The Dallas Express had the opportunity to speak with individuals from vastly different parts of the country who support the notion of self-determination — even if it means secession from the United States.
Talk of TEXIT has ramped up in recent months, with the unlawful migration crisis at the southern border and consequent standoff between Texas and federal authorities over whether the state can defend its own border spotlighting the question.
Additionally, the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) tried to put the question of whether Texas should reassert its independence from the United States on the Republican primary ballot, as DX has reported.
Now, an official from New Hampshire is seeking to lend his support to the premise. This person is New Hampshire State House Rep. Jason Gerhard, who in January addressed the president of TNM, proclaiming:
“In New Hampshire, our cherished motto is to ‘LIVE FREE OR DIE.’ This phrase is a reflection of principles. Granite Staters, like Texans, have an inherent desire to remain free and preserve the personal liberties that God guaranteed to all his children. Freedom is not an abstract notion, it is a way of life, and the federal government continues to overlook the freedoms of both Texas and New Hampshire.
“… We believe that the shared principles, desires, and plights of Texans and Granite Staters highlight the importance of maintaining a relationship with one another. As New Hampshire makes its efforts to secure independence, it promises to strengthen the voices of both regions. Together, both states can uphold the principle of freedom and autonomy.”
Gerhard touted two bills he filed in the New Hampshire legislature. One was a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution that would allow voters to vote for independence, and the other was a bill to establish a committee to study the issues surrounding a hypothetical bid for independence. Both bills were rejected by the lower chamber earlier in February. However, a University of New Hampshire poll found that 1 in 5 residents of the state would consider secession, as reported by Newsweek.
DX spoke with Gerhard about his interest in the Texas independence movement and its connection to New Hampshire. Gerhard explained that his interest in New Hampshire’s independence was due to the size of the national debt, and his bill included a trigger for secession if the national debt ever reached $40 trillion. The U.S. Treasury puts the current figure at $34.2 trillion.
“It’s important to realize there is no way to pay off this national debt. It’s a complete scam,” said Gerhard. “The idea that a child that’s born today is over a hundred thousand dollars in debt for things that they never consented to nor agree with — the whole idea when you really step back, I think, is so absurd that it’s worth putting it right in people’s faces so they kind of finally deal with it.”
New Hampshire was the first colony to declare independence from the British Empire and adopt its own state constitution.
“In general, the people of New Hampshire don’t really share a lot of the common dogma of what’s going on. For instance, we have no state income tax. There’s no sales tax. There’s no liquor tax. There’s no seatbelt law. You don’t need car insurance. … We’re the freest state,” Gerhard said. “We don’t have effective representation in D.C. The special interests have taken over.”
Daniel Miller, the president of TNM, spoke with DX about what his organization envisions in its pursuit of self-government.
Miller was careful to describe any hypothetical secession of Texas from the United States as gradual, what he termed “a conscious process” and not a “unilateral declaration of independence.”
“Since World War II, you could say that the last 70 to 80 years can be characterized as the era of self-determination, where you jumped from a little over 50 fully recognized, fully sovereign countries around the world to pretty close to 200 at this point. So there has been this embrace of the right of self-government, the right of self-determination,” he said.
DX asked Miller about Russian politician Dmitry Medvedev’s comments regarding the mishandling of the border crisis by the federal government and how it is allegedly prompting more Texans to consider independence. Miller said TNM’s goals were very different from “outside attempts” by state actors to shoehorn themselves in the conversation “for some geopolitical aims.”
Regarding Gerhard’s letter of support, Miller noted that each movement supports the other’s right to self-determination without expressing an opinion on the outcome.
“At conferences, you see these statements of support, say, from Texas to the CalExit folks … or from New Hampshire to Texas, or any number of these, because we are not endorsing the outcome of independence. We’re only supporting the people’s right to make the decision about whether or not they want to be independent,” he said.
Miller told DX that “the border crisis has really highlighted the fundamentally broken relationship” between Texas and the United States. The crisis has “increased attention to the work that we’ve done to give Texans a vote on independence,” he said.
“Because at the end of the day, the only way that Texas will ever be able to secure its border and have a sensible immigration policy is to do so as a self-governing independent nation and do like 200 other countries around the world do,” he claimed.