The hashtag #Texit was trending on Twitter the morning after the Brits voted to leave the European Union but secession and the Texas Nationalist Movement is nothing new. The president of one group says the only thing standing in the way is the Texas elected political class. He added, “They believe that the decision solely rests in their hands.”
Texans may not have the opportunity to vote on leaving the union any time in the near future, but the thought appears to many to be even more captivating now. As reported by Breitbart Texas, the morning after the Brexit vote, #Texit was trending on Twitter.
“Much like the Trump insurgency that has tapped into a populism that the establishment has been ignoring, the TNM insurgency is tapping into a nationalism that party leaders have been ignoring until recently. And much like the national Republican response to Trump, the reaction of the political class in Texas has been one of disdain and disbelief,” says Daniel Miller, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM).
Breitbart Texas spoke with Miller on Friday. He said, “The message of the TNM that ‘the best people to make decisions for Texas are Texans’ seems to be resonating with voters that increasingly see the federal government as the problem. And that sentiment is what has transformed a historical and political curiosity into an insurgency and from an insurgency into a full-blown political revolution.”
When discussing the difference between secession and the nationalist movement in Texas, Miller calls secession “a process.” He compares the Nationalist Movement as a goal that is not process-oriented.
Miller told Breitbart Texas, “We want Texas to be a self-governing, independent Republic.”
He adds that the Republican Party is in the midst of a full-blown uprising against the political class. On the national-level it’s the “Trump insurgency.” In Texas, it’s a revolution over something entirely different – a vote on Texas leaving the union.
The Texas Nationalist Movement is one of the largest secession organizations in the world, Miller says. He has been steadily working for a vote on leaving the union. “Our point of attack over the past year has been surprising and effective – the operational apparatus of the Republican Party of Texas,” Miller said.
Miller says that whether it has been on purpose or by accident, the electoral system firmly establishes the political parties as a wholly ingrained part of the political process in the state. “If you want to achieve political and economic goals, you ignore the role of political parties at your own peril.”
He says that polls taken since 2009 have shown that a majority of Republicans believe that Texas would be better off leaving the union. He adds that the numbers have grown with each poll taken. He sites in particular to Research 2000 and Reuters/IPSOS polls.
Miller thinks the Republican response began to soften a bit after TNM launced a 23-city tour last summer. The organization has been gathering signatures across the state in order to get a non-binding resolution on the issue to the voters.
TNM has over 200,000 supporters on their rolls and are rapidly adding new ones. Miller says the TNM currently has more Facebook fans than the Republican Party of Texas, the Texas Democratic Party and the Libertarian Party of Texas combined.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, a resolution for secession passed a platform committee at the Texas GOP Convention in mid-May, and it was expected to go to a vote before all of the Lone Star State delegates. Officials from the Republican Party of Texas deterred their efforts however, and prevented it from going to a vote.
Before the secession measure was successfully squashed by Republican officials, Miller told Breitbart Texas that supporters of Texas Independence “scored a major victory.” 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.”
Now the leader of the Texas Nationalist Movement says, “The majority of Republicans who want independence are being suppressed by the Republican gatekeepers. It’s time to storm the gates.”
The native Texan says, “The challenge now for the Republican Party of Texas is whether or not to embrace the pro-Texas enthusiasm that already exists in the party. Until they decide this question, the TNM revolution will gain strength until the RPT no longer has a choice.”
Daniel Miller is a sixth generation Texan and author of the book “Line in the Sand,” now in its tenth printing. The TNM president has been personally involved in Texas independence advocacy since 1996. You can follow him on Twitter @TheTexianDM.
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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