Texas secession talk is nothing new, but now that talk has become tangible action. State Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg) plans on filing the Texas Independence Referendum Act, legislation which would put secession up for a vote. In a Facebook post announcing the bill, Biedermann wrote that the federal government is out of control and does not represent the values of Texans.
The Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), which has championed the secession cause for 15 years, is fully on board with Biedermann's effort. "The Texas Independence Referendum Act will give Texans a vote on becoming an independent, self-governing nation," says Daniel Miller, TNM president.
Miller agrees with Biedermann's assessment that the federal government has moved further away from the values Texas was founded on. He notes that support for secession among Texans has grown from single digits when the TNM started years ago to at or above 50 percent now. "Texans are sick and tired of living under 180,000 pages of federal laws, rules and regulations, administered by 440 separate agencies and two and a half million unelected bureaucrats," says Miller. "Texas should be governed by Texans."
Secession legislation likely faces an uphill battle in Austin, then with voters, and possibly in the courts if it makes it that far. But just getting to this point is historic, according to Miller. "Regardless of where you stand on the issue of Texas independence---at a minimum, the people of Texas deserve to have a free, fair, and public debate on the issue, that culminates in a binding referendum," he says.