Who's the traitor now?

For nearly six years, my friends and I were routinely denounced as unpatriotic because we disagreed with Pres. Bush over the conduct of war in Iraq.

We believed it was a mistake, that the idea of a pre-emptive invasion ran counter to the fundamental respect of national sovereignty and that no country can export democracy at the point of a gun.

We believed that the erosion of our civil liberties under the guise of fighting some never ending War on Terror made us neither safe nor free.

For expressing these beliefs, we were branded as unpatriotic and accused of hating our country.

So, why isn't the super-patriotic, Republican, America-love-it-or-leave-it crowd up in arms over Texas Governor Rick Perry's threat last week to have this state secede from the Union "... if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people ..."

I beg your pardon?

How patriotic is that? Isn't this traitorous talk, especially from a man who represents the political party that led us down the primrose path of unfettered free market capitalism then ginned up a foreign war so fat cats could pig out on no-bid contracts and the military industrial complex could sell us more expensive weapon systems?

If not traitorous, it's at the very least seditious, right? Right?

There was this fella from West Texas who lived in a compound with a handful of fellow travelers and who, back in 1997, stood off the Texas Rangers for several weeks. He claimed that Texas had the right — and duty — to secede from the Union because of high taxes. Then-Gov. Bush sent in the Rangers and had him quashed but what Perry said last week sounds an awful lot like the bile separatist Richard L. McLaren spouted. (Lest we forget, McLaren is now serving a life sentence in a Texas prison.)

Wasn't Perry the same man who let Tom DeLay (a Washington politician) dictate a purely partisan, controversial, incredibly divisive mid-decade redistricting policy designed to further his goals in Washington?

(Just in case you've forgotten, Mr. DeLay had to resign in disgrace from Congress for things related to that little stunt and four of the five Texas Democratic representatives to Congress who were targeted in those efforts are still in office. Oh, and prison isn’t completely out of the question for him, either.)

Perry doesn't speak for me, in this. He has violated one of the prime tenants Texans hold for our Governor: “Please Don’t Embarrass Us!” Come on ... this guy was re-elected with 39 percent of the vote and, quite likely, would have lost had there not been four people on the ballot.

Perry doesn't speak for the thousands of Texans whose unemployment will run out — or the small businesses in Texas who will soon have to pay higher unemployment taxes because the state is running out of money — because he thinks it is somehow un-Texan to have an effective, compassionate social safety net.

Perry — and the rest of the Republican right — is completely out of step. Neoconservative thought has been thoroughly discredited. Most Americans believe it was that unfettered, free market capitalism that got us into this economic mess. And, most Americans think maybe we ought to try some of that "European Socialism," especially if it comes with health care, a decent social safety net, good public transportation and a shot at a college education for our kids.

Perry is appealing to the worst of the Texas Republican Party ... and, it’s scary how many people actually seem to approve of what he’s said. Fortunately, that may be the only group paying attention to him.

If recent opinion polls are any gauge, most Texans — Republicans, Independents and Democrats — are tired of him, too.

Cross posted at Open Salon here http://open.salon.com/blog/richard2456