537: Time For TEXIT!? - How Texas Is ONE VOTE AWAY From Declaring Independence from the USA!

Brian Nichols  0:04  
focusing on winning arguments. We're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show

Joe, thanks for joining us. I am as always, your humble today, Colonel regnant heard about American independence had heard about exit. Yeah, you're gonna hear all about that too. Today on today's episode, but before we go ahead and introduce introduce today's guests, we're gonna go ahead and give a special shout out to today's sponsor and that is the expat money show head over to the Brian Nichols show.com forward slash expat why because you want to go ahead and make sure you're protecting yourself and the money you work so hard to earn from ambulance chasing lawyers, nefarious creditors and greedy on just governments, you head over to the Brian Nichols show.com forward slash expat and you can make sure you are introduced to our good friend Nick calthorpe, who says I help people just like you invest internationally secure second passports and residencies, eliminate your tax bill and take advantage of offshore structures so you can travel the world freely and never have to worry about money again. And oh, by the way, November 7 through November 11. McHale is gonna be hosting the expat money Summit. It's a free virtual summit five days 30 expert speakers, and I promise if you invest that one week of time, you will pay the dividends for generations to come and the summit is free. So make sure you head the Brian Nichols show.com. Forward slash expat and get your tickets today. All right, folks. So on to today's episode. Yes, it is. July 4, it is Independence Day. And we're talking all things. It's not actually independence, though, but he's a true exit from the union. And we're talking Texas, Daniel Miller from the Texas National Movement. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Hey, Brian, thanks

Daniel Miller  2:06  
for having me. Absolutely. Well, Daniel, I'm

Brian Nichols  2:08  
looking forward to this conversation because we were laughing beforehand. What are the odds here we are recording here on July 4, America's independence day. And now we're not talking about Texas independence, but rather a true Texas, Texas exiting the union. It's amazing to see where we've gone from where we originally started as a country to where we are today. And obviously it makes some sense why this is a conversation and why the Texas GOP recently added a Texas session to their platform. Daniel was a lot taking place right now, especially in an era of uncertainty post COVID. And with Joe Biden, hence administration leading the helm for at least the next two years talks to us what is texted? And is this actually something that can become reality.

Daniel Miller  2:57  
Sure, I mean, looked at text, it is quite straightforward. It is. You know, it's the wonderful portmanteau that we all know from Brexit, and Grexit. It is a term that is used to talk about taxes, reasserting its status as an independent nation, right to reclaim its right of self government, and to do so outside of the federal system, because there is no way for us to be free and independent in the federal system. And so, you know, to your question about the the likelihood of this happening, the fact of the matter is, it's already happening. You see, Texas is not an act, you know, people love to fixate on the vote. But it's not an act, it's a process. And that process starts well before the vote is taken, and continues on after the people vote affirmatively until, you know, we hit the point of maximum independence.

Brian Nichols  3:53  
So let's talk about the maximum independence from a Texas perspective. Because exis obviously, is not only geographically one of the largest union estates we have here in the Union, but also one of the largest economies. And we've seen over the past few years, especially with the past few years of COVID restrictions in these blue states, a mass migration away from the more liberal progressive blue bases I just left from Philadelphia out to New Castle, Indiana, because I saw over the past few years how insane it was. And I've seen many good friends also navigate from upstate New York or Philadelphia or you name that East Coast area down to whether it's the Midwest or to your area in Texas. So we're seeing a lot of people also migrating to Texas, what would let's like actually talk about the process, right, because sometimes the process can can over I guess overcomplicate the actual what is the end goal, but what is the process look like? Because it sounds messy. Right. And we last time we talked about people seceding from the United States, we had a pretty bloody conflict for about Four years or so. So let's talk about what this looks like and how we're going to avoid those worst case scenarios.

