Republic of West Texas (1983: Doomsday)

The Republic of West Texas is an American survivor nation based in the old southwestern United States.

Doomsday, the early years
The state of Texas was hit hard during Doomsday, particularly in its eastern half. All of its major cities - Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso - were hit, along with many smaller, but strategically important, cities and towns: Brownsville, Del Rio, Galveston, Midland, San Angelo, Laredo, Lubbock, Texarkana and Wichita Falls.

The largest cities to not get hit were Midland and Odessa in western Texas. It was there that relief efforts for western Texas were headquartered. Civic leaders agreed to fully cooperate on all matters for the forseeable future, with the top priority to provide food, shelter and safety for their residents and as many refugees as possible. A similar agreement was come to among civic leaders in nearby Carlsbad and Hobbs, New Mexico.

Midland/Odessa received refugees flowing northward from south Texas and the border Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, as news of the cities survival spread amongst refugees from the various blast sites. Estimates are that the area population swelled to nearly a million people in the initial days and weeks after Doomsday

Electricity began to go in and out at an increasing rate and, despite the best efforts of local officials, finally disappeared in January of 1984. At that point, city leaders asked officials at local power plants to continue to find ways to get the power back on; however, they looked back at their ancestors, and decided that for the time being, going back to an 18th-century standard of living was their best option.

Electricity was eventually restored, but only in public areas, as civic leaders thought the policy would best preserve that particular resource.

Between radiation, problems growing needed produce and disease, the population decreased by an estimated 300,000.

The West Texas riots
Another 20,000 died in a 19-month-long series of skirmishes between Mexican refugees and locals, cumulating in April, 1985 riots in Midland, Carlsbad and Fort Stockton that broke out into all-out fighting and an estimated 2,000 deaths.

After the riots, leaders representing the native Texans and the Mexican refugees sat down for talks in Andrews, and everyone agreed that both sides needed to live in peace.

"There has been enough killing," said Mexican representative Jaime Morelos on April 29. "We must join together as one, to build life for ourselves and our loved ones the best we can."

Declaration of independence and the establishment of West Texas
Officials began to draft a provisional constitution for a Republic of West Texas, based upon the United States and Texas state constitutions.

On July 4, 1985, representatives from Seminole, Lamesa, Andrews, Colorado City, Snyder, Big Spring, Midland, Odessa, Kermit, Monahans, McCarney, Fort Stockton, Alpine, Marfa, Presidio, Sanderson, Ozona, Pecos, Van Horn, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Lovington, and Artesia gathered at the Midland Community Theater to formally sign the constitution. The capitol was established in Midland. A provisional governor was nominated, and elections to formally elect a governor and legislators were set for (and held) in November.

Mexico
One of the first acts of the Republic of West Texas was to send parties into Mexico to request aid from Mexico City. The first time the parties received supplies from a Red Cross group near Monterrey, and news that Mexico had survived; the Red Cross continued to send supplies over the next few months. However, in September West Texas representatives were turned back at Anahuac, although they were given supplies, and told of the earthquake that had devastated Mexico City.

In October, West Texas parties made five attempts to cross into Mexican territory, each time being turned back by Mexican military officials who continually insisted that all border states were being abandoned. After the fifth and final attempt on the 31st, the West Texas government decided to take it as Mexico's abandonment of their humanitarian responsibilty, and that west Texas should fend for itself.

The West Texas officials were also mindful of comments by a Mexican captain, that West Texas would eventually die off. Leaders were outraged, and determined to survive and thrive the best they could.

Isolationism
The civic leaders instituted a policy of isolationism, given Mexico's actions and having heard nothing from the rest of the country. Over the next couple of decades, he population stabilized and began to grow, as women were encouraged to marry and have many children.

Ham radios were eventually fixed and restored to service, but only for the benefit of the government, which learned enough to deduce that civilization survived in both hemispheres, especially in Australia and South America; that Vice President Bush made it out of Washington into Australia; and that the United States government had officially dissolved some time after Doomsday.

DIscussion arose in 1997 of exploring the rest of the state and adjoining states, but the government again affirmed its policy of isolationism. One senator said "we're doing just fine on our own; if anybody wants to find us, they can come find us. We have enough problems here without going out looking for more trouble."

