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Texans Wanting to Secede Are Wondering Whether They’ll Still Get Their Social Security Checks

But hey, gotta kill those illegal immigrants!

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After the recent clashes with the federal government over whether they should be able to choose their own (brutal, inhumane) methods of deterrence at the border, many Texans are talking secession.

It’s a topic that seems to come up whenever any southern state finds itself pining for the good old days when racism ruled. Texas didn’t become a US state until 1845, but they sure made up for lost time as a slave state until the practice was abolished in the Civil War.

But historically speaking, Texas has always been more racist toward those south of the border.

And most recently, that racism has taken the form of horrendous methods of trying to prevent illegal immigration. The current battle between Governor Abbott and President Joe Biden, for example, is whether or not Texas should be allowed to use razor wire to keep immigrants out.

So, here come the suggestions of secession.

One thing that Texans really haven’t thought through, however, is how distancing themselves from the US wouldn’t just end the federal governance that they despise. It may make them ineligible for the benefits that being a US state provides.

Over in the Facebook group “Texas Patriots for Secession,” one astute user posed the question, “If we secede, do we still get our Social Security monthly checks?”

That’s a complicated answer, Cletus.

Social Security is a federal program, completely under the control and jurisdiction of the federal government, and funded by federal taxes.

If a state were to secede, they would be unaffiliated with the US government, and would likely pay no federal taxes.

True Tamplin, the founder of Finance Strategists, says “If a state were to secede, its residents would no longer be under the jurisdiction of U.S. federal law, which includes the Social Security Act and its subsequent amendments.” And residents wouldn’t even get back what they already paid in, because “The program does not operate like a personal savings account but rather as a social insurance system,” he said.

This is likely all an academic discussion, anyway.

The US Consitution forbids secession of any state, and has since the Civil War. So even if the federal government were to permit it to happen — which will never happen, no matter how much I really wouldn’t mind — there would be endless negotiations and it would necessitate the creation of a framework for self-government that would get zero help from the United States.

There are quite a few reactions to Texans wanting their cake and eating it too, take a look:

Andrew Simpson
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Andrew is a dark blue speck in deep red Central Washington, writing with the conviction of 18 years at the keyboard and too much politics to even stand. When not furiously stabbing the keys on breaking news stories, he writes poetry, prose, essays, haiku, lectures, stories for grief therapy, wedding ceremonies, detailed instructions on making doughnuts from canned biscuit dough (more sugar than cinnamon — duh), and equations to determine the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow. A girlfriend, a dog, two cats, and two birds round out the equation, and in his spare time, Drewbear likes to imagine what it must be like to have spare time.

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