AUSTIN, TX – Lord Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, thinks Texas should secede from the United States.
In his native Britain, voters are preparing to decide whether they will remain in the European Union.
Here in the United States, Texas just last month considered putting secession on the ballot. The Republican Party of Texas killed the measure.
This week, Monckton — former adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — pushed for Texas independence in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller.
Monckton is a prominent conservative voice on issues such as climate change and the possible collapse of the U.S. dollar.
Why does a British political figure advocate Texas secession?
In short, Monckton views Texas as a lifeboat. He believes that America is on the verge of being overrun with Islamic invaders which will be accompanied by “imminent” financial destruction.
He advocates Texas secession, or what he calls “Texit,” as a way to preserve the best of America.
Monckton has become a regular presence in Texas conservative politics in recent years. On one occasion, he drew a crowd of over 15,000 to a race track in Houston. The crowd chanted with calls to make him governor of Texas.
Monckton begins his case for secession by highlighting the flaws in the American system:
“The United States Constitution has not proven sufficiently robust against the relentless increase in federal power and wealth at the expense of the states,” Monckton said, “and the Supreme Court has increasingly aggrandized itself by inflicting new law on all states.”
“Unquestionably,” Monckton continued, “the quickest solution to this problem for Texas is to exercise the right of secession, which instantly cuts off altogether the power of the federal government to interfere in Texan affairs.”
Unlike most attorneys, Monckton believes that Texas holds an indisputable right to secession.
“Texas has always retained the right — which I think is unique among the states — to secede from the Union,” said Monckton.
Monckton, who says he is, “no expert on the constitutional and administrative law either of the United States or of the Lone Star State,” said Texas’s legal right to secede can be found in “international law.”
“In the present post-colonial era, the norms of international law have moved strongly in favour of recognizing what is known as the right of self-determination of peoples,” said Monckton. “If the people of a defined territory large enough and populous enough to be self-sufficient and self-governing decide to be independent,” then they should be allowed independence.
“The United States and all other nations would be obliged to respect their right of secession and their decision to secede,” Monckton went on. “Texas would establish a working relationship not only with the United States, but also with Mexico.”
On the issue of border security, which is a central rationale behind Monckton’s support for Texas secession, Monckton ridiculed Trump’s “Great Wall” as “daft” and suggested that Texas should take a different approach.
“Texas currently faces incursions from two principal directions – Islamic refugees, genuine or not, and Hispanic migrants from Mexico and all parts of South America. Military action would not necessarily be the most effective method of controlling immigration,” said Monckton.
“Mr. Trump’s proposal to build and staff a Great Wall of America right along the southern border would, if implemented, be expected to have the same disastrous effect on the national economy as the Great Wall of China had.”
“Instead, it should enhance the competitive advantage that its independence will confer upon it by paying lower welfare rates than the Union pays,” suggested Monckton. Specifically, Monckton recommended “denying both the right of permanent residence and the right to receive any welfare benefits” to anyone from outside Texas and anyone who has not lived in Texas for at least five years.
For Muslim refugees, Monckton has a more unconventional solution: outlaw the Quran.
“Texas might also consider whether and in what manner to outlaw incitement to hatred or to violence. For instance, the Quran contains – on almost every page – violent passages inciting Muslims to hate and even to kill unbelievers,” said Monckton.
“One measure to deal with this problem might be to require every edition of the Quran circulated within Texas to mark out in red all such passages and to contain a plain warning in an introductory page that reading any such passages out loud…would be prosecutable as an offense of incitement to hatred and violence.”
Recognizing that talk of secession is often dismissed as nutty, Monckton pointed to the British referendum on EU membership as an example of what can be done – with time, commitment, and a “third party.”
“We were only able to win the right to a national referendum on the question of regaining Britain’s independence when a new party, the United Kingdom Independence Party, was established. It took 21 years for UKIP to grow to the point where the Conservatives could no longer ignore its existence.”
Monckton cautioned that a third party might not work as well in America.
“One inevitable drawback of establishing a Texas Independence Party to argue for Texit is that, particularly in the early stages, most if not all of its support will come from the Republican Party, dividing the opposition,” said Monckton. Therefore, he contended that the “first step towards independence” should be to “persuade the Republican party in Texas that it must not deny the grassroots their right to be heard.”
“Will the people of Texas find the courage to break free and establish a libertarian paradise in the Lone Star State? I pray that they will,” Monckton said.