The Supreme Court Has Itself to Blame for Texas Defying Its Orders

silence7@slrpnk.net to politics @lemmy.world – 414 points –
Gift Article: The Supreme Court Has Itself to Blame for Texas Defying Its Orders
theatlantic.com
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Also, this Texas Monthly article from late 2022 is an excellent read on the subject. It can never happen, because a post-Civil War law from 1869 makes a state's unilateral secession from the union illegal. There can be no secession, nor even a referendum. No wonder these drama kings are so confident.

Which is pretty whack. I don't in any way endorse what the Texas government is doing with the border, just to get that out of the way. The idea that a state isn't free to seceed is completely ridiculous. One can not rightfully claim the U.S. is a free country if the states are not free to leave the union. This idea that once you're a part of the union, you're apart of the union forever is a gang mentality that has no place in a free society.

A unilateral secession is illegal. If the others state agree to let you go, you can. Exactly the same as joining: the current states have to vote on whether to let you in. It makes a lot of sense. States joining or leaving on a whim creates major instability for the nation government. Having a fairly high bar for it is a good idea.

Right, so you can only leave if we say you can leave mentality, which is a kind of gang mentality. To say that a state that feels it's membership in the union no longer aligns with its values (whether you agree with their reasoning or not) cannot choose on its own to leave in no way aligns with the values of freedom and autonomy.
If you want to advocate for such a system, fine, but it would be dishonest to then turn around and say that this system is one that values freedom.

At it's most basic, freedom is the ability to say no and to disassociate with those you no longer wish to associate with.

You're applying personal freedom to a state of millions of people, which is nowhere near the same thing. People can do whatever the heck they want. States can't, because they're infrastructure for millions of people's lives. Infrastructure does not get stalk angrily out of the room in a huff.