The government's policy of isolationism wouldn't stand forever, though, as sentiment grew among many in their teens and early 20s, and some of their parents (some of whom were legislators and military personnel) to see who had survived and what was out beyond the West Texas borders. It took 12 years for the government to relent on its strict isolationist policy. Perhaps seeing the wisdom of relenting versus fighting its own people - and mindful of Morelos' comments back in 1985 - the West Texas government finally abandoned its isolationism.

Present day
In July 2009, the governor approved formal expeditions to all points north, south, east and west, starting with expeditions into former New Mexico, Coahuila, and eastern Texas. It was decided to send parties out on horseback, and to hold back four-wheelers and jeeps in reserve in case other survivor nations were found and expeditions to their capitals needed to be taken.

Two groups of teens, however, went out on their own in late July 2009. Many people feared for the kids' safety and were heartened to see them return...and greatly surprised with who they came back with. One group which had gone west returned in late August with a scout party from the nation of Dinetah. The second group, which had gone north, returned in late September with a party from the state of Colorado in the North American Union.

The President Pro Tem of the House of Representatives met the NAU party in a reception at the MCT, and opened his remarks by saying "Folks, it looks like the world has come to us."

Expansion
There are tentative plans in the next two years to scout the western and northern halves of the old state of Texas outside of the West Texas borders, specifically the following cities:


 * Amarillo
 * Lubbock
 * Abilene
 * Sweetwater
 * El Paso
 * San Angelo
 * Del Rio
 * Austin
 * San Antonio
 * Laredo
 * McAllen/Brownsville
 * Santa Fe
 * the Oklahoma panhandle
 * the Coahuila/Nuevo Leon/Tamaulipas borders with old Texas

There are also long-term plans to scout eastern Texas.

Scouts will be instructed to examine the ruined cities for salvageable material as well as their potential for future resettlement. Parties will also be instructed to look for other survivor communities in the area, and offer on behalf of West Texas whatever aid they may need. Not knowing for sure what's out there (partly because of the government's long-time policy of isolationism), armed Texas Rangers and Army personnel will accompany scouting parties for defensive purposes only.

Military/police
Volunteers consisting of area Texas Rangers, state patrolmen, police officers and interested civilians, were initially activated as the state's de facto police force.

Officials soon established an Army, with mandatory service for all males 18 and over for at least two years and reserve status until age 35. Each city and town established its own police force, led by a sheriff, and the government reactivated the Texas Rangers as a law-enforcement agency that does everything from provide security for the President to criminal investigations.

Midland and Odessa are the only towns in which the police use automobiles, and even then, many officers either patrol their beats on foot or by bicycle or horseback. In the smaller towns, police use horseback to get around. The Army and Rangers have some jeeps, fourwheelers and motorcycles in reserve, but also make extensive use of horseback.

Relations with other nations and survivor states
Not expecting anyone to have survived in the US, and not expecting help from Mexico or the southern hemisphere, West Texas never gave any thought to maintaining relations with other survivor states, nor sending diplomats to other countries, nor trade with those nations.

Now that it has learned of the existence of the ANZC, South American Confederation, the League of Nations and the WCRB as well as survivor states like the NAU, Deseret, Victoria, the MSP, Dinetah, Lakotah, Superior, Vermont, Virginia, Aroostook, Saguenay and Canada, West Texas must give thought to all of these matters.

A group of older U.S. military veterans, some of whom served in the West Texas army in the '80s and '90s, learned of the existence of the Committee to Reform the United States of America, and that George H.W. Bush was alive in Australia. They have asked the NAU scouts - on their own initative, without consulting any government officials - to contact Bush and the CRUSA, and ask them to visit West Texas; the NAU will deliver the request only at the insistence of the West Texas government.

Doomsday memorial
The estimated 360,000 who are officially said to have died by "war-related causes" and who died in the Mexican/Anglo skirmishes of the early years are buried in the West Texas Cemetery northwest of Fort Stockton. At the entrance to the cemetery is a memorial with the names of the people who died, as well as the Texas and New Mexico areas destroyed on Doomsday. It took five years to build the memorial, which opened to the public on July 4, 1995.

Sports
Football, baseball and soccer are very popular, and very important to cultural morale. High school football is especially held in high regard; the annual regular-season game between Midland Lee and Odessa Permian high schools is said to draw the interest of the entire region. An amateur league with teams named after the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Oilers and other NFL teams has played games in Midland and Odessa for the past several years.