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Five Lone Stars. Mess with Texas? Sure. Divide it into five states.
OpinionJournal.com ^ | August 22, 2004 | Austin Powers

Posted on 08/22/2004 9:19:07 PM PDT by John Jorsett

What would you say if we told you we have a way to add as many as eight new Republican senators to Congress? We could also add eight right-leaning votes to the Electoral College. It's simple, it's fun, and it's perfectly constitutional: Texas should divide itself into five states.

Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution says that new states may be created out of existing ones, but only with the consent of "the States concerned as well as of the Congress."

These days, a partisan Congress would never agree to a Texas carve-up, since any resulting new states would surely be politically conservative. But Congress need not take any action at all today: It granted its consent to Texas's potential subdivision 159 years ago. This made sense, as those had been the terms that Texas, a sovereign nation at the time, had negotiated for entering the Union. One provision of the 1845 Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas, passed by Congress and signed into law by President John Tyler, reads as follows:

"New States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution."

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: congress; constitution; largelandmass; moresenators; representation; republicoftexas; senate; texas
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To: TN4Liberty

The provision for up to 5 states was a condition of adding Texas to the United States. This was because they thought that such a land mass may not be accurately represented.


61 posted on 08/23/2004 12:24:02 AM PDT by weegee (YOU could have been aborted, and you wouldn't have had a CHOICE about it.)
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To: Redcloak; John Jorsett
Give the Texans 10 Senators instead of only 2? I'm OK with that.

But it would add 4 DemocRATS and 4 Republicans to the senate. It would not change the partizan margin, but it would increase the number of sentate votes required to achieve a cloture vote.

62 posted on 08/23/2004 4:41:49 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
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To: weegee
6 flags flew over Texas. Why should Mexico get it?

There was a war. The Republic of Texas won independence.

I'm not the one who suggested that it go back to it's original state.

63 posted on 08/23/2004 5:01:43 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: qam1

I had to laugh at the little square you put in Tompkins County...Ithaca, Ny (LOL)>


64 posted on 08/23/2004 5:08:36 AM PDT by mdmathis6 (The Democrats must be defeated in 2004)
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To: BluSky
lol. I debated that and even looked up the word in the dictionary.

1. of,or for the people. Ok.

2. believng/practicing social equality. All created equal or take from me to give to you equality?

3.charateristic of the democratic party. I'm serious. That's what it says

This is what is already happening and why we would even debate dividing this great state. Many of our leaders have chosen to ignore that we are a republic and decided to embrace democracy. So, STX would go democatic if left to stand alone. El Paso and Brownsville would be the new Calif and NY IMO. Best if we stay one and united, I think.

65 posted on 08/23/2004 6:04:52 AM PDT by CindyDawg
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To: John Jorsett

For those who missed the previous thread on this: the "divide the state without a congressional vote" gambit ONLY works for Texas, because only Texas's admission resolution arguably permits subdivision without additional congressional approval. According to this argument (which, though not beyond all cavil, is probably right), Texas can turn itself into as many as five states anytime that it feels the urge. Any would-be "state-lets" from other states would have to be "admitted by Congress into this Union" under Article IV, section 3, clause 1 of the Constitution. (Why is Texas different? Because the admission resolution of 1845 already granted the necessary congressional approval to further division.)


66 posted on 08/23/2004 6:37:00 AM PDT by tenuredprof
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To: Joe Hadenuf
We'll just move the capitol back to Washington-on-the-Brazos and start all over.

Æ
67 posted on 08/23/2004 7:54:48 AM PDT by AgentEcho (If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers)
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To: Fiddlstix
Maybe instead of splitting it up we should take back all of the original.

I'm with you! :^D


68 posted on 08/23/2004 8:17:24 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
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To: MeekOneGOP
A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country.

He started by flying to San Francisco and worked east from there. Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and notes. He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued by a sign which read: "$10,000 a minute."

