From the Dallas Morning News:

Ever-quotable lieutenant governor candidate Jerry Patterson says he has a better idea. Texas shouldn’t secede – it should just make the U.S. better by throwing liberal states out. California, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. “I get lots of questions all the time, ‘Well, we should secede.’ I say, ‘No, I’ve got a better idea. Instead of secession, I’m a proponent of expulsion,’” he told the AP. “I want to kick about four states out of this union.”
…
As for the lieutenant governor’s race, he faces Dewhurst, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Houston radio show host Sen. Dan Patrick. The candidates are all appealing to tea party voters in the GOP as the most conservative candidate vying for the job. As for booting California, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut out of the union, Patterson joked it was “a little tongue in cheek.” But hey, he told the AP why not? “Just think about how different our country would be if New York and California weren’t the tail wagging the dog. And those other states? It’s not America.”

What a tremendous deal he’s offering! We gotta take it. California, New York, Massachussets and Connecticut are perhaps the bluest states, and not coincidentally, have the strongest economies. They have a combined GDP of $3.9 trillion (23% of the US total), and a combined population of 67 million people (21%).

Fair’s fair: We need to prorate the national debt. The four Big Blue states account for 21% of the US population, and that share of the current debt is about $3.6 trillion. Small price to pay to be free of the Reds, eh? Counterbalancing the debt is the well-known fact that red states are almost all net recipients of Federal money, so we’d be free of the burden of supporting all those takers and moochers.

Probably the biggest downside I can see would be the need to build border fences to keep out illegal immigrants. There’d be hordes of refugees seeking asylum from racial and political oppression, and a flood of wretches seeking medical care. California has a naturally-defensible border in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but I fear that the other three states aren’t so well situated. I think we need to insist that the Red US shoulder the cost of containing their social and economic problems by building border fences between it and the Progressive States of America.

What do you think? Am I missing any downsides? Any additional upsides? Sounds to me like a deal we can’t afford to turn down. Can’t wait for Jerry Patterson to be elected Lt. Governor of Texas, so he can sign the necessary paperwork.

Free at last! Hallelujah Lord, we’re free at last!