The Heartland Union, Part 2

The Need for the Heartland Union

I mentioned in a previous post, The Heartland Union, that Texas needs to stand up for middle America because neither political party stands up for the middle class. America needs better leadership, and Texas needs to stand and deliver that leadership.

California, an Unexpected Ally

I had assumed that Texas needed to ally itself with states that share similar values. However, one of my readers pointed out that shared financial interests can substitute for shared values. My previous analysis of electoral college votes had no scenario where California would ally with us. However, both California and Texas have off-shore oil revenue that is siphoned off by the federal government.

The off-shore oil is off the coast lines of the states. The 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives all rights to the states that have not delineated to the federal government. It is only by coercion that the feds take our money. But the mechanisms the feds use to take our money can be undone if we form a political alliance that gives us the power to undo these mechanisms.

California has 55 electoral votes, Texas has 34, and Florida has 27. That is 116 of the 270 needed for the Presidency. We all have off-shore oil and lots of votes.

Resource Issues

Oil is not the only resource issue. The federal government has meddled with mineral rights and access to resources in many states. It was also brought to my attention that the federal government shut down access to lumber in national forests, putting many people out of work, including Texans.

Leadership

With foresight and leadership, Texas can form an alliance with many states and wrestle power away from the crowd that is so badly mismanaged America that we should name the decade that just ended, from 2000 to 2009, the Decade of Failure.

America needs better leadership. Texas needs to stand and deliver that leadership, but we cannot do it alone. We need to create an alliance, a Heartland Union, to be the springboard for a better future.

Robert Canright