ALL GUNS AND NO GOWNS
Did you know that the “United” States has three electrical power grids? One grid services states east the Mississippi; another interconnects the western states, save Texas. Yep, the Lone Star state, as usual, likes to go it alone with its own solitary grid, not wanting any Feds meddling in their affairs.
The costs of “do-it-yourself” can be high. Take, for example, the power failure in Texas in mid-February when an abnormal but predictable (much the same thing happened ten years ago) Arctic cold mass descended upon the Lone Star State and visited tragedy and suffering on its unprepared citizens. More than 100 died from the cold.
Call it a leadership failure. Or call it another Republican failure. But I repeat myself. It’s what you get when people who don’t believe in government run the government. Texas exemplifies that reality like no other place in the good ole Disunited States. The Lone Star GOP can’t keep the lights on, but it leads the world in the black art of gerrymandering. It’s also a state where a hunting license meets voter-ID requirements, but a student ID does not. Take that, snowflakes!
Who’s running this “Lazy Fair Ranch” you might ask. Well, there’s Governor Greg Abbott, who, fresh from his successes allowing Texans to “open carry” handguns and banning abortions after six weeks, just today passed a passel of restrictive voting laws.
Then there’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, an ultraconservative who opposes gay marriage and the decriminalization of marijuana possession, and who supports keeping Confederate monuments on public display and the teaching of Creationism in the schools. Enough said?
Finally, there’s Tejas’s most engaging public face, none other than that dashing statesman we all know and love, Senator Ted Cruz. He’s one tough hombre. When the deadly February storm struck, he made the arduous flight to Cancún to protect his family. Take a bow, Señor Ted!
Ask a Texan what he values most and you’ll get a one-word answer: Freedom. “Freedom” (or is it neglect?) means everything to your average Texan. This mindset is bolstered by studying the Bible daily, repeated viewing of every John Wayne movie ever made, and getting someone to read to you the writings of Ayn Rand. (In them white men find their rationale to put up an obstructionist roadblock to most everything considered “liberal” or “progressive.”)
Ever since Texans stole their present state from Mexico back in 1846, when they briefly declared themselves a nation unto themselves, Texans have talked on and off about bailing out and leaving the Union—and actually did back in 1861 when they joined the Confederate States of America. Since then many reasons have been given by Texans why Texas should do so again. Most recently, the outgoing Chairman of the Texas Republican Party, Allen West, declared two days before the January 6 insurrection that the U. S. is in the throes of an “ideological civil war.” His solution was to draft a bill this year for the legislature that proposed “a referendum on the question of secession of whether this state [Texas] should leave the United States of America and establish an independent republic.” The proposal didn’t get very far.
Cooler heads must have seen the problems independence would pose, given an economy heavily reliant on the petroleum industry in this age of global warming and fossil fuels’ guilty part in it, not to mention the environmentally harmful cattle industry that faces strong competition from more ecologically friendly producers of plant-based protein. What are the state’s fallback industries that would support the vanity of secession? (Even the export value of manure would decline, given the thinning of the herds…would that mean the B.S. would stay in Texas where it belongs?)
For all that, I wish Texas success in its secession efforts. Let’s face facts. Texans think they are too good for the rest of us…and we should humor them. Who wants another bloody battle at the Alamo? Why not help them pack and part friends?