A REASON FOR THE OTHER 49

"Texas once was a stand alone nation...we can leave anytime we want".

With those words, Texas Gov. Rick Perry became the first elected political leader to talk secession since the Civil War.

Perry is now a bonafide Presidential contender, possibly not realizing that Job One as President is to preserve the Union.

Perry is also a staunch states' rights Republican, so much so, that when NY legalized gay marriage he remarked that whatever the radical state of NY wants to legalize is their business. The homophobe wing of the GOP abruptly reminded Perry that virulent opposition of full citizenship for gays doesn't permit allowing any state that exercise of states' rights. Voila, Gov. Perry now champions a Constitutional amendment to embed second class citizenship for gays into the Constitution.

Gov. Perry's secession talk was based on his belief that the centrist Obama policies were too extreme for his state. Unwittingly, a possible Perry Presidency gives secession justification for the other forty-nine.

Originally published in the Chicago Sun Times, August 14, 2011