The Republican Coalition-- Crackpot City: Snakehandlers, KKK Organizers, Plutocrats, Secessionists...

When I was teaching at McGill in Montreal I'm pretty certain I was the only professor there who wasn't repulsed by students using Wikipedia for research. All the other faculty members I know there absolutely fulminated at the idea that students would turn to Wikipedia... which always appeared to be as good an idea to me as anything else that might get them interested in the subject. Friday a congressman sent me this wikipedia report on Rick Perry supporters who are much more committed to Texas independence than he has been.

The modern movement for [Texas] independence was started by the research of Richard Lance (Rick) McLaren. McLaren claimed that, in 1861, Texans had voted four-to-one to leave the Union. Despite almost universal claims of legal scholars and historians, McLaren claimed that Texas met the qualifications, under international law, of a captive nation of war, since the end of the American Civil War in 1865. McLaren engaged in a protracted series of court and actual battles.

The "Republic of Texas" is a group of individuals that claims that the annexation of Texas by the United States was illegal and that Texas remains an independent nation under occupation. Group activists draw on Tenther political thinking to advocate their ideas. The issue of the Legal status of Texas led the group to claim to reinstate a provisional government on December 13, 1995. Activists within the movement claim over 40,000 active supporters; however, there is no widespread popular support for an independent Texas. The movement split into three factions in 1996, one led by McLaren, one by David Johnson and Jesse Enloe, and the third by Archie Lowe and Daniel Miller. In 1997 McLaren and his followers kidnapped Joe and Margaret Ann Rowe, held them hostage at the Fort Davis Resort, and demanded the release of two movement members in exchange for the Rowes. McLaren's wife, Evelyn, convinced him to surrender peacefully after a week-long standoff with police and Texas Rangers. The McLarens and four other Republic of Texas members were sent to prison, which effectively destroyed the McLaren faction; the Johnson-Enloe faction was discredited after two of its members, Jack Abbot Grebe Jr. and Johnie Wise, were convicted in 1998 of threatening to assassinate several government officials, including President Bill Clinton.

In 2003 what remained of the movement consolidated into one dominant group recognizing the current "interim" government (which replaced the "provisional" government), headed by President Daniel Miller. This interim government claims authority from the original proclamations of 1995 and set up a seat of government in the town of Overton, Texas. Most of the original personalities of the movement have disappeared from public view. Finance has come from donations and the sale of some items such as a Republic of Texas passport. The Republic of Texas headquarters in Overton burned down on August 31, 2005; one person was moderately injured. A separate movement, called the "Texas Convention Pro-Continuation 1861" (TCPC) claims to be the official authority "recognized by the State of Texas and the United States Government for the contemporary effort to bring to power, by popular vote of the People of Texas, the government of the Republic of Texas."

Yet another Republic of Texas group, sometimes referred to as the 10th Congress, meets at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Many of these members have splintered from previous RoT groups. Their President is Larry Hughes, and Vice President is V. Dale Ross.

Republic of Texas President Miller and Laurence Savage published the Republic of Texas's manifesto Texan Arise in 2004. The book outlines the history of Texas, the history and philosophy of the Republic of Texas group, a road map to independence, and some spiritualistic views of Texas. A second important book for the movement is The Brief by the Republic of Texas, published in 2003, a comprehensive case against the United States and State of Texas governments. The book is laid out like a court case, and cites approximately 250 exhibits.

Rick Perry isn't talking about these folks on TV. Instead he's appealing to right-wing extremists by cozying up to anti-government nihilists like Paul Ryan, who he claims agree with him that Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme. The Republican Party's selection of a presidential nominee will probably be based on how many crackpots who participate in their process agree or disagree (or understand) the Ponzi Scheme argument.

It could be worse. Rachel touches on another Republican crackpot problem in the clip up top. She never mentions the touchy subject of all the GOP supporters who are part of snake handler churches in backward, deep red areas of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and southeast Ohio.



Instead, Rachel talks about the other right-wing religion: their dangerous obsession with anti-social deregulation. Watch the clip but, in short, part of the Republican "jobs bill" is to get rid of regulations-- like those regulating the importation of man-eating pythons and anacondas-- so that entrepreneurs can... create jobs. Well, of course Republicans and their wealthy donors want to create jobs... wherever the job markets are cheapest. That's why so many GOP plutocrats-- we talked about SuperCommittee member and Whirlpool heir Fred Upton a few days ago-- have exported millions of American jobs overseas. Another one like Upton, Montana rightist Steve Daines, is trying to get into Congress even though his record on job creation has been far more beneficial in cheap Asian labor markets than here in the U.S. It's essential to drive plutocrats like Upton out of Congress and to keep plutocrats like Daines out of Congress-- so they can't continue rigging our laws to strip middle-class jobs out of the country for the benefit of a few at the very top. By the way, the Republican alternative to the plutocrat in Montana is John Abarr, a Ku Klux Klan organizer. The two wings of the party are fighting it out for the nomination. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll introduce you to an excellent Democrat running for the seat, Franke Wilmer.