Daniel Miller  5:07  
Well look, good news. When we woke up this morning, it wasn't the 19th century, right. So, you know, we don't we don't have to, thankfully worry about those sorts of things. But look, let me before I get into the process, let me let me give you a statistic, right. And this was a statistic that really motivated my belief to begin working for Texas independence back in 1996. And there was a book that was released in the mid 90s called Global paradox by John Nesbitt, he wrote a book called megatrends, megatrends who says New York Times bestselling author, and his book global paradox was about the telecommunications revolution and how it affected really commerce and trade. But he said the paradox was this is that the world's trends were pointing overwhelmingly toward economic interdependence on one hand, and political independence. On the other end, he cited a statistic that at the end of World War Two, there were roughly 54, recognized, fully sovereign, self governing nations around the world. And by the middle part of the 90s, when he released the book, there were 192. Now those countries didn't fall from space, the earth didn't get any bigger. They were people just like us that wanted to just simply enjoy the ride of self government to not be governed by people that they didn't elect, forcing policies on them that they don't want. And so, you know, when we, when we look at the process, understand that we have got a nice, rich 75 plus year history, to look at to see what this looks like in the modern day, you know, from the latter half of the 20th century, all the way into the 21st. We've got very clear examples of how this happens. And there's one message that is abundantly clear is this ain't the 1860s. Right? There are ways that this, this gets done. So from a process standpoint, it's very simple. Article One, Section two of the Texas Constitution is very clear about the path it says that all political power is inherent in the people. And all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their benefit, and the people have at all times the inalienable right to alter reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient. So ultimately, as a reserved right to the people. This question must be put to a vote of the people of Texas. And once the people answer the question, should the state of Texas reassert its status as an independent nation, then we move forward past that.

Brian Nichols  7:32  
So let's talk about moving forward past that, because now now we're actually seeing this is becoming reality. To your point, it is already a part of the GOP actual platform in Texas moving forward. So let's now make this real life. And let's talk about some of the different areas where I'm sure some people are going to have some questions, some objection and the first, you know, I wouldn't say red flag, but it's definitely the first thing that popped up into my head is the idea of of defense of national defense. We've seen this time and again, we're anytime an idea of DC or decentralizing from the existing federal system to some more to our point or more autonomous state, it's always going back to that well, what happens in the event of a name, worst case scenario? So let's talk about this from a defense standpoint, what that looks like from a Texas perspective.

Daniel Miller  8:20  
Well, look, you have to understand from a Texas perspective, we're already being invaded, right? What's happening on our southern border is no less than an invasion. When you have the the cartels, those Narco terrorist drug gangs, that are effectively in control with Texas Mexico border, and we have absolutely 100% unrestricted and incentivized immigration from Mexico and Central America and South America and frankly, all around the world. Yeah, we're we are already under an armed invasion. So that, you know, that's the kind of the way that Texans are looking at this issue. But that being said, you know, let's look at the political realities of it. Most people are probably not aware that Texas already has a three branch military, right. It's made up of the Army National Guard, the Texas Air National Guard and the Texas State Guard. That's the Texas State Guard is the branch of the Texas military department that cannot be federalized. Okay. So, you know, when you talk about a post, exit, defense strategy, understand that, again, nothing literally changes on the first day after the vote, right. There's a process involved in this. But you know, when you begin to look at how could an independent Texas defend itself? Well, you can't you can't really disconnect that argument from the the money that it takes. Something important to know is that Texas overpays anywhere from 103 to $160 billion dollars every single solitary year under the federal system. Additionally, you've got the studies that came out at George Mason University and others that show that federal regulatory accumulation has robbed us about 85% of our Our economic power since 1949. So, you know, you're looking at post Texas 600% 600% Bump and pay plus 100 $360 billion annually, staying right here in Texas, that takes us from the ninth largest economy probably to the fifth or sixth. And then you start looking at even at a minimum, you know, you look at NATO 2% defense spending, it gives us about, again, about the fifth or sixth most well funded military in the world. So, you know, if we were to use a 4% of GDP figure, it would be even better. So, you know, the fact of the matter is, is that Texas will have absolutely no trouble defending itself, both institutionally and individually. I mean, let's just get down to brass tacks. You know, I don't know, I don't know, who is that people are concerned are going to invade and attack us. You know, I'm not sure I've heard I've heard sometimes, someone says, What are you going to do if Mexico invades, well, check? It's already happening. But you know, they're like, Well, what if chat what are you gonna do if China invades I'm gonna, like, Well, I'm gonna sit here and watch them roll through California first, right? So, so, you know, I mean, it's just, these are in Bronto. I'll just tell you, I look at it as sort of Apocalypse porn. You know, I mean, people conjure these things. Like if we have Texas, tomorrow, you know, I'm gonna be frightened. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick wearing a mohawk and a leather thong and the Thunderdome. It's not how it works, right? It look around the world. It's not how it's worked for 75 years.

