The United State of Texas?

So, the Texas Governor supports breaking away from the Union. I say, "let'em." Obviously, all federal funding will cease to the newly formed nation -- Texania(?), but we should maintain liberal trade policies and open borders with the new nation. As we learned in International Law this summer -- from the esteemed Prof. John Hopkins of Downing College at Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K. -- when one group of people want to break away from another group, it's best to let them do that (e.g. India from England, U.S. from England, East Timor from Indonesia). Heck, the only time that pops off the top of my head that this didn't happen was the U.S. Civil War and I'm pretty sure that set our country back decades in progress and we're still dealing with the adverse effects today (See: the perverse outcomes of Affirmative Action, the insane expansion of the reach of the Federal Gov't, et al).

My suspicion is that this is all political grand-standing, however. Conservative state officials are merely saber-rattling to bring attention to the fact that they don't like the current Federal Gov't in place. It's like a stay-at-home mom telling her absent husband that she could leave, she could find someone who will pay attention to her. But that's just a threat, because she's scared to death of the prospect of having to undergo the social costs involved in finding another mate. Otherwise, she would have left him for another mate. But she knows she's not 22 anymore, so she stays with him, cuz it's still her best option. She just threatens him in hopes that he'll change, that's the best outcome for her.

The alternative argument to my thesis is this: Texans suck. They think they're so much better than everybody else. They're like people from NYC and SoCal (and not the ones that move there, the ones that are born there) except with southern accents and pick-up trucks instead of Chanel sunglasses and fake tans. Maybe they'll go through with it, and maybe they'll learn they're not so tough after all. Maybe secession will be a nice little slice of sorely needed humble pie.