas House in January by Republican Rep. Kyle Biedermann. The bill, which calls for a referendum to be held during the general election on Nov. 2, 2021, has not advanced past a referral to the State Affairs Committee on March 5.

The Denton County resolution falsely asserts that “the U.S. Constitution is a contract between free and independent States, to which each State is bound only by its own voluntary act” and says that “the U.S. government no longer represents the purposes for which the States formed the Union.”

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a person letter to a screenwriter in 2010 on the subject of secession, “I cannot imagine that such a question could ever reach the Supreme Court. … the answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, “one Nation, indivisible.”) .

But the resolution calls passage of the House bill “a priority for the Denton County Republican Party” and resolves that “the Denton County Republican Party is sending a strong message to our Texas legislators concerning the importance of HB1359, and letting the people’s voices be heard on the issue of Texas Independence.”

Republicans in Texas, which seceded from the United States in 1861 and was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War, have been entertaining the idea of a new secession for months.

In February, the Republican Party in Orange County hosted an appearance by Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, a group that defines its mission as securing the “independence of the nation of Texas.” Miller describes himself as “an outspoken advocate for Texas independence since 1996.”

The group has referred to the movement for secession as “Texit,” a play on the term “Brexit” used for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

The Austin American-Statesman reported in January that Biedermann appeared at a Texas Nationalist Movement town hall and said, “The republic as we know it is dead. We all hoped that Trump would pull a rabbit out of his hat. We know the election was stolen.”

The secession movement also received a boost from right-wing radio and TV personality and conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck, who said in an interview with Biedermann posted to the group’s website, “If this were just a vote, I would vote for it.”

The state party has urged a vote on Biedermann’s bill, and Allen West, the party chairman, has recently voiced support for similar sentiments.

After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Texas lawsuit to overturn President Joe Biden’s win, West said, “Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.