Brian Nichols  11:31  
Yeah, well, let's let's talk about why that is right. Because we saw this, whether it's net neutrality, COVID policy, why? Why don't you want to deal with it, because you want people to die. We've heard this time and again, I'm exhausted by it. It's, frankly, I think your average person's getting tired of it, too. It's not working like it used to that that used to work that actually. And I have seen this this change, especially in the past two years. I'm not sure if you've noticed this too. But the old you just want people to die. It's it's the boy who cried wolf at this point, because he has been touted so many times. And then when you have COVID, that the entire COVID policy based on what was happening over the past two years, and that was the gist incident rejoinder was you want people to die. And yet you saw the states that were embracing the more sane approach to to COVID, which is gonna be more states like Texas, like Florida, surprise, surprise, all of a sudden, you're seeing less mortality, more freedom, more economic prosperity, versus you look at my old home states of New York and Pennsylvania. And they're they were facing economic shortfalls. So you're seeing a situation right now where people are starting to just I mean, once they see it, they can't unsee it their own lying eyes can't deceive them anymore. So let's talk about winning hearts and minds. What's the been the reception in Texas? Are people on board with this? Are you getting positive feedback?

Daniel Miller  12:53  
Yeah, I mean, look, it would be ridiculous for us to push for a referendum on the issue, if we thought there was a chance that we were going to lose generally referenda like this, or once in a generation, although we have seen an interesting trend. Where there have been in many instances, I think, 54 of the last 100 years of, you know, just straight up referenda, like we're talking about many of those that failed, actually went back to the ballot within 10 years, and it passed. So we are seeing this interesting, 10 year kind of trend. That's that's happening. And I don't know that anyone can really explain it. I think each situation is unique. But you know, that load that being said, where we're at is if we go to a vote tomorrow, we win. And and it's, you know, if you want to talk hearts and minds, it's about. For us as an organization since day one, it's been about engaging the people. You know, when I said in Article One, Section two, all political power is inherent in the people. All movements like this must absolutely be people movements, right. So what we have done is we have been made the case we've been very thorough with our information. You know, we've got the probably the largest database of frequently asked questions over the tax ID issue on our website at Texas now.org. I mean, I wrote the textbook, which was a four time best seller on Amazon. I mean, you know, we've done our homework, but I will tell you, Brian, that the thing that has made the most difference in the world, is when we can engage voters on the issue, and those that are on the fence, and frankly, that's a minority right now, but those that are on the fence about this issue, we reframe the debate and we do so simply by this we ask them and this really applies for any state. Imagine right now that your state was already a self governing independent nation, right. It was a nation among nations. It had control over its own border policy, its own immigration policy, its own monetary policy and at its own embassies and passport. was a military, you know, and even had its own Olympic team. Okay. Now, imagine instead of talking about exiting the union, what if this was a conversation about whether or not your state should give up its independence, and its self government and join the union? Knowing everything you know about the federal government right now, today? Would you vote to join the union?

Brian Nichols  15:24  
No, no, absolutely not.

Daniel Miller  15:27  
And so if you wouldn't vote to join, then why in the world, would you ever vote to stay?

