Texas is hijacked by Conservatives

     Texas has been a predominantly red Conservative state for as long as most folks can remember.  But these conservatives are really making a mess of things these days.  Today I will pontificate on a couple of ways this is happening.

Gambling

      Casino gambling has been illegal in Texas for a long time, thanks to the heavy-handed influence of evangelical conservatives.  But everybody knows well that Texans are big-time gamblers; they just go to Louisiana, Oklahoma, or Nevada to do it.  In Houston, you can tune into any local radio or TV station and within minutes you'll get an ad urging you to drive to Lake Charles, just across the Louisiana border, to gamble.  Peruse the parking lots in any of the casinos over there and all you see are Texas license plates.

     Back in 2011,  Politifact Texas estimated that Texans spend about $2.5 Billion a year gambling in neighboring states, and it's probably gone up since then.  That's a lot of Texas money, conservatives. But hey, gambling is morally wrong and thus must be banned!

     But in a classic case of "do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do", the state of Texas runs its own gambling operation in the form of a state lottery.  It pulled in $5 Billion in 2016, according to the Star Telegram.

Trump's Wall (and other goofy edicts)

     Recently, our illustrious President visited the Texas-Mexican border to garner support for his Monument, er, wall.  This is a preposterously expensive project that does absolutely nothing to address the real immigration issues.  And remember that he promised that Mexico would pay for it, not the U.S. taxpayers. 

     One damn good reason to oppose it, aside from its monumental cost, is that the government would have to seize a huge hunk of the land from property-owners using eminent domain.  Some of these property-owners have lived there for many generations.  Eminent domain is one of those governmental powers that is absolutely contrary to the concept of "the land of the free".
     On the positive side, a lot of people who actually live near the border, and some local politicians down there, are dead-set opposed to it. 

Dan Patrick

     And then there's Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, hard-core right-wing Evangelical conservative and loyal Trump supporter.

     For folks who live outside of Texas, let me tell a little bit about Dan Patrick.  He's a former radio talk-show host.  He gained big-time notoriety last year when he sponsored his infamous Bathroom Bill.  What did it mandate?  Well let's say you were away from home, out shopping, dining, working, traveling, whatever, and you needed to "go".  Well under this bill, you would have to first produce your birth certificate, whereby some government official would ascertain that the gender inscribed upon said document actually matched your sex.  

      Patrick never really specified how exactly this would work.  Would they hire bathroom inspectors to stand guard at the door of every bathroom in the entire state?  And how exactly would your sex be verified?  Would one need to drop their pants, lift their skirt, whatever, for a personal inspection? (And you thought airport TSA inspections were bad!!)  And what if one didn’t happen to have a certified copy of their birth certificate in their possession?   (That would include me; I normally don't carry mine around with me).  Would they be denied entrance into ANY bathroom and then have to just "go" in the hallway outside the bathroom?  Patrick never was quite clear on these details.

     Fortunately, the Bathroom Bill didn't go very far. 
     I bring up this sordid bit of Texas history to illustrate the intelligence and integrity (or lack thereof) of our illustrious Lt. Governor.  And so, it's not surprising that Patrick and Trump are two peas in the same pod, and Patrick backs Trump 100% on his border wall thing, eminent domain and all.  Patrick has visited the White House several times to consult with Trump on this issue.  This whole affair should put to rest any remaining doubts that right-wing conservatives care a rat's posterior about "limited government" or anything to that effect.

Budget shortfall

     The latest issue hitting us Texans hard is the state budget.  It seems that revenues are insufficient to cover costs.  (Imagine that!)  There is no state income tax, so property taxes constitute the biggest revenue source.  But property taxes just keep going up and up with no end in sight, and still there's not enough money. 

     One of the biggest expenditures in the current state budget is education, at $42 Billion (19% of total budget).

(source: The Texas Tribune)  Divided into the state population of 28 million, that comes out to an average of $1500 a year for every man, woman, and child, or $6 thousand a year for a family of four.    

     Wouldn't this be a great time (at least in Texas, for now) to re-ask why the heck government runs the education business?  Right off the bat, it would save the state $42 Billion a year.  And it would especially benefit folks like my wife and me.  We've been empty-nesters for well over a decade, and yet continue to pay dearly for something we don't need or use.

      A good education is arguably one of the most important factors affecting a person's odds of success in life, and yet we turn this vital task over to politicians and bureaucrats.  Education is a service, just like food, housing, transportation, clothing, medicine, etc, etc.   History has proven that free enterprise is the most efficient way to provide the goods and services that we humans want and need, at the best price.  And yet the argument persists that, because education is "important", then the government should provide it.  That is the absolute epitome of backwards thinking!
      And it's not just economic.  A big problem with trying to create a one-size-fits-all school system is that students and families are NOT all alike.  Students come from different backgrounds, have different cultures, different religions, different languages, different customs.  Will the unified school system teach evolution or creationism?  Allow prayer?  What may students wear?  Require vaccinations?  What holidays will be observed?  Every student and his/her family has different needs and expectations from their school.  But if you let 2-kid families KEEP that $6 Thousand they would otherwise pay into school taxes and shop around for the best school for their needs and their budget, everybody wins!

      But of course don't expect Conservatives, not even hard-core Texas Conservatives, to support this idea, or any other idea that would involve the state from relinquishing some of its control over our lives, our money, and our personal affairs. 

     No, neither would the Liberals.