Larry Kilgore, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, falls more readily into the stereotypical secessionist mold: a partisan conservative who despises the federal government and is willing to take his notions of states’ rights to the extreme.
"We don’t have control over education, we don’t have control over our pro-life issues, we don’t have control over our economic issues, yet the 10th Amendment says that the states should have that," Kilgore says, in a thick Amarillo drawl.
What would an independent Texas look like? Imagine an exciting future in which you need a passport to visit Arkansas, the Red River Rivalry becomes an international competition, senior citizens learn to live without Social Security and Medicare, and the Republic of Texas must create its own military.
Kilgore argues that the military challenge can be easily sorted out. "After the people of Texas have the opportunity to vote for independence, and our congressmen go up there and work with Washington, we will have to negotiate who gets what ships, who gets what aircraft, who gets what bases, who gets what personnel," he says. "For example, the United States is not going to want folks in their military who are diehard Texans. Texans aren’t going to want folks in their military who are diehard United States people."
He has a point. We all know those "United States people" have shifty eyes and can’t be trusted. But will San Antonians tune in to a show called Texan Idol?