Texas leads US states in petitioning for secession

HOUSTON - Texas is leading US states in petitioning the White House for a peaceful secession from the United States following President Barack Obama's re-election, US media reported on Tuesday.

Some 40 other states have similar petitions, asking the Obama administration to allow them to withdraw from the United States, according to media reports.

The Texas online petition that was created last Friday had reached 83,000 supporters by Tuesday evening, according to the local newspaper The Austin American-Statesman.

"The US continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government's neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending," noted the Texas petition as the reason for their proposal.

"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 its 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," it said.

However, the petition did not get the support of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who later said in a statement that he believes in the greatness of the union and nothing should be done to break it up.

Petitions that receive 25,000 signatures within a month are forwarded to administration policy experts for an official response.

Louisiana crossed the 25,000-vote threshold by Tuesday afternoon, with Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina nearing that number, according to the reports.

Historians and scholars have said that the petitions on the White House website won't be granted, and that they're the aftereffects of a heated presidential race.