Petitioners Renew Talk of Texas Secession

Updated: An online petition asking the United States government for permission for Texas to withdraw from the country and create a "new government" has reached 25,000 signatures. This is enough to warrant an official response from the Obama administration.

Original Story: Following President Barack Obama's re-election last week, the White House has received nearly two dozen petitions asking his administration to allow individual states to secede peacefully from the United States of America. The leading petition, by far, comes from Texas, which as of noon Monday had 20,683 signatures.

"The U.S. continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government's neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending," reads the petition, which was created last Friday by 'Micah H', who lists Arlington, Texas, as his residence. "Given that the state of Texas maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th largest economy in the world, it is practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union, and to do so would protect it's citizens' standard of living and re-secure their rights and liberties in accordance with the original ideas and beliefs of our founding fathers which are no longer being reflected by the federal government."

The signers need not live in Texas, but if the petition reaches 25,000 signatures by Dec. 9, the Obama administration will need to issue a response.

Other petitions have been filed for Louisiana, Alabama, Oregon, and other states, but Texas may be the only state with a governor who has openly pondered the subject of leaving the union. Gov. Rick Perry told audiences twice in 2009 that secession had crossed his mind. "When we came into the nation in 1845, we were a republic, we were a stand-alone nation," he said to a group of bloggers. "And one of the deals was, we can leave anytime we want. So we're kind of thinking about that again."

Perry's office later clarified that he never advocated for secession.