texas....disappointing, but not surprising

i lived in texas for 11 years. count 'em.....11.

i've taken heat on DU every time i've been critical of texas. after living and working there and paying taxes there for 11 years, i feel it's my right to be critical of the place.

i don't live there any more and after seeing the results of yesterdays propositions, i can see one reason why i would never live there again.

texans voted overwhelmingly (76% to 23%) to use the texas constitution to take rights away from people. that's right folks, the constitution, which was put in place to GIVE RIGHTS to people, is going to be used in texas to TAKE RIGHTS AWAY from people. 76% of the population there decided this.

from my wonderful texas friends i've heard things like "texas used to be democratic....it's all the damn carpetbaggers that have turned the state republican". it's a ridiculous assertion. texas was democratic when the dems were the party of the south.....texans were slow to figure out that the democratic party had switched over to become the party of civil rights. the dixiecrats eventually realized that their new train was the repub party and they finally switched over. texas is bush country, plain and simple. the majority of texas transplants from the north are what actually make up a large part of the small percentage of progressive people in the state.

there was a lot of hope last november that the dems would make a great showing on election day. i was a bit skeptical but somewhat hopeful. we saw what heppened. time and again, texas would rather elect filth like kay bailey hutchison and john cornyn to the senate than good, intelligent, hard working dems. texas, outside of the very urban areas, prefers filth like tom delay in congress. and even if bush had been caught with a dead girl or a live boy, texas would have still given him all of its electoral votes in a presidential election.

so, texas is in bad shape. very bad shape. it's depressing. you wouldn't expect that from a state with 3 or 4 big metropolitan areas.

texans have shown that they will overwhelmingly support using the constitution to take rights away from people. that's sick. whose rights will they want to take away next? blacks? hispanics? liberals? non-christians? environmentalists?

one time, i jokingly suggested that all progressive texans should move to florida to shrink the electoral and congressional weight of texas and to increase florida. the sudden increase in democratic citizens in florida would give the dem presidential candidate an easy victory in 2008 and the dems would also take back the congress. i took a lot of heat from texans for that suggestion. ok....anybody got any better suggestions?

It is awful easy to move to another country and then trash our State, a bit more challenging to remain here and try to make a difference. So you do your thing in Costa Rica, Texans will remain here and effect change.

So you go ahead and tell us from afar why it's hopeless, why our home and neighbors are totally fucked up and why we should all just run elsewhere so we too can write back and offer our constructive wisdom to those who remained.

Everytime I am feeling down I need someone like you to post & fire me up to continue. So I should just thank you and let it go at that.

Thank You!

...even when i lived there. i paid taxes there, it was my right to criticize the place.

and it's your right to defend the place.

that's what freedom of speech is all about! that's why it's a great country.

i salute you for staying and fighting (i would have left whether texas was a blue state or red state as i am more of a tropical rainforest kind of person). i was just making the point that the attempt seems futile. 76% of the state feels the constitution should be used to take rights away from the people they don't like. i hope that the freedom of speech and the other freedoms we enjoy don't fall victim to the same 76% and to the texas constitution before you and the rest of the 23% of good guys are able to get a stronghold there.

Whoopie yi yi yi.

Where? What did you do while you were here? How much time did you spend in rural and suburban areas trying to get the word out? None? Thought so.

Look, the information challenges in Texas have always been huge. The conservative forces own what little media there is in all that territory between the cities. Guess what? People actually live there. You want to change Texas? Then you have to do something about the rural areas.

Democratic politicians used to send country music bands around the state, back in the "bad old days." Republicans now do similar things. What does the Democratic party do in Texas to connect with the hinterlands? Nothing. The strategy of concentrating on the cities doesn't even win the party the cities. Win the rural areas, and the cities will come along.

Or just whinge. That's a hell of a lot easier and lets you feel morally superior.

did i spend much time in the suburbs? not really. i hardly ever went there. williamson county is not a very comfortable place for a long haired hippie type like me. even quite a bit of travis county has become red...you almost have to stay in the progressive parts of austin (i.e. inside the I-35, mopac, 183, ben white box) if you want to be around sane people.

houston was the same. inside the city was cool. once you set foot outside into the suburban areas, all bets are off.

my question is how do you possibly win the rural areas? these people have been set in their ways for generations. they hate everything you stand for.

The fundies turn out their votes. We don't. Bottom line.

I get emails from a variety of fundies in my extended family and friends. The past two months, the activity about voting to "save" marriage has been a constant topic the fundies have pushed.

What did we do? Almost nothing.

They will show up on Sunday morning every week for hours to reinforce their beliefs, so getting them to show up for voting is easy. They work harder than we do, and they show up in much greater numbers. Our voters are too busy recovering from last night's party or getting ready for tonight's party. Or, we're riding our bikes, or shopping, or lecturing others about social responsibility. Pretty much anything except actually showing up to vote when needed.

The right is more motivated to vote than our side is.

