States Bidding to Secede Respond to Marjorie Taylor Greene's 'Divorce' Idea
Groups seeking to turn Texas and Vermont into independent countries have spoken out following Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's controversial call for a "national divorce" between red and blue states in the U.S.
The House Republican argued "irreconcilable differences" between left and right mean the U.S. is not working in its current form, so the federal government should be stripped of most of its power.
Instead, authority over most policy areas would be almost completely given to the individual states, with a small central government remaining to take care of border security.
Responding to Greene's comments, Daniel Miller, president of the Texas National Movement (TNM), which wants the Lone Star State to split from the union, argued that the U.S. is "terminally broken."
"The United States isn't a country," he told Newsweek. "It's a political and economic institution and, as an institution, it is terminally broken. TNM believes the federal government has overstepped their role consistently and is prohibiting Texas from freedom and economic prosperity.
"This isn't about right or left in our view, this is about unleashing the ability for Texas to chart its own path without the constraints of the bloated and broken federal government."
Miller said his group had seen a "bump in media interest" following Greene's remarks, but insisted "Texans have already been having this conversation in a real way for many years now."
However, he rejected Greene's specific proposal, commenting: "'National divorce' is a slogan, not a plan. The union is comprised of 50 sovereign states, not two political parties.
"It is the right of the people of each state to examine their relationship with the federal system and determine whether or not it is in their political, economic, and cultural best interests to stay in that system or follow the path of 140 other nation-states around the world and claim their right to become self-governing and independent."
Newsweek also discussed Greene's remarks with Dr. Rob Williams, publisher of Vermont Independent, which advocates for the Green Mountain State to become an independent republic.
"Our U.S. problem is neither left nor right, neither liberal nor conservative, neither blue nor red," Williams said. "Our U.S. problem is that we are too BIG.
"Whether Vermont peaceably secedes from US and becomes an independent 2nd Vermont Republic [2VR] is ultimately up to Vermont's citizens to decide - last VPR [Vermont Public Radio] statewide pre-COVID era poll indicated 20+% in support of exploring the idea of a 2VR."
Greene's comments were condemned by a range of figures across the right, including former Representative Liz Cheney and Steve Bannon, Trump's former White House chief strategist, who compared the plan to spitting on the graves of Civil War veterans.
Newsweek reached out to Greene for comment.