Brian Nichols  15:31  
Yeah, that wasn't the video that you have there on the website, the varia. Like, I think the very first page, the homepage there, there's a video intro video about six, six and a half minutes or so long. And that's the approach you take is, well, let's approach you know, you are brand new state and you want to join the United States of America. And you make the case in terms of why you would want to do that. And of course, it's all the negative things that we appreciate, like the $60,000 I think it was per person in debt that's instantly on your head, as soon as you become born, or in this case, become an American citizen. It's good. 30 plus, which is funny, because in your video, I think was $23 trillion in debt. We're now 30 some odd trillion dollars in debt a few minutes. I remember back, I was like, working with congressional campaign 2012. I think we were talking about approaching 20 trillion back then. So you've seen that that number, it skyrockets a little too quick and the past two years a little faster than we would have even expected even then. But let's talk about the fact that yeah, you're making this argument from an overtly satirical standpoint, but it shows exactly why your argument is so sound and why so many people are resonating towards this position, because at the end of the day, they're seeing it right before them that no what we have right now with this relationship with the federal government. It's a bad deal. It's not a good deal. And any sane person would not make the decision 10 times out of 10.

Daniel Miller  16:51  
Hey, Brian, I'll tell you, let me tell you who doesn't find it to be satire. And that's the opposition. Right? That it absolutely that that reframing of the question is absolutely like pouring boiling oil over their heads. They hate it. And the reason being is because it forces them into the position that they have to sell the benefits of a political and economic union, which has no benefit to any state. That's just the bottom line. And it's always interesting to watch the opposition talk about this, right? They come up with all these fear mongering scare tactics. They tell you things that, you know, it's unconstitutional. That's cool. I have a copy of the Constitution right here. Please point to where it says that right? Well, it's against the law. Cool. Here's the website for the federal statutes go search for it. I'll wait for you, you know, well, the Supreme Court decided it well, yeah, Texas versus white. But did you ever read Jacobson V. Massachusetts? Oh, you know, I didn't read either of them? Well, of course you didn't. Because you're just being you know, you're being irrational. But but here's the thing to understand where they fall back to is they want to couch this as a fringe movement, right is something that's small, nobody believes it. All those sorts of things. If that were true, ask yourself this question. If that were true, then why would they hesitate to put it on a ballot if they thought that it would fail? The same confidence we have in putting it on the ballot, knowing that it will win is the same lack of confidence they have, that it will, that it will lose? Right? I mean, they are not confident that it will lose. And so they understand that there is power in this idea that this global trend has continued unabated, that the federal government no longer serves the needs of the people of Texas. And, you know, look, all we're talking about is something that's very apropos for today, is that you there comes a time, as Jefferson talked about with a long train of abuses and usurpations. But But beyond all of that, there is that first principle, that principle that says that governments govern by consent of the governed. And so at the moment that that federal system no longer represents us that we are no longer I mean, they can say we have representatives but you know, when it no longer resembles, what our concerns are, what challenges we face, what our hopes and our wishes and dreams are, what our vision is for the future. And fundamentally what our principles are, then how can we continue to be a part of it? You know, if if you joined a Boy Scout troop and the rest of the Boy Scout troop decided they wanted to go on a trust a killing spree? You might want to think about leaving the Boy Scout troop if you don't believe in trust eight killing sprees. Right, and this is this is kind of the way that it is we have to, we have to disconnect ourselves from from this idea that it's you know, it's baseball, it's apple pie, it's you know, all Have these things. That's America that won't go away. But what we're talking about here is that political and economic union called the United States of America, that is represented by a federal system that does everything half as well for twice as much than the private sector. And actively conspires to deprive us of our individual rights and liberty, that we can no longer be a part of

Brian Nichols  20:26  
that I mean, what more of a case do you need to make right there than that, folks? And one point you made earlier, talking about democracy and the Democrats in Texas not wanting to put that onto the ballot, I mean, just speaks to the fact that a lot of our leftist friends they love democracy.

Daniel Miller  20:40  
Well, hang on, because it's not just Democrats. Okay. And this is what people need to understand is that these issues of self government are not they don't have the typical partisan lay, right? We have we're having to fight as hard against the political establishment Republicans, as we are the rabid, you know, slobbering at the mouth. Beta O'Rourke, so the world, right. And this is really not a what we're seeing here is it's not a Republican versus Democrat issue. It is a it is a people of Texas, versus a political establishment issue, a permanent political class that has enjoyed power for far too long at our expense.

