What happens when Texans forget history?

Speaking to anti-tax tea bag protesters, Republican Governor Rick Perry quoted Texas founder and hero Sam Houston.

"In the words of Sam Houston, Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression," Perry said. "We will not stand for our pockets to be picked."

Thousands rally against overtaxation in local tea party  The Daily Skiff, Texas Christian University

Perry also alluded to secession perhaps in the belief that somehow Texas reserved the right to secede.

Perry's quoting Houston is especially ironic. After winning independence from Mexico, Sam Houston accomplished his next goal, admission to the union in 1845. After winning election to governor in 1859, he was removed in 1861 because he opposed secession and Texas joining the Confederacy.

Texas does not have any additional right to secede than any other state. Snopes reviewed the historical literature and found absolutely no basis for this along with the other myth that Texas can split into five states. The American Civil War decisively settled the question that once a state joins the union, they are in forever.