Interview With Daniel Miller President Of The Texas Nationalist Movement [GFuCnOPZMhA]

00:01 There's a man sitting in that vehicle right there that can attest to how long I've done this because he was a firsthand witness. Jeff Davis is waving his hand over there, everybody say hi to him. Jeff can attest, I've done this for very long time and I've spoken at meetings when there were two people and I have spoken at meetings when they were 2,000 people. And worked every single solitary day but I could tell you one thing that it is a whole lot better when there are 18 able-bodied men rather than one

00:38 And I can tell you it's a whole lot easier when you march with an army of 1,000 rather than 18 able-bodied men. And I will tell you that on the day that we march on the south steps of the Capitol in Austin with 10,000 to 100,000 strong it'll be a whole lot better than marching with 1,000. I have to tell you that William Barrett Travis is one my heroes and I'm going do what he did because regardless of circumstances over the past years Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the adversity. Regardless of everything else I have held my post and I have done my duty and so folks there's your decision right there etched in the dirt There's your line. I don't mean it figuratively. I don't want this etched in your mind I have to know when I leave Gonzales who is going to be here to defend Texas independence with me Who was going to be here and step across that line as we leave here?

01:58 I think it is time to send a message to the parliament of would-be tyrants that threat to enslave us, that we have drawn a line here against the darkness. That we will no longer be subservient to a federal monster out of control. That there are able bodied men and women who are ready for independence and that we all collectively have a belief that Texas should be free and independent and that we should all be freemen and women So say us one, so say us all. Hello folks, Ahsan Sadat here broadcasting from Gonzales Texas representing the long-running award winning Jeff Davis show and with me here today is Mr Dan Miller president of the Texas Nationalist Movement. Dan thank you so much for speaking with us today Thanks for coming out. Now Dan those of us out there are viewers that don't know or have never heard of this movement I take it's a relatively young movement

03:00 Can you tell us a little bit about what the goal of this movement is? Well, the goal of the Texas Nationalist Movement is simply Texas independence. The restoration of the Constitutional Republic and protection of individual rights This movement though has not moved there have been movements throughout history for Texas to reclaim its independence. This is just an extension of all of those." What would you say is the current strength of the movement as it stands today? Well, we have 250,000 members I think our strength though is measured more not in how many members than how much support we get from this proposition You know not everyone is going to join an organization but what we find is that consistently

03:38 about independence and this is a task of the general public, that it begins to pull higher and higher. So we're fairly confident that when it comes to a referendum in Texas independence will happen. When speaking to other people as supporters of the show, people we normally converse with, when they bring up this movement, Texas Nationalist Movement some have expressed some sort of hesitancy you know they like the idea in principle of Texas breaking off but their hesitant for couple reasons well number one there afraid its another Fed plot I'm sure you've heard of the feds occasionally do start these front groups and get activists to join them, shut them down. Another thing they're afraid of is that even if it isn't a legitimate group that will eventually turn into some sort of violence How would you respond to those sorts of hesitant people? Well first and foremost let me handle the violence one first because It isn't one we hear but people often equate political movement like ours to violence

04:34 Because we use a lot of language that is very forceful. Take a stand, stand up for your rights But one of the things our organization has said is that we reject violence as a tool for political change I mean when you look at how Texas has been done and many other states That in and of itself is violence So we're not going to be able to extricate ourselves from that and in the end it makes us morally equivalent. What we're gonna have to do is seek a peaceful political process so that the will of the people of Texas can be heard, but we want to be free and independent again. Now to your first part... People have a right to be cautious of organizations that are out there. We saw this back in the 90s where the federal government infiltrated, even set up front routes for the purpose of catching people who believe like we do The one thing I can show and say about the Texas Nationalist Movement is that we are an organization that has dedicated its proposition and have been for a very long time

05:30 You'll notice with a lot of those front organizations that are just nothing more than catchers, that they're short-lived. Our organization and our movement has been going on now for well over a decade so I would say people can feel pretty safe without us Let's say your movement is successful you gave some great examples in the speech just now of recent independence movements that were successful and were non-violent. What I'd like to know is, what is it about the Texas Constitution that's so special? In other words, what will prevent the Texas government from spiraling out of control into tyranny just like the federal government did?" Well you have to... one of things to understand is why the federal government has spun out

06:12 And it really is about factors related to the diversity that's taking place through the United States. I don't mean any kind of racial diversity, but primarily cultural and political diversity. What you have now is groups of people throughout the United States that believe completely differently from one another. whatsoever that Texas would be some sort of government on a pedestal. But I will say that it's a lot easier to watch your government when it is only as far away as 700 miles rather than the 2,000 in Washington DC so we have the opportunity to be more in touch with our governor. Anybody here in Texas can get in a car and drive the short distance to get to Austin in a day's time and stay on top of their governor

07:02 The challenge is that they're keeping us separated now. We've got to keep an eye on the state government and keep an eye on the federal government, and that's gotta change." You mentioned in your speech earlier—and this is something we at the Jeff Davis Show agree with you with—is gun rights. When people bring up the topic of gun rights or right to self-defense they normally either say that it comes from the federal constitution or that they come from God. And I didn't hear you mentioning those two references, where do you think the gun rights come from? Gun rights are inherent. Every body from the time that they draw their first breath has a right to self-defense and that really is where gun rights come from it's not about hunting squirrels or going out and shooting skeet its about the right of self defense and self protection

