Thursday, May 24, 2018

Does a Brexit Equal a Texit?


Texit.  Secede.  You knew it was coming.  After Britain decided to leave the European Union, in my estimation, it may have girded the already enthusiastic secession movement that is alive and well in Texas.

It's also known as the Texas Nationalist Movement, headed by Daniel Miller, (at least he's the one quoted in the articles I've read).  From the articles I've read, most of them from left leaning news sites, they are all poking fun at the 'idiocy' coming from the desire of Texans to leave the United States.  Words like 'treasonous' and 'idiotic'  have been thrown around by the authors of these articles. The conversation is going to have to be had before long.

Since my involvement in the beginning of the tea party movement, I have heard those desiring to restore the 10th amendment and give power back to the states.  Matter of fact, I've even seen and heard my own Congressman, John Culberson claim to want to restore states' rights.  So how's that legislation working out for ya, John?  Not too well, since I haven't personally seen it gain any traction.  Personally, I think it's all talk. 

Thing is, I have heard rallying cries and shouts made by my own compadres about secession, but I have seen no plan put in place to do it.  What would that look like, exactly?  I am no expert on secession, so I turned to my friend Google to find out more about it.

From a Forbes article written in 2012, that discusses the success or failure of the state of Texas after declaring independence, there were a few interesting points made in favor of secession.

"After all, it has in spades everything that made America’s economy so great–lots of land, natural resources, deep human capital (Texas universities are world-class), the rule of law, the “protestant work ethic”/”frontier mentality” (or whatever you want to call it), etc. plus something else that America used to have, which is a political and social consensus which is hostile to regulation.
Thanks to this Texas, already a very healthy economy in its own right, could essentially arbitrage America’s most egregious regulations to suck economic value away from America."
A few examples, and I'll just list them here in bullet point style.  You can click the link here if you want to read them in their entirety.

-Obviously, the biggest room for arbitrage is immigration..."You could also argue that Federal policy has been holding Texas back, and that in an independent Texas a coalition of Latinos and business interests would create a pro-immigration equilibrium."

-With a devalued currency and very little labor regulations, Texas would become a manufacturing haven

-In turn, Texas could become a technology haven.

-Same thing with healthcare..." It’s interesting to wonder whether Texas healthcare policy would be a “free-for-all” or a kind of Friedmanite voucher/HSA utopia, but in either case it’s easy to see how starting a biotech or medical devices company could be made easier in Texas.  

So, IS a Texit feasible?  The author of the Forbes article made the argument FOR an independent Texas merely for fun, for speculation.  Could it work?  That remains to be seen.




No comments:

Post a Comment