Seeking out the Pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The Pastor explained that the golden phone was, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if he paid the price he could talk directly to God. The man thanked the Pastor and continued on his way.

As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Greensboro, Tampa and all around the United States, he found more phones with the same sign and got the same answer from each Pastor.

Finally, he arrived in Texas. Upon entering a church in Dallas, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read: "Calls: 25 cents." Fascinated, he asked to talk to the Pastor.

"Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone. I have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but, in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 25 cents. Why?"

The Pastor, smiling benignly, replied, "Son, you're in Texas now... It's a local call."

69 posted on 08/23/2004 8:32:07 AM PDT by Fiddlstix (This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: John Jorsett
Nah, I'll pass on this idea. We don't need to weaken Texas.

We need to fix the problems of the United States by electing the RIGHT people for the job. We need to get the truth out to the American people, the kind of truth like the Swift Boat Vets have recently been spreading. We need to do everything we can to counter the lies and dishonest ramblings of media outlets like the New York Times and ABC. We need to UNIFY as Americans and go after evil - ALL kinds of evil, including Socialism, Communism, Islamic fascism, and this festering disease of indifference that has seemed to take over most of Europe.

Texas is fine the way it is, standing tall, proud, strong and free. Let's make the rest of the country that way too.

70 posted on 08/23/2004 9:16:35 AM PDT by SaveTheChief (Bach gave us God's Word, Mozart gave us God's laughter, Beethoven gave us God's fire.)
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To: LibertyThug

Over my cold dead body. ;-)


71 posted on 08/23/2004 9:35:25 AM PDT by Akira (Experience is a hard teacher, but fools will have no other.)
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To: John Jorsett; Restorer
Re "8 new GOP Senators" & "North Texax, South Texas, West Texas, East Texas, Central Texas"

Sorry, make that 6 Republican Senators and 2 Democrats from South Texas along the Rio Grande. That region went heavy for Gore in 2000 and will certainly go that way for eFing.

Darnit! That only makes it a net gain of 4...

72 posted on 08/23/2004 9:55:49 AM PDT by sonofatpatcher2 (Texas, Love & a .45-- What more could you want, campers? };^)
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To: weegee
Did you ever notice that when the BIG ONE comes, all those California Democrats will fall off into the sea. There is an up side to this...
73 posted on 08/23/2004 10:00:24 AM PDT by sonofatpatcher2 (Texas, Love & a .45-- What more could you want, campers? };^)
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To: Graybeard58
In the days of Ally Oop, it was a mastadon breeding ground.

"Original state" means nothing. "Mexico" is a nation that has not even 200 years of independence.

74 posted on 08/23/2004 10:37:50 AM PDT by weegee (YOU could have been aborted, and you wouldn't have had a CHOICE about it.)
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To: Fiddlstix; Happy2BMe; potlatch
ROFL ! That is a CLASSIC ! I love it ! :^D

75 posted on 08/23/2004 11:16:15 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
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To: Jet Jaguar
Divide that in half ... then Texas would be the third largest State.
76 posted on 08/23/2004 11:21:12 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: qam1

I wish they would break up New York too.


77 posted on 08/23/2004 11:24:24 AM PDT by stevio (Bumper sticker on my truck "Flush the Johns - Bush/Cheney '04")
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To: qam1

I'm not sure why you included Putnam and Dutchess Counties as part of the "Peoples Republic of New York." I don't think that a Democratic presidential candidate has ever won Dutchess County, including FDR, who lived in the County (Hyde Park). Putnam County is also heavily republican. On the other hand, neither Erie County nor Monroe County have a place in a "Free New York."


78 posted on 08/23/2004 11:38:35 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: weegee

One more time _ I didn't say it _ I was quoting someone.


79 posted on 08/23/2004 12:07:55 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: weegee
"I could see splitting California into 2 states as well."

We keep waiting for the San Andreas fault to do that for us!

80 posted on 08/23/2004 12:57:40 PM PDT by Redbob
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