07:49 So I think that a government that would deny its citizens the right to own guns are hypocrites because they armed themselves militarily to repel invasion. It's the same thing, they're inherent you're born with them and if they don't come from a piece of paper and even if the Constitution said nothing about gun rights we would still have those rights. Now admittedly my Texas history is a little bit sketchy I don't claim to be an expert but I read recently Right after Texas became an independent republic, that almost immediately a central bank was formed for the state of Texas. Not sure if that's true or not I read that recently and it was Wikipedia who knows who posted there but do you believe a central bank is necessary if Texas were to become its own sovereign nation? I don't believe a central bank is necessary at all and I think we should steadfastly avoid

08:41 We find that the banks are also kind of without a sense of burden. Another federal policy, unfortunately states have had to adopt and enforce is drug prohibition. Now the Jeff Davis show has hit the drug prohibition issue very hard for years and years and years now It's a federal policy that has been going on for decades, as far as we can tell it only result of the drug war has been overflowing prisons and gang violence and corrupt cops all the drugs are still available so my question is say if Texas were to become its own sovereign nation once again

09:19 Would you push to keep these sorts of federal drug prohibition or would you adopt a decriminalization policy? Well, let's look at what the Drug War has got. We've got cartels that are fighting like crazy across the board we've had 26 thousand deaths over the past several years just in the border areas What we have seen as a result of the Drug War is an ever increasing body count Our prisons are full The morgues are full along the border and people are scared. So I think it's pretty obvious what needs to be done, however what we see is a lack of willingness on the part of the federal government To stop the drug war because they're benefiting from it And we see a lack of willingness on the part of state governments to actually stand up and say no We're not going to do it. Of course you know they just had that decriminalization sort of in California

10:11 But, you know at least it's a step and that's what you're going to need to see as a government with backbone. Texas independence gets rid of the federal issues that we would have to deal with and lets Texas judge the problem and allows us to acquire our own solutions. A very common viewpoint of Texans is that federal troops are fighting for their freedom in all these wars, do you believe that federal troops are fighting for your freedom? Well I believe some of the federal troops are fighting for my freedom But I think that's really a question that you're going to have to ask somebody who is serving over there. I see plenty of people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan now, that are having to ask questions about why they were even in it. I have a good friend who just returned from the tour of duty in Iraq he was working at the complex where Tariq Aziz, Kim Khalili, where those guys work and when he came back this was his final tour he said

11:10 I was over there. So, I think that's a question they're going to have to ask themselves. I know that I'm fighting for my freedom and I do it in my way but whatever they do you have to ask them. On the education topic Some would argue, including almost all of us at the Jeff Davis show that federal education is nothing more than indoctrination at some level and it may even be the primary goal to indoctrinate people into worshiping the federal government. In your ideal of an independent Texas would there be state provided education? And if so would it serve to indoctrinate?

11:46 Well, let's take a look at historically how education has been here in Texas. Texas was one of the first places ever to institute compulsory education. And that naturally, I mean it wasn't compulsory education in a sense but the state provided the means for the education. Now the mechanism for doing that was the local areas, the local governments, the communities where it should be in touch but unfortunately we're in a situation now where the state government has decided to go in and they've decided to go in and take control away from the local areas, the communities. Back then the state made sure that schools were funded but they didn't tell them what to teach But now we've got the state telling the local areas what to teach We've got the state telling the local areas what to teach and then we have the federal government telling the state what they'll pay for them to teach

12:39 So, you get rid of the federal government. Then you focus on the state government issues and then return the issue of school and education back to local communities Let the local people decide what they want their kids to learn Now there is something that has been a staple in local communities, counties And that's property taxes That tends not have anything to do with the federal government If the State of Texas were to separate from the federal government Would you like to see property taxes continue as a source of funding anything? Property taxes have to go. I mean, there... You don't own property if you pay property tax and it can be taken away. And you're renting it basically. You're renting! But here's the issue with property tax and why we even have to have it The federal government siphons somewhere in the neighborhood of about 300-400 billion dollars a year out of Texas economy

13:25 I mean, that's just straight taxation. Not to mention the controls and restrictions they put on our industry You eliminate the federal issues and all the funding that goes to study cow flatulence in Montana or whatever it is they spend our money on And you return that back here Suddenly you don't need property tax One last question for you, and it is on the hot button issue of immigration. As a student of history, you probably know that the United States and Texas did not always have closed borders, did not always have immigration restrictions at one time there were completely open borders all along the southern border, northern border, ports what-have-you

14:02 In an independent Texas, would you consider extending the federal immigration policies or is that something you'd like to see done away with as well? The federal immigration policy's going to work. I mean if they worked then we wouldn't be having this conversation about illegal immigration but the challenge is they attack it at the wrong problem. They attack it at the border And then that's where it stops and it becomes all about the border. And I agree, every nation should have controls on the border but personally I'm just as concerned with troops on Rio Grande as I am the Reds so that's an issue for me But what we have to contend with here is that the federal government can't pretend they care about immigration when they continue to incentivize immigration both legally and illegally

14:45 Daniel Miller, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you very much. I appreciate this not a problem and once again My name is Hassan Sadat. I'm reporting from Gonzales Texas