Caldwell County, outside Austin. Caldwell is pretty well cut-off from any information that doesn't come through the public schools or the churches. The churches, for the most part, are conservative organizations that have been taken over by the Republican party. People here don't "hate everything you stand for," but you can't expect them to know things they never hear about. What can be done? I'll address this to city folk in general, so don't take it personal.

Churches. There are Christian Democrats. Christian Democrats need to work to organize to get the good news of liberty, justice and brotherly love out into the hinterlands. Find a deep-pockets sponsor, and start sending out those tracts!

Music. I could bitch slap Austinites on a daily basis over this one. Austin progressive are constantly having awareness-raising musical events. Would it be so freaking hard to have events outside of Austin? We know that Austinites think everyone and his dog wants to spend a day in Austin, and ought to be driving in for anything offered, but country people don't want to be driving in the city, don't know Austin, and even if they come, will only be coming in onesies and twosies--those are the people who are already on our side. Make a difference with the people who are not yet our allies, but could be. (Yeah, I'm calling the self-styled "live music capital of the world" out on this one in particular, but the other cities oughta lessen on up, too). Send out a country/gospel/folk/blue grass group. Send out several of them. They can stay the nights with locals. They can sing songs about saving the Bill of Rights from evil corrupt politicians. They could perform for free in parking lots and people's yards. I still see churches doing this around here, and they still draw a crowd. Not a city-sized crowd, but a crowd all the same. People in rural and suburban areas appreciate it when other people make the effort to actually stop and get to know them and maybe even do something nice for them. If old Pappy O'Daniels could do it, modern Dems can do it too, and for better ends.

Film and plays and variety acts. What you show doesn't have to be overtly political, but should have a lightly progressive message. A progressive band of performers going around rural Texas, juggling, putting on plays, dancing, etc. would get a lot of attention.

Media. The only "local" radio out in the hinterlands is religious. Should would be nice to comboine a farm report with progressive politics, don't ya think? And the newspapers! Most of the local newspapers in small towns won't get anywhere near what they consider to be "controversial" issues, though their conservative slant is pretty obvious. A monthly alternative paper would be a great thing, but out here in the sticks, we don't have the capital to do it, or the know-how. Some help would be appreciated.

Education. Send lecturers out to the hinterlands. Please, don't talk about the most controversial issues, at least, not to start. That will shut down conversation. Talk about organic agriculture or how to be energy self-sufficient. Talk about those things, and you can probably get the cattlemen to let you use the auction house. And we have things we can teach you. Come see our oil museums and demonstration farms and geneology archives and heritage architecture. Marvel at how we can decorate our streets for holidays with things that would stolen or vandalized in the cities. Discover that we still have opries out here, with locals singing, performing and dancing. Heck, you might even get into the opry spirit and start making it part of your routine. That itself would work a wonder, since there is constant fear that the opries will die off.

Business. If you can do bidness with us, we love you. Rural Texas is poor Texas. Take a look at our little towns to see what we can offer. Establish an on-going business relationship if you can, but even just getting one of our eateries to cater an event, or having one of our sign companies make up pickets and posters, would be nice.

Stop being afraid of rural Texas. Really. When you drive between the cities, add an extra hour or two to your day trip so that you can get out and see what we have to offer. When the locals say, "You come on back now," they mean it. Most small towns off the beaten path are dying for visitors. Visitors buy a meal, buy a souvenir, and maybe, just maybe, decide they like a place enough that they consider investing in it.

What about suburbanites? Pretty much the same things that will work in the rural areas will work for suburbia. Those places are cultural deserts. They don't even have the sense of community that rural Texas has. People are tired of driving, and sure aren't going to drive on into the city to take advantage of whatever might be there on the weekend or after work.

Politically active urbanites have simply got to be the ones to reach out. You are the ones with the resources, connections, and know-how. Make the effort, and it will pay off.

If you want to address the topic of the votes, then do so. But any time anyone engages in these broad brush condemnations, it's nonsense. I'm reminded of the "they killed Kennedy" line about Texas so many used for years and years, as if everyone in the state was in on it.

When elections are held in "off" years, they always throw a lot more votes for the conservative side of issues. That is one reason they have these votes in "off" years. It's easy to get good votes because people don't show up to vote as much, and that means the fundies can have a disproportionate representation on the votes. The truth is, liberals are lousy at showing up for these kind of votes, especially young liberals. Too many are more focused on showing up for Renaissance Festival than winning important votes.

Generalizing about the population of the second most populous state is, at best, silly. It's about as diverse as a state can get. As in most of the country, the biggest differences are urban v. rural.

The state has had an enormous migration of Republicans into the state the past 25 years, and they have helped the Republican party go from minority to majority status.

In case you didn't know, Mark White and Ann Richards were not old time Democrats from the DixieCrat era, and they led Texas in the 80s and 90s.

I've only been in Austin since 1989 - the liberal heart of Texas. So you can be proud of Austin ... but I'm here to tell you that I am considering going back to the Corpus Christi area to work for the Democratic party -

Good progressives don't go seek out their own- they work at changing the hearts and minds of others.

