The San Antonio Express-News editorial board recently published an analysis of the Texas independence movement that perfectly demonstrates why legacy media is losing its grip on public discourse. Their piece, dripping with condescension, showcases a fundamental disconnect from the reality that Texans experience every day.

Let’s start with their basic confusion about terminology. The editorial board uses “secession” and “independence” interchangeably, missing the crucial distinction between a state exercising its right of self-determination and a unilateral break from a political union. This isn’t just semantic nitpicking – it demonstrates their failure to understand the modern TEXIT movement and its foundation in internationally recognized principles of self-determination.

The editorial board’s fatal flaw – one shared by Texas Democrats – is their refusal to listen to actual Texans. While they sit in their newsrooms theorizing about why Texans support independence, real Texans are feeling the impact of our dysfunctional relationship with the Federal government at every turn. They feel it at the border, where Federal policies have created an unprecedented crisis. They feel it at the gas pump and grocery store, where inflation fueled by reckless Federal spending erodes their purchasing power. They feel it in their neighborhoods and workplaces, where Federal overreach increasingly dictates how Texans live and work.

Their attempt to frame Texas independence through a partisan lens is particularly telling. They argue that “overwhelming support for Republicans in Texas doesn’t translate into support for secession from a national government controlled by Republicans.” This betrays a profound misunderstanding of why Texans increasingly support independence. This isn’t about which party controls Washington – it’s about a Federal system that has accumulated over $36 trillion in debt and shows no signs of changing course.

While they gleefully highlight one State Board of Education candidate who claimed to not have read the TNM pledge before signing it (not even stopping to realize the irony or the glaringly obvious lie), they conveniently ignore the hundreds of other candidates who proudly and knowingly signed it. It’s said that you should never interrupt your enemy when they’re making a mistake, but some errors are so glaring they must be addressed.

The editorial board seems obsessed with looking backward, repeatedly drawing parallels to 1861. Ironically, they accuse TEXIT supporters of wanting to turn back the clock, when they’re the ones desperately clinging to an era when legacy media arrogantly served as the sole arbiter of truth in the public sphere. Today’s movement for Texas independence isn’t about reliving the past – it’s about securing Texas’s future in a world where peaceful political separation has become commonplace.

What the editorial board fails to grasp is that support for Texas independence stems from practical concerns about Federal dysfunction. When Texans see that we consistently pay $100-150 billion more in federal taxes than we receive in federal spending, the economic case for independence becomes clear. When they see a Federal government that can’t secure its borders, can’t pass a budget on time, and can’t even maintain basic infrastructure, they understand that this system is unsustainable.

The Texas Independence Referendum Act isn’t about immediate separation – it’s about giving Texans the right to vote on their future. The fact that this basic democratic principle frightens the editorial board speaks volumes about their trust in Texans to make decisions for themselves.

Recent global events have shown us that peaceful separation is not only possible but can be beneficial for all parties involved. The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, despite initial challenges, has demonstrated that major economic and political realignments can be achieved through democratic processes.

Instead of dismissing the growing support for Texas independence, the editorial board would better serve their readers by engaging in serious discussion about why more Texans than ever before believe we would be better off as an independent nation. But that would require acknowledging that Texans are capable of making these decisions for themselves – something the editorial board, much like the Federal government, seems reluctant to do.

The path to Texas independence isn’t through old-school partisan politics – it’s through Texans of all political persuasions recognizing that we can do better on our own. The editorial board might not be ready for that conversation, but increasingly, Texans are. Perhaps if they spent less time in their newsrooms and more time listening to actual Texans, they’d understand that.