The American Spectator

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If At First You Don't Secede

11.15.04 @ 12:01AM

GOD BLESS TEXAS
Re: Lawrence Henry's Secession, Eh?:

Mr. Henry's article hit the nail right on the head. I would add one very important fact to his article. Where would the blues get their energy to run their private jets and limos? I hear it also gets very cold in the New England states.
-- Blake Kersh
New Mexico

While some of the points made by Lawrence Henry are valid -- especially regarding the breakdown of each county's voting record -- the one point he failed to hit upon is the massive subsidization of Red States by Blue States. Let's consider the fact that for every dollar the Midwest and northeast pay in taxes those regions average a $0.90 return for a net loss of $0.10 whereas the South and West pull in an average of $1.08 for a net gain of $0.08 for ever dollar they pay in federal taxes. Where would the Red States and rural voters be without such things as massive farm aid, subsidization of irrigation, and even subsidization of their phone services?

Honestly, I think Ferraro might be right that the Blue States would be better off on their own. And to answer where would they get their food -- they'd still get it from the red states, but it would be a whole lot cheaper without all that pork.
-- Devin Foley

I would love to see them just try to run one state with their Leftist principles gone wild. After financially raping the rich to pay for the walls to keep the rest from leaving, I hope that eventually some would learn that the government can not really buy anything any cheaper than individuals can buy it. The state of Tennessee continues to stagger under the load of a state operated health care system and even the Democrat governor has hinted that attempts at reform have failed. Walls might have helped us keep people who could not get insurance from out of state from swamping the system, but even walls would not prevent the final collapse under the weight of Leftist delusions.
-- Danny L. Newton
Cookeville, Tennessee

As a Central New Yorker, I've long prayed for NY City to secede. The blue states would run out of tax revenue in record time, given their socialist tendencies.

Furthermore, I chuckle, imagining what a blue army would look like, going up against the red states. General Barney Frank, anyone?
-- Bob Mitchell
Morrisville, New York

Thanks for pointing out to your readers that Geraldine Ferraro is an arrogant fool.

A few fine points:
1.) the issue of whether secession is legal has never been settled.

2.) Texas clearly has the legal right to secede (see a recent WSJ article on the topic), and

3.) Geraldine Ferraro is a wonderful example of how the Northeastern Liberals are amazingly ignorant of the rest of the country.

Just consider the state of Texas: 1.) several of the best high schools in the nation, 2.) The University of Texas at Austin (world class), 3.) Rice University (world class), 4.) NASA, 5.) Oil 6.) numerous military bases, and 7.) corporate headquarters for over 70 of the Fortune 500 in the Plano area alone. This list does not include the massive number of top quality sports teams all over the state of Texas.

Texas does not have the movie industry nor much of the Mainstream Media. Some of us, however, consider that a plus.

Then there's Florida: NASA, several major universities, great beaches, and great entertainment. How about North Carolina? I guess Duke, UNC, and the "research triangle" don't matter to Ms. Ferraro nor the world class golf. How about sparsely populated Arizona? Two Pac-10 universities, great astronomy, several major military bases, great golf courses, and the beauty of the Grand Canyon. New Mexico? Great skiing and Los Alamos.

Like most Liberals, they think NYC and its media and financial centers constitute the center of the universe. Arrogant fools.
-- Robin Brenner, Ph.D.
Dallas, Texas

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