I realized last night that I have become too comfortable in my liberal surroundings when I thought to myself "Well, thank God Austin voted to do the right thing."

You are out of Texas now - come back and do the work or a true believer.

It was an absolute redneck-infested shithole THEN, too...

I must be a harbinger of disaster or something...I moved to Ohio, after that, and NOW look what's happened!!!

Now I live in Canada, and the Liberal Party is tanking in the polls and the NDP are making deals with the Conservatives for support...HOLY CRAP!!!

You better hope I don't move to YOUR state next...

nt

Others can find good features in the most unpromising places.

Surroundings matter, but so do the eyes of the beholder.

I lived near Dallas - it's exactly as the slogan states - "It's like a whole other country!"

On the whole, I just didn't "get" the whole Texas mindset. I have never met a more agressive, argumentative, RUDE and COMPLETELY ignorant bunch of people in my life!!! I got into more arguments and altercations (and TWO ACTUAL FISTFIGHTS) while living there than I EVER have anwhere else. Up until that point, I hadn't had a fistfight since Grade 7. Since living there, I haven't been in any, either, (and it's been almost ten years) so what does THAT tell you? The Fourths of July ( I lived there over three years) were the most frightening days I can ever remember living though on this continent. Too many guns, waaaay too many drunken lunatics, flags, big trucks, and did I mention GUNS? I have been a hunter all my life and always owned guns ( I own three now, actually), but these people...HOLY CRAP!!!

Anyone that believes that Southern people are "easy-going" has never lived in the gun-happy inbred-hillbilly-redneck state of Texas. If you live there, and do not think so, that is alright - please stay there. And for gods' sake, please stop touching your sister.

I didn't have any problems in Ohio, though - lived outside of Cleveland for three years. People were nice, friendly, outgoing and welcoming. I was brought up on a farm, so I was certainly used to the landscape.

I must admit, now that I am back in Canada, it's good to be home! I was born here, and I have been back here for six years - people are a little more uptight than I remember, but on the whole, it's a completely different mindset. People are polite, welcoming, neighbourly, and they MIND THEIR OWN GODDAMN BUSINESS!

....that's west virginia, not texas.

;)

when you state words like that, you invite trouble. Sounds as though maybe it's not the state but the state of mind.....

but many of us are intolerant of freeper filth and other garden variety repubs and fascists.

and when you see a proposition to use the constitution to permanently take rights away from some citizens pass with the support of 76% of the voters you have to eventually wake up and smell the reality.

texans are very provincial....look what happens when someone criticizes the place. i lived there long enough to know that many people from there think it's god's gift to the world.

it ain't.

it's a sodom and gommorah of freeper filth and close minded republican trash with a small minority of progressives trying to close the curtain on all that and pretend it's really a progressive bastion that is just suffering a temporary setback of absorbing a bunch of republicans from horrible right wing places up north like michigan, illinois, new york, new jersey and california. it's depressing really, because it's a huge state that wields huge electoral power....it's very dangerous.

Thank God for Austin (San Antonio too?)

Why the hell would I want to trade one steamy, mosquito-infested, hurricane-threatened state with a Republican governor for another?

I'd love to retire to another country & criticize the USA from outside. Or maybe I wouldn't criticize, but help improve my current home.

I have ideas for improving Texas--which I will share with my fellow Texans. I've lived here for 50 years--not 11. Have fun sitting at the cafe with the other expatriates, filled with ennui & nostalgia!

....and i spend more time either working or in the rainforest than in any cafes.

trading texas for florida was a joke. but, if you think about it, it would only take a small percentage of dems from texas to move to florida to make it a solid blue state again. the margin between dems and repubs in texas is huge.....the difference is razor thin in florida.

there are certainly pluses and minuses in both places.

i lived in miami for four years. personally i thought it was a cooler place to live than texas. nice beaches, the everglades, a latin american flair and much better weather than texas.

the crime rate in central texas is lower. it has some hills, which florida doesn't have. and the cost of living in texas is probably still a bit lower, though austin is pretty high. driving is safer in texas as well.

There ain't nuthin outside of Texas.


Life is better for my family outside the tunnel.

Both parents were from NE Texas...both hard core liberals. I have a Texas uncle who is a real life Atticus Finch!
I LOVE Texas Liberals.
They are outspoken, sharp tongued, courageous, and NEVER run from a fight.
It was the LOCAL Liberals who first helped Cindy Sheehan with her protest in Crawford.

Molly Ivans
Jim Hightower
Bill Moyers
Ann Richards

All of the above are outspoken Texas Liberals who are representative of the "sharp tongued Texas populism" that I love. They also continue to live in Texas and bring the fight to the enemy on a daily basis. As long as these people are fighting for Texas, I will not give up. The Democrats must not continue to abandon Texas (and the South); we must fight harder (a la Dean's plan for the South).



I'm sorry you were unable to hook up with some REAL Texas Liberal activists!
The fight in Texas is not over.

For real.

Your kind words about certain Texans fits my own opinions.

I think you will like this nod I gave them in my political cartoon, Neil Lisst.