Ron Paul: Secession Is Not Un-American

When all the hoo-ha happened over Gov. Rick Perry's suggestion that the Lone Star State could secede from the union, I immediately looked forward to hearing the opinions of three Texans: Kinky Friedman, Ron Paul and Willie Nelson.

In an interview with Briefing Room, Friedman said Perry had "gone off the tracks a little bit" and schooled the governor with a bit of Texas history (he also said he would run for Perry's seat again).

"I would remind him that there was great visionary hero named Sam Houston who traveled all over the state warning us not to do it - that it would cost great heartache and bloodshed."

Ron Paul, not surprisingly, approaches it more pragmatically. In a YouTube address, he doesn't take a position on whether Texas should secede but he does say Americans shouldn't be so squeamish to discuss it. He mocks the "liberal media" for providing no context, saying it's hardly a cut-and-dried issue. Paul admits that since the Civil War secession has been a "dead issue." But he says if anyone thinks the idea of a state breaking away is un-American or treasonous, "they don't know their history very well." After all, the United States came into being when 13 colonies seceded from England.

Watch Paul's full address:



Willie hasn't weighed in on the issue yet but hopefully he'll write a song about it.