No, her Imperial Highness is not seeking to become the 32d State of the United Mexican States.

The proposed secession from New Mexico by Lea and Roosevelt Counties is a topic of significant interest and debate. The legislation (NM House Joint Resolution 10) would give voters in three or more contiguous counties the option to secede from New Mexico. (Curry would likely be the third county, but Eddy, Otero, and Chaves are possible joiners.) This proposal was introduced by Republican Reps. Randall Pettigrew and Jimmy Mason. It would require a special election with two-thirds of the population’s support, followed by approval from the county commissioners, the U.S. Congress, and the president. Both local residents and political opponents (read, sycophants of her Imperial Highness and Democrats in general) are criticizing the resolution. They argue argue that secession is not practical and should be addressed by other means.

Of course, secession ideas are not exclusive to New Mexico. TPOL has discussed many over the years. Current active proposals or movements have been considered in other states.

The northern counties of California and southern Oregon have long promoted a new State of Jefferson. Eastern and central Oregon counties are pushing joining “Great Idaho.” A proposal for a Northern Colorado (either a new State or joining Wyoming) has so far failed. Illinois voters have been asked to consider separation from Chicago. Western counties of Virginia are once again talking about joining West Virginia, as the Woke Democrat-controlled legislature of the Commonwealth goes even more Woke. Movements reflect two different trends. Some people want to leave their states to join more politically aligned ones. Others (such as the Jefferson movement) seek a new state altogether. And of course, Texas and California both have Texit and Calexit movements for going back on their own. (Both were, for a time, independent republics in the 1800s.)

This New Mexico secession proposal indicts a ‘massive cultural disconnect’ between southeast New Mexico and the capital and major urban areas of the State: Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and much of the Navajo Nation and the Pueblos. It also is tied to the oil and gas industry’s influence on the region and deep ties with the rest of the Permian Basin in Texas.

The proposal has sparked discussions about the need for a different governance approach and the appeal of Texas as an alternative to New Mexico’s state regime. That is a polite way of saying that southwestern New Mexicans are sick and tired of the growing socialism and Woke policies of then extreme and corrupt powers that be in Santa Fe (and the cowardice of their opponents).

The Southeast is far from alone in its discontent: similar attitudes are found in the rural desert areas of the Southwest, the oil and gas center around Farmington in San Juan County in the Northwest, and the sparsely populated ranch lands of the Northeast. And Santa Fe increases the security of its overlordship by welfare programs that lavish their constituency with free school meals, free childcare, and massive spending. Bread and circuses is a typical Latin government strategy from the SPQR (Rome) forward.

And as the proponents note, eastern New Mexico (both Northeast and Southeast) were once part of Texas, specifically the (First) Republic of Texas, from 1836 to 1850. When admitted to the Union, Texas gave New Mexico east of the Rio Grande to the FedGov (along with other lands) in return for help in paying off its war debts. (We note that the local residents had no vote in the matter.) But the people who settled and now live in eastern New Mexico are far more like Texans in attitudes, making a living, politics, socially, and culturally than what is considered the heart of New Mexico.  And yes, that includes many of the Hispanic people, with their Tejano heritage, very different from the colonial heritage of the Rio Grande Valley Hispanic population.

And the New Mexico State government, which has preserved many of the traditions of its Mexican and Spanish heritage. Including organization, corruption, autocratic behavior, and distain for personal liberties. Luhan Gresham is little loved outside the urban area with its Democratic power structure.  And her distain for oil and gas, coal, and even ranching, is well known (and despised) in and out of the State.

Of course, she and her successor (almost certainly another Woke Democrat) will do everything to prevent passage of the resolution. If (through some miracle) it passes, Santa Fe is sure to follow the Canadian model. Ottawa has bribed Quebec for more than half a century to keep it from seceding, mostly using money stolen from Alberta and its oil and gas industry. Of course, in this case, it is one of the two centers of oil and gas (the prolific Permian Basin shared with Texas) that funds much of the lavish spending by the State government.