Resolved: Texas would best serve its interest by seceding from the Union

I will argue that Texas has the ability to secede from the nation. Due to Texas’s political and cultural differences from the rest of the US, and the US national government engaging in economically and socially unsustainable practices, it would be in Texas’s best interest to secede. 1. Unsustainable US debt and economy The US national government has a large national debt problem. Currently the US’s gdp-to-debt ratio is 73%[1]. The US national government keeps the debt growing. Despite previous negations attempts during the debt-ceiling negotiations and fiscal-cliff negations, Congress and the president still opted for long-term deficit spending. According to projects, the US economy is only going to grow deeper into debt[2][3]. However, the government of Texas has low-debt to GDP ratio by comparison. Their GDP-Debt ratio is only 19%[4]. This is sustainable. Furthermore, Texas is a net giver of tax revenue to the national government, while other states are tax takers. Texas as a state also does not rack up a trade deficit. It actually has a trade surplus of $100 billion. [5] 2. Texan culture is different from the US When determining public policy, there’s no “objective” way to determine whether a policy is right or wrong. This is because part of it has to do with values. For example, if the local government wants to build a local park, . There are quite a few ideas that Texans hold that the rest of US culture does not hold. For example, Texas has a stronger gun culture then northeastern states. It also has stronger employer rights, allows greater business freedoms, favors smaller government and different philosophy on its justice system and has different views on teachers and education. These policies are not necessarily objectively good or bad, just different. However, . The national government has grown more powerful while state governments have been becoming less relevant. Democrats are growing in power, due to changing demographic trends and the younger generation favoring liberal policies. Democrats are more likely to favor larger governments, stricter gun control, stronger business regulations, weaker boarder controls, stronger labor unions, and do not support school vouchers. A liberal judge, appointed under Obama would allow the national government to put these measures into place. It is unlikely that there will be a “conservative revolution” that will favor policies that Texans prefer. Therefore, to preserve their culture and politics, it would be in their best interest to secede. 3. Texas has the ability to secede Texas has many benefits that make it an ideal place for secession. First, it is not a landlocked State, which allows it trade with other countries through ports. It also has a neighboring country that is not the US, Mexico. Second, it has the ability to defend itself. It has 13 military bases[6]. It also has a strong economy able to sustain itself. It has a powerful agricultural, aeronautics, computer, energy and healthcare sector. It is the largest exporting state in the nation, exporting $192.2 billion worth of goods and services [5]. It has a low unemployment rate of only 6.1%compared to the national average of 7.9% [7] It’s the second largest economy in the US, with a GDP of over $1.3 trillion and GDP per capita of $45,940[8] It also has a large enough population to defend itself. Texas currently has a population of 26,059,203, which would place it as the 46th out of 242nd largest nations if it seceded[9]. The population is high enough. The problem with the US government is that their population is actually probably too high. They are ranked 3rd largest population in the world, right behind India and China[10]. There are diseconomy of scales issues and diverse political and cultural opinions that occur if the population is too large. China and India are riddled with their own problems and corruption. It would probably be best if these nations split up. The same goes with Texas splitting up with . The resolution has been affirmed and I look forward to Con’s rebuttal. . http://en.wikipedia.org...[1] . http://www.usdebtclock.org...[2] . http://mercatus.org...[3] . http://images.angelpub.com...[4] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[5] . http://militarybases.com... [6] . https://www.google.com...[7] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[8]