An open letter to the rest of America on the Texas secession issue

Dear Fellow Americans,

By now you may have heard of a petition addressed to the White House “We the People” Web site that seeks a peaceful withdrawal of Texas from the United States of America. The site allows petitions that upon reaching the threshold of 25,000 names may be reviewed and given an official response. As of this afternoon almost 82,000 names have been posted.

As a Texan and one who supported President Obama and his re-election I wanted to say publicly and in the best manner a lifelong Texas boy can convey that this whole petition business is a total, 100 percent crock of bullshit.

Those who push the petition, as if it would ever receive any official presidential consideration, have missed the exit for Make-Believe World and are headed for a rapid trip to Delusional City. Why would people who are ticked off due to the election sign a petition to the President? It is his election to begin with that has wound up tightly these people who fancy themselves Texas nationalists. If many thousands of those who put their names on the petition were honest with the rest of us and themselves, their main reason for such a notion is the fact that the President is an African-American. To be exact, he is half black African and half white American, that equals ta-da! an African-American.

The petition “cites blatant abuses” of rights such as the “NDAA, the TSA, etc.” No specific abuses are cited for the condemnation of what I suppose is the National Defense Authorization Act or the Transportation Security Agency. Many of the worries are based on what is heard from the right-wing propaganda machine such as Fox News. Nevertheless, plenty of fanciful rhetoric is spouted on the Texas Nationalist Movement Web site which sees the United States government handing over the keys to the kingdom of Texas and saying “here you go!”

All of this is beyond ludicrous. We will not secede. Even our hare-brained Gov. Good Hair Perry doesn’t advocate such malarkey. He likely only brought it up as a means of snaring some of our nuttier voters for his god-awful presidential campaign. You see where such talk got him.

Face reality, those of you who think breaking off from the United States is a good idea. Any treasonous move to split our country would be met with sharp resistance. As it gradually sinks in that the election is over and Barack Obama won, I imagine such fanciful talking will be much more subdued. I hope so at least.

We Texans are a proud bunch. Yes, I know we can be obnoxious braggarts. But I suspect probably the majority of us also feel equally proud and protective of our country. Yesterday I saw that pride and that love of country reflected in those of us veterans who were graciously served a free meal for Veterans Day by Golden Corral. Vets from Vietnam and World War II as well as peacetime veterans sat by me at my table and not a one, not even the elderly gent from the second World War, failed to stand and salute during the National Anthem.

I also would be willing to bet that most Texans love their state and all of its beauty: From the mountains to the Pineywoods, to the Gulf; to the prairies and to the brush country. But we likewise love the surf of San Diego County, the majestic Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Gateway Arch of St. Louis, the brass of New Orleans, the multicolored splendor of New England falls and on and on.

I won’t apologize for being a Texan. I will not even apologize for the idiots who believe this great state should break away from this wonderful nation. But I stress that most of us are not like those who are so deluded they probably need some drugs. Come see us in Texas. We’ll have a good time. We’re all Americans here.

Yours truly,

Dick of EFD