Rhodes Cook on FOR GOP’S SAKE, TEXAS BETTER NOT SECEDE
Of all the jaw-dropping comments made by politicians this year, the one that takes top prize was not uttered in the nation’s capital but deep in the heart of Texas. There, in conjunction with a tax day “tea party,” Republican Gov. Rick Perry floated the idea of his huge state along the Mexican border seceding from the Union.
As explanation, Perry declared that “we’ve got a great Union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that?”
Wacky and silly has been a common reaction to the idea of Texas’ secession. Yet to those who take the idea at all seriously, responses range from potentially treasonous to “close the door behind you on the way out.” As a political matter, it would be about the worst thing that could possibly happen to Perry’s Republican Party at a time that it holds neither end of Pennsylvania Avenue and is a receding force in many states.