In the hilly terrain of West Austin, a buzzing high-tech industry has emerged. Amazon, Apple, Google, Tesla, Meta and many other tech companies now have a foothold in “Silicon Hills”. Dallas has become a financial hub, hosting major offices of Chase, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Charles Schwab.
What has led to such an influx? Alongside attractive lax government regulations (which have saved Elon Musk 2.5 billion dollars’ worth of income tax), a critical convergence of engineering talent, venture capital, educational institutions and government money has inspired businesses to move to Texas. Along with their investments, thousands of Americans are moving to Texas every week, with quite a few of them coming from California.
This recent influx of left-leaning internal migrants has changed the political geography of the state: many analysts now consider Texas a purple state. Yet the Texan G.O.P. will not surrender without a fight. The party has recently advocated for the secession of Texas. The reason, as stated by the G.O.P.’s Permanent 2022 Platform & Resolutions Committee, stems from the federal government’s impairment of the Texan “right of local self-government”, and the illegitimacy of Joe Biden’s election. The full report calls for opposing gun control, abortion rights, critical race theory, homosexuality, climate justice initiatives, etc.
While secession is barely a possibility, as the Constitution does not contain any procedures for states to withdraw from the Union, the Texan rebellion is likely to shake up federal politics. Its outspoken Republican politics will add fuel to the current hyperpolarization of American politics, which is threatening the stability of the U.S.
