THREAD: So you want to #secede? You want to ditch the #RedStates? Escape the #BlueStates? Turns out, #secession is complicated business. Here are some thoughts from my years in #Texas, a “Red” state teeming with #Progressives, demographically diverse, and essential to America.

2/... #Texas is full of Federal Facilities: #NASA, #Army, #AirForce, #DOE, #DEA, #Agriculture. #TX has some of the largest #ports, facilitating national and global commerce, moving goods from the #GulfCoast throughout America by rail or highway. If #TX #secedes, all that ends.

3/... #TX produces everything from oil and gas to soybeans, cotton(!), pecans, to computer and electronics, to beef. #Texas’ sports teams compete nationally and internationally. Corporations call #Houston, #Dallas, and #Austin home.

4/... #Texas is also the target of snarky comments blaming Red State politics for wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. Over 28 million folks call Texas home. Some were born there; many - myself included - moved from elsewhere for school, jobs, or love.

5/... Millions of #Progressive folks have been working hard to #TurnTexasBlue, battling #VoterSuppression and #Gerrymandering, registering #voters, electing #Dems, and turning the landscape “bluebonnet blue”. #Secession talk is a real insult to their Herculean efforts.

6/...To #BuildBackBetter, we need to pull America together, not rip it apart. Talk of #Secession imperils everything that made America “great.” We’re all in this together, and only together can we bring our embattled #Republic back from the brink of senseless self destruction.

7/...If you’ve read this far, thank you. America is fighting a deadly pandemic, epic joblessness, permanent loss of small businesses, evictions and homelessness, rampant hunger, and deeep despair. Let’s skip the talk of #secession and get to work. /End