On Glenn Beck's radio show last week, I quipped, in response to our wayward federal government, "I may run for president of Texas."
That need may be a reality sooner than we think. If not I, someone someday may again be running for president of the Lone Star State, if the state of the union continues to turn into the enemy of the state.
From the East Coast to the "Left Coast," America seems to be moving farther and farther from its Founders' vision and government.
George Washington advised, "The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible." Yet the Obama administration just pledged $900 million in U.S. taxpayer-funded aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza and Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority.
Thomas Jefferson counseled us, "We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt." Yet the feds have skyrocketed our national debt by trillions of dollars, and they plan much more fiscal expansion, with few expectations of resistance. George Washington admonished, "To contract new debts is not the way to pay for old ones." But we keep borrowing and bailing out, and we watch the stock market plunge further every time we do.
Patrick Henry taught, "(Our Constitution) is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." Yet our Congress and president stampede that founding document, overlook its explicitness and manipulate its words to abandon a balance of power and accommodate their own desires, partisan politics and runaway spending.
John Adams declared, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." Yet we've bastardized the First Amendment, reinterpreted America's religious history and secularized our society, and now we ooze skepticism and circumvent religion on every level of public and private life.
How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen, or will history need to record a second American Revolution? We the people have the authority, according to America's Declaration of Independence, which states:
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."
It was this type of thinking that led me to utter the tongue-in-cheek comment on Glenn Beck's radio show that I may run for president of Texas.
I'm not saying that other states won't muster the gumption to stand and secede, but Texas has the history to prove it. As most know, Texas was its own country before it joined the union as the 28th state. From 1836 to 1846, Texas was its own republic. Washington-on-the-Brazos served as our Philadelphia. Washington-on-the-Brazos is where, on March 2, 1836, a band of patriots forged the Texas Declaration of Independence.
On March 1, 1845, then-President John Tyler signed a congressional bill annexing the Republic of Texas. Though the annexation resolution never explicitly granted Texas the right to secede from the union (as is reported often), many (including me) hold that it is implied by its unique autonomy and history, as well as the unusual provision in the resolution that gave Texas the right to divide into as many as five states. Both the original (1836) and the current (1876) Texas constitutions also declare: "All political power is inherent in the people. … They have at all times the inalienable right to alter their government in such manner as they might think proper."
Anyone who has been around Texas for any length of time knows exactly what we'd do if the going got rough in America. Let there be no doubt about that. As Sam Houston once said, "Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may."
For those losing hope and others wanting to rekindle the patriotic fires of early America, I encourage you to join Fox News' Glenn Beck, me and millions of people across the country in the live telecast "We Surround Them," which will be on Fox News Channel Friday, March 13, at 5 p.m. EDT. Thousands of cell groups will be united in solidarity over their concerns for our country. You can host or attend a viewing party by going to Glenn's Web site. My wife, Gena, and I will be hosting one from our Texas ranch. We've invited many family members, friends and law enforcement officials to join us. It's our way of saying, "We're united; we're tired of the corruption; and we're not going to take it anymore!"
Again, Sam Houston could have been speaking to all of us present-day Americans when he gave these marching orders: "We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the contest and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for present aid; none is at hand. We must now act or abandon all hope! Rally to the standard, and be no longer the scoff of mercenary tongues! Be men, be free men, that your children may bless their father's name."
(NOTE: Speaking of showdowns, Chuck is inviting anyone near the Houston area this weekend to see a good example of the raw Texas fighting spirit. Join him and others for the national martial arts event "Showdown in H-Town.")