[Text/Observer Network Qi Qian] In order to promote "Texit" (Texit), the American Republican Party can be said to be "unyielding". After several legislators repeatedly failed to propose proposals, the Texas Republican Party adopted a new party platform at the recent state convention. One of the resolutions called on the state Legislature to allow a referendum in 2023 to decide whether the state should secede from the United States. an independent country.
According to CNN and local media reports, at the Texas Congress held last weekend (June 18-19), the Republican Party passed a 40-page document new party platform.
On page 6 of the document titled "State Sovereignty," the Republican Party offers this about the "Vote to Leave the United States":
"Under Article 1, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution, the federal government has compromised our local autonomy. rights. Therefore, federal enabling legislation that violates Texas rights related to the 10th Amendment should be ignored, opposed, rejected, and repealed. Texas retains the right to secede from the United States and should call on the state Legislature to pass a referendum consistent with this."
Separately, in the document titled "Texas Independence" on page 32, Republicans urge the state Legislature to pass a bill in the next (2023) session "to hold a referendum for the people of Texas to determine whether Texas will become independent." should reaffirm its status as an independent country."
The latest party platform content adopted by the Texas Republican Party
Texas became an independent country in 1836 and did not join the federal government until 1845. In February 1861, Texas declared independence from the United States. After the Civil War and Reconstruction in the 1860s, Texas rejoined the federal government in 1870.
Because of differences in areas such as gun rights, same-sex marriage, and political ideas, Texas Republicans have not given up pushing for "Texas to secede from the United States" for decades. In December 2020, a congressman proposed a "referendum" bill in the state House of Representatives. Two months later, another congressman proposed a "disunity" bill... These attempts all ended in failure.
US media ABC once pointed out that although there are relevant provisions for "independence from the United States" in the Texas Constitution, "secession" is not realistic from a practical and legal perspective. History and legal precedent make it clear that Texas cannot secede from the federal government, at least not legally.
Eric McDaniel, associate professor of at the University of Texas at Austin, said in 2016: "There are problems with the legitimacy of secession. The Civil War played a very important role in establishing the federal government and its power, consolidating the sovereignty of the federal government. The final decision-making power."
US media also pointed out that there has been almost no polling data on the independence issue in Texas in recent years, so it is impossible to judge the current mainstream public opinion in Texas. According to a 2014 nationwide poll by Reuters , about 24% of Americans supported their state's secession from the United States at that time. In the states of the former Confederacy, especially in the southwest, there were relatively more supporters of "Leave the United States," but they only reached about 34% at the time.
Screenshots of US media reports
In fact, promoting a "referendum to leave the United States" is only part of the Republican Party's latest party platform. In addition, it also includes "refuse to recognize Biden as the winner of the 2020 election" and "homosexuality is an abnormal life." "Method Choice", opposing the gun restriction bill previously proposed by the Democratic Party, etc.
James Wesolek, a spokesman for the Texas Republican Party, told CNN that the state's latest party platform has not yet been finalized and final votes are currently being held on every item in the platform.
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