Tejas Libre!

Jesse Walker | February 13, 2005

Just when you thought Texas had conquered the world, some ornery Longhorns are saying they'd rather secede. The New York Times is half-tickled, half-alarmed to discover that the Republic of Texas -- you may recall them from the militia days -- is still active. (Dale Gribble, on the other hand, has gone Freeper on us.)

For a report more sympathetic than the Times piece, read Debbie Nathan's 1997 dispatch for the lefty Texas Observer.

Comments

|2.14.05 @ 2:17PM|#

I motion that we hereby move the "Free State Project" to Texas. The weather is better there than in NH, I bet. (I've been to Texas before, not NH).

Plus, there's the Alamo.
Always remember the Alamo.

|2.14.05 @ 3:57PM|#

Good riddance, and I hope they take the rest of the Confederacy with them when they go....

|2.14.05 @ 4:01PM|#

COME ON TED, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A NORTHEASTERN ELITIST PIG.

|2.14.05 @ 4:51PM|#

Ted, having lived in New England, the Old South, and the Midwest, I can tell you that by far the least government-ridden place I've ever lived is Texas. Lower taxes, fewer regulations, and the phrase "none of your business" actually has some meaning here.

|2.14.05 @ 5:05PM|#

Plus it's legal to drive 70mph on the freeway there. Yee haw!

|2.14.05 @ 5:48PM|#

I can't read the NYT article now because of the registration requirement, and my employer's firewall has www.bugmenot.com (where a remedy would be available) blocked. I don't have time to read the entire Texas Observer article yet either.

But I do recall that Richard O. Hammer of the Libertarian Nation Foundation was originally intrigued by the Republic of Texas folks; later -- if I recall correctly, and I'm not sure I do -- he became disenchanted with the group and perhaps a bit embarrassed by them, or at least a bit wary. In the LNF publication archives at http://libertariannation.org/a/index.html , Hammer's two articles about the Republic of Texas are one of the few LNF articles not available online, perhaps due to a desire for Hammer to distance himself.

http://libertariannation.org/a/index.html (scroll down for individual articles, many of which are interesting reading, by the way)

Andrew|2.14.05 @ 6:32PM|#

You can legally drive 75 m.p.h. on some isolated stretches of I-10 in West Texas.

The Free State project would get lost in the shuffle if it came to Texas, and no one would pay attention unless they shot somebody. (Not at somebody - they would have to hit a target.) There is too much other stuff going on. Nobody even pays attention to crazy religious sects with insular compounds. Even the Alamo sneaks up on you the first time you see it. You are driving through downtown San Antonio, and suddenly, between all the buildings, there is the Alamo.

The Lonewacko Blog|2.14.05 @ 8:07PM|#

There is or was a sign near Flagstaff telling you to slow because of a curve... to 75MPH.

I visited Fort Davis during the Blogging Across America tour, even hiking to the highest point in Jeff Davis County, and I had no idea something interesting had happened there.

I note also that you can't beat the open borders policy of the new Republic of Texas. Perhaps they could form a joint venture with the Libertarian Party or something.