Proud of being stupid. Hey, it’s just a joke. Don’t y’all have no sense of humor? The problem with this sort of Texas contrarian humor is that these yokels get butthurt to the point of violence if someone directs it at them.

Remember Rick Perry and secession? That’s so yesterday. Ever-quotable lieutenant governor candidate Jerry Patterson says he has a better idea. Texas shouldn’t secede - it should just make the U.S. better by throwing liberal states out. California, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. “I get lots of questions all the time, ‘Well, we should secede.’ I say, ‘No, I’ve got a better idea. Instead of secession, I’m a proponent of expulsion,’” he told the AP. “I want to kick about four states out of this union.”

Patterson’s idea about state ideological cleansing underscores his distinctive political persona. A 2nd Amendment-loving, motorcycle-riding Marine - currently the state’s land commissioner - Patterson is running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor to replace incumbent David Dewhurst. It’s a crowded contest. He trails in money, but is good at grabbing headlines to present himself as the most conservative candidate in the field.

On guns: He always has a .22-caliber Magnum in his boot and sometimes a .380 in his waistband. “It’s like a smoke detector: You don’t turn it on just for when you think you might get a fire.”

On the Endangered Species Act: It protects “critters that probably ought to die anyway. I mean, the blind salamander? How long are we gonna let that little bugger last?”

As a member of the state Senate, Patterson was author of the concealed handgun law in 1995. And he’s been a bullish proponent of 2nd Amendment rights, including the right to carry guns almost anywhere - including the Capitol in Austin. When a colleague suggested the best way to keep someone from firing a gun inside the Capitol is to ban weapons from the building, Patterson had a different idea: “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to return fire.”

As for the lieutenant governor’s race, he faces Dewhurst, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Houston radio show host Sen. Dan Patrick. The candidates are all appealing to tea party voters in the GOP as the most conservative candidate vying for the job. As for booting California, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut out of the union, Patterson joked it was “a little tongue in cheek.” But hey, he told the AP why not? “Just think about how different our country would be if New York and California weren’t the tail wagging the dog. And those other states? It’s not America.”

More: Texas Candidate Jerry Patterson Says Don’t Secede From the Union — Just Throw Liberal States Out