[i]Without being too flippant, wasn’t this decided in 1861-65, where the answer was that the side with the largest army got to make the succession rules?[/i]
Does anyone actually think the United States would send its military to attack the government of the Republic of Texas? Does anyone actually think the military would obey such an order?
The cultural unity that makes secession unlikely is the very thing that would prevent a civil war in the case of secession. No citizen of the United States is going to tolerate the bombing of Houston over abstract principles of constitutional law, and there is no galvanizing moral issue here at play like slavery.
The question then comes down to who is willing to shoot first. Let's say Texas does issue articles of secession. Will Obama pull the US military out of the new Republic of Texas? How about the EPA, OSHA, NASA or a thousand other federal agencies? Essentially Obama would ignore secession until United States facilities started being forcibly taken over by Republic of Texas forces. Pretty soon you would have a Fort Sumter situation where the Texans would have to shoot to remove US forces. Then after dozens of US troops have been killed by the Republic of Texas, would the rest of the military call for retreat or attack against the rebels?
“there is no galvanizing moral issue here at play like slavery.”
We minorities is gonna be in trouble because da secedeers gonna make us go back to du fields unless Obama come and saves us... Hail Obama, save us from da race mastas!
I can just see da great Moralizers from the MSM a’wheepin’ and a’whailin’ now. And da great “voloonteer” peeps army(most of whom stll a’smartin’ over no jobs, no ebt and welfare) will form to bring dem seceding racists to heel! And in the da midst of deer train’in a little red book be giv’n dem! “And they will call it Mao Pheonix: Long March 2!
My prediction: 50 million dead total for both sides just for a start...one for every “legitimate”(sarcasm on) abortion. If nukes are used... living survivors may “envy the dead”!