The Lone Star State has taken one more step towards Texas Independence. A resolution has passed a platform committee at the Texas GOP Convention and is now expected to go to a vote before all of the delegates.
Texas pachyderms are in Dallas, Texas, at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. They will be there through Saturday, May 14 attending the state Republican Convention.
Two-thirds of the Texas GOP platform committee voted to place a call for a voter referendum on Texas Independence before the full-body of the delegates. There was robust debate on the issue, and a motion to strike the resolution that failed, but now the measure is headed to the permanent platform committee. It is expected to get out of that committee and to the delegates without any problem.
Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) President Dan Miller told Breitbart Texas that supporters of Texas Independence “scored a major victory” in getting the issue to the delegates at the convention. He said members of the movement who are delegates have been working to get the support. He said, “We are farther than we have ever been before.”
Although there are a few more steps in the process, the resolution is expected to get to the delegates for a vote.
Miller told Breitbart Texas, “The support that we have seen here has been amazing.” He added, “There is a level of excitement about this issue that has not been seen on any other issue that is here.” He explained, “The prospect about Texans going to the polls to vote on the issue of Texas Independence has people fired up.”
Miller said that those who previously were not connected with the movement have come on board because they believe that the best people to govern Texas are Texans.
The Executive Director of TNM, Nathan Smith, told Breitbart Texas that the support is “understandable considering 55 percent of the Republican Party of Texas platform is dedicated to the failures of and the excessive overreach of the federal government.”
The actual wording of the measure states:
Texas Independence Referendum Vote– Because the federal government has failed to abide by the 10th Amendment and the rest of the United States Constitution, and continues to fail to protect Texans from unlawful immigration, Texas should hold a non-binding referendum asking the people of Texas to decide on whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.
The first words of the Texas Constitution declares, “Texas is a free and independent state,” Miller notes. After that statement, Article 1 of the Bill of Rights of the Texas Constitution continues, “subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and the maintenance of our free institutions and the perpetuity of the Union depend upon the preservation of the right of local self-government, unimpaired to all the States.”
Miller pointed to the UK and said, “Right now that country is trying to determine if they should stay in the EU (European Union). UK independence is the ultimate goal, decisions begin and end there, and the best people to govern is itself.” As to this state he said, “Texans should have the final say on how they are governed, and how their tax money is spent, not some faceless bureaucracy.”
When asked about the difference between secession and Texas Independence, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement told Breitbart Texas, “Secession is a more negative concept, an issue of breaking away from, and more about how to extricate yourself.” “People are more excited about what we are running to, then what we are running from.” He explained that secession is more about “process” and called it “a moving target.”
The resolution will be submitted to the permanent platform committee on Thursday night but Miller says he is anticipating no issue in getting it to the floor of the convention. He feels “very confident” it will progress to a vote of the delegates.
Tanya Robertson, Texas Republican Executive Committee Chairwoman (SD11) told Breitbart Texas, “After hearing from Texans from all over the state who are passionate about our future generations during testimony for 2 1/2 days, the majority of the temporary platform committee voted to place Texas Independence in our platform.”
“It is important, especially in this political environment, that the voice of the people be heard,” Robertson added. “Our party is at a crossroads, a Republican form of government is bottom up, not the opposite. If we are going to grow and thrive, we must get back to that way of governing.”
The resolution is anticipated to be submitted to the delegate floor on Friday afternoon.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2
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