Pros And Cons Of Texas Secession

The idea of Texas secession is not a new one. The decision in the 1869 Supreme Court Case Texas v. White set a precedent that states could not secede from the union (Rothman), but recent events show that not everyone in Texas believes this to be the case. There was a petition to the White House for the secession of Texas in 2012 (Diaz) but, more recently, support has been growing in the Republican Party. This spring the Republican platform committee voted to put the topic of secession up for discussion during the Texas State Republican Convention in early May (Baddour). While the idea still has only a small amount of support, none of that support comes from the party’s leaders (Associated Press). It’s clear from comments made in the articles that no one thought the vote would pass. Many people are surprised the movement has as much support as it does. Yet according to the article from The Washington Post, the discussion at the GOP convention was, “two votes shy of going to a floor

While there are benefits to no longer having federal oversight, a number of issues need to be addressed in order for the Lone Star State to remain self-sustaining. I think secession would drastically reduce the quality and quantity of state-run programs offered, due to one third of Texas’ budget being subsidized by the federal government. Without the additional federal funding, I imagine many programs would be restructured or even shut down entirely. Medicaid, for example, is a program that I believe would not survive. The growing costs coupled with the loss of financial support would make it unsustainable. Secession would also introduce the need for more special districts and new government departments in order to deal with issues that are currently handled by the federal government. So far, from a financial and public service standpoint, it doesn’t really look like the wisest choice to