Perhaps it's time to allow Texas to secede?

We awoke late last week to Texas governor Rick Perry's words coming through the radio. It was one of those mornings where I was waking slowly, so the first bit of his segment was incorporated into my dream. Here is what I thought I heard him say:

If you want to live in a state that has high taxes, high regulations — that is favorable to smoking marijuana and gay marriage — then move to California . . . [In Texas,] we still believe in freedom,freedom from over-taxation, over-regulation, over-litigation.

This is what he actually said:

If you want to live in a state that has high taxes, high regulations — that is favorable to smoking marijuana and gay marriage — then move to California . . . [In Texas,] we still believe in freedom,freedom from over-taxation, over-regulation, over-litigation.

Yes, they are the same; I thought I was having a crazy dream, but I was actually hearing accurately Governor Perry's crazy talk. Here is the English translation of what he said:

Freedom is great, except for gay people and those consenting adults who want to make their own choices about the plant substances they ingest. Freedom is also great when at least 50.1% of the voters approve of measures that I myself approve of, but if this majority of voters approve of measures that I don't like, then I should have the freedom to negate what they've chosen.

The Texas School Board has been incrementally undermining a more inclusive and accurate representation of U.S. and world history in K-12 textbooks, showing that they do not value intellectual freedom and informed debate. Governor Perry has the same point of view. The Texas School Board's decisions undermine the accuracy of history textbooks throughout the country; Gov. Perry's point of view undermines our federal system of government.

Perhaps it's time to let Texas go its own way?

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