Brian Nichols  21:29  
Well, there's, there's a little bit of a, you know, a glimmer of hope, the proverbial white pill as they would call it. And speaking of white pills, it is great, because you're seeing that there is such a community of folks who are looking to have this conversation not just in Texas, but across the world. But let's just focus in Texas specifically, they want to continue that conversation. You guys just launched a brand new app over at the the Texas National Movement, talk to us about what they can focus on fine if they go ahead and get set up. And you know, how would this how is this gonna help move forward? Texas? Or rather, not independence, but rather exit?

Daniel Miller  22:04  
Yeah, well, in Texas, the Texas takes us to independence. So interchange way it works. Text is the process independence has to go. But but here's the thing, when before we started the organization, in 2005, we became acquainted with the work of a man named Jean Sharpe, he ran the Albert Einstein Institute for Peace, you know, so big, about nonviolent mass movements. And one of the terms that that really stuck out when we became familiar with his work was this term of atomization. And it's where totalitarian regimes because that's the work that he primarily dealt with was dealing with totalitarian regimes. atomization was his description for what the regime does to keep us apart to keep us separated. So we can communicate, we can organize. And and, you know, it's one of the mechanisms that they utilize to maintain power. So as we are a people movement, it was always been important for us to connect people. And of course, when, you know, we had all these digital platforms, it was really nice at first when it was the Wild West, because we could, you know, we could communicate, and we would send an email, we knew someone would get it or, you know, whatever. But we've seen this increasing level of soft censorship that has taken place. You know, there's articles on our website@tnm.me, where we talk about our sort of travails with the social media outlets with Amazon relate to the textbook, I mean, it's just it's been a pitched battle. So on our bucket list, for many, many, many years has been to launch our own internal social network and mobile app. And as of today, we have actually done that, and anyone who wants to take a look at the app, they can go to T nm.me/app. And, you know, go ahead and get registered, go to T m.me. Register your support, go download the app and get connected with the fight to get and win Texas independence.

Brian Nichols  23:59  
And, folks, by the way, this is just the tip of the iceberg for the conversation today. Because we can only cover so much in our 25 minute episode, frankly. So what I'm going to ask you to do is please, especially for you of the audio listener, and a YouTube listener, number one, go to your show notes, and please check out a ti n n.me. And yet, you can go ahead and check out all the different information. Plus there's the book, there's the app, you have all the frequently asked questions, which I'm sure for those of you out there who have the questions. There are gonna be other folks who have even more questions you're gonna want to make sure you can answer as well. So have a resource, like this website available, and I'll make sure I really make it easy for you. If you're an audio listener, click the artwork in your podcast catcher. It'll bring you right to today's episode over at Brian Nichols show.com, where you can find the entire transcript of today's episode, all the show notes, the links but also you can find a video version of today's episode head over to the YouTubes and yes, when you're there, make sure you hit the subscribe button and that little notification bell so you're not missing a single time we go live Yeah, like on one of these days. Awesome July 4 random episodes where we're not talking American independence. But yeah, okay. Yeah, Texas independence of folks. Yeah, you interested in Texas? Well, please do us a favor and go ahead and share today's episode. And when you do go ahead and give yours truly a tag at the Nichols, liberty, Daniel, final thoughts for the audience today?

Daniel Miller  25:17  
Yeah, here's, here's the bottom line for everyone. Whether you're in support on the fence or opposed at a very minimum, you need to start having the conversation and asking yourself, whether or not the government you're getting out of Washington DC currently serves you and if not, then how in the world do you plan to fix it? And if you can't plan to fix it, then maybe you just need to head for the exit?

Brian Nichols  25:42  
Well, you know what, I think that's a conversation that we've been having here in the program. And a lot of the folks in the audience, they're empathetic to that. So yeah, folks, if you're in Texas, now you actually have a means to an end, you actually have light at the end of the tunnel. I'll make sure we include all those links, like I said, so you can learn more about the Texas National Movement, but also learn more about Texas. And yeah, folks, let's make this a reality. So that being said, it's Brian Nichols signing off here on The Brian Nichols Show for Daniel Miller talking tax it. We'll see you tomorrow,

Unknown Speaker  26:12  
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