While browsing the internet this past weekend, I came across a little known tidbit that could hold the key to stopping the agenda of President Obama. As shown during the stimulus debate, the Democrats have near complete control of both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. While they do not have the magic filibuster-proof number of 60 in the Senate, they were able to find three RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) to go along with them and there is little doubt they could do the same in the future.
But what if there were 8 more seats in the Senate, all filled by Republicans? While not as well known as the idea that Texas reserves the right to secede from the Union at any point because it was previously a republic (which is just urban legend, btw), there was a provision in the agreement under which Texas was admitted to the Union that allows Texas to at any point divide itself into as many as five different states. As each state is allotted two senators by the Constitution, that would result in 8 additional senators. Assuming that all of those additional senators were Republicans (in Texas, very likely), the make-up of an expanded U.S. Senate would be 58 Democrats, 48 Republicans, and 2 Independents. As Senate rules require a three-fifths supermajority to stop a filibuster, the new magic number would be 64. The result is that Democrats would have to make concessions to the Republicans in order to allow any bill to come to a vote.
Am I saying this is likely to happen? Of course not. Texans are way too prideful to allow their beloved state to be subdivided. I think Texas secession is much more likely than Texas subdividing. But it does make for interesting political theory, doesn’t it?
