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  • I think that it’s now safe to say that we Texans now live in a failed state.  30 years of GOP rule, setting our own standard, living the “Texas Dream,” which they’ve bragged about relentlessly…and let’s see where we are:

    A majority of the state in complete failure, unable to deliver the most BASIC of services (things that are called “utilities,” not “luxuries,” for a reason).  No power.  No water.  No means of clearing roads (that one, I can’t fault the state so much….but it wouldn’t be as big a crisis if people weren’t stuck in their homes with no power and water).  So citizens are stuck in their homes, some of them dying there. 

    Water resource planning?  After pretending for decades that a drought would never happen again, and not doing ANYTHING to develop resources in the state water plan (a document actually developed using science and mathematical projections), we had several locations, including actual cities, down to a few days of water supply.  We’ve finally gotten on our horse a bit, but it may be too late if the next drought comes anytime soon.  

    State rank in key categories:

    Education – 34

    Health Care - 37

    Infrastructure - 33

    Opportunity - 39

    Environment - 44

    Infrastructure - 33 

    In overall quality of life ranking by US News, we are now #38, down from #36 just two years ago.  At that rate, we’ll be in the bottom 3 within ten years.

    We are SUPER independent, and FUCK the feds….but we have requested federal disaster assistance more than any other state in the past decade or so.

    But hey, our economy is ranked #15!

    That’s right, we have a “roaring economy” and the “Texas Miracle!”  But we can’t deliver the basics for our citizens.  The economy is VERY efficient at funneling bazillions to the very few…..with little of it “trickling down” to most Texans.  Yeah, the people on this board generally do fine, but face the facts – we’re the top 10% or so.  We are educated, older, and fortunate.

    Our federal system allows for state-by-state experiments.  Texas is the poster child for near anarcho-capitalism and zero regulation or oversight.  We have tested that approach, for over a generation now (30 years of Republican rule).  That approach is a failure.  The evidence is undeniable, and overwhelming.  It doesn’t matter how many River Oaks millionaires you produce if the rest of your people are dying in their homes.  Shit, some of those River Oaks millionaires might be freezing to death today, too.

    The kids of a middle class family can hardly afford to go to a good state school.  Their prospects for employment are mediocre.  Their prospects of suffering crippling medical debt at some point are significant.  Their chances of not having basic utilities needed for life safety at some point – all but certain.  Their chances of becoming ill or dying from a pollution-caused illness are material.

    What’s the result?  Our leaders have sold Texas as a paradise – move here!  Bring your business here!  And some businesses have done so, adding opportunity…..but providing little to no tax support for the infrastructure we all depend on.  To the contrary, over the past few years, I know more and more people – educated people, people who can do their jobs elsewhere, who are looking to bail on this state.  It’s people with young kids, who want them to grow up in a better place.  It’s people in their working years, who simply want a better path.  It’s retirees, who want a safe and secure place to live.

    We have consumed our seed stock.  We have burned through our reserves.  We are now consuming ourselves.  The ability to pitch Texas as the land of opportunity is done.  Seeing what we have become, the tentative thought/plan my wife and I had of wrapping up our careers here and then getting the hell out of Dodge is becoming much more concrete.  My children are already unlikely to make their future in this state.  Now we are, too.

    But the response from the Republican leadership and their sycophants – “how are you gonna pay for it?  Taxes?  That’s socialism!  You want that stuff, you have to pay for it!”

    Fuck yes I do, and I’m okay with that.  I want groceries…so I have to pay HEB.  I want a car…so I have to pay Ford.  I want clothes…..so I have to pay Dillards.  I want my population educated….so I have to pay the school district.  I want electricity, with enough capacity to keep us running when we need it…..so I have to pay my bill, maybe with a capacity surcharge.  I want water to come out of the taps….so I have to pay for development of resources and maintenance of infrastructure.  I want roads….so I pay taxes to build and maintain them.  YES, I have to pay for all of those things, and “nothing is free” – no fucking shit.  So, let’s pay for it.  We have the #15 economy….we HAVE the funds in this state.  An economy with the flow of funds that ours has can produce and maintain all of those results.  But we have chosen a different path; funnel all the dollars to the top, and spend next to nothing for the public good.  We have privatized profit….we have socialized the costs.  And we are dying because of it.

    My fellow Texans are dying in their homes….and there’s nothing I can do about it today.  And I am enraged.

    I love Texas.  I am 6th generation here.  My ancestors have Texas historical markers on their graves.  We helped make this state, and this state helped make us.  It educated us (back when college was affordable).  But it’s time to face the fact – this state is a failure, and on its current path, with its current leadership and philosophy, it will only get worse.  This state has a terrible future, unless we dramatically change our path.   Chances of that happening?  0.0% -- because we’ll continue to vote for the guys who make our leadership priorities bathroom bills, and transgender sports, and requiring the national anthem be played at certain events.  Any bill that has been proposed to improve emergency preparedness of gov’t entities has been crushed by the Republicans controlling the lege….but we will definitely stick with those guys.  No taxes.  No government functionality.

    What we are seeing happening right now is our system working EXACTLY AS IT WAS DESIGNED AND INTENDED TO WORK.  And we will, I guarantee it, collectively decide to stick with that.  This state is in free-fall, and anyone with eyes can see it.  And anyone with a brain is starting to think of ways to make their life elsewhere.  It breaks my goddamned heart to see us commit collective suicide, but here we are.

     

     


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    Sawbonz

    Posted (edited)

    4 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

    Do you think that the elected leadership at the statewide and Federal level in the aftermath of this tragedy has been adequate and appropriate? Serious question. 

    Let’s see. Anna makes a ridiculous statement. You reasonably ask him to defend that ridiculous statement. He proceeds to completely ignore the request and ask you to defend a laundry list of things that he thinks you think

    that about right?

    Edited by Sawbonz
    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 1
    CTC2

    Posted

    When a politician is not afraid of losing a general election, there is no accountability for them being bad at their job. Texas keeps returning the same people to office who generally have no fear of losing to a democrat who may actually be interested in public service. 
    However, what they are afraid of is losing a primary to someone who is more crazy than them. They have no interest in governing, but are more interested in culture war stuff.  As a state, we care more about trans people in sports than actually working to make the lives of people safer and better. 
    All that makes for bad governance. 

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 2
    • Rage+1 1
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
    Anastasis

    Posted

    26 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

    Let’s see. Anna makes a ridiculous statement. You reasonably ask him to defend that ridiculous statement. He proceeds to completely ignore the request and ask you to defend a laundry list of things that he thinks you think

    that about right?

    Pretty much whiffed on each sentence. Jeez bonz. 

    • Fuck You 1
    wildcat09

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    Yep. At the camp level, I don’t know what is supposed to happen, but my instinct is that with 800 female kids in one area especially you’d have one or more people on active roving patrol all night long for any number of predatory issues as well as just problems that occur at night with that many kids in one place.  On top of that, the camp should have been aware of the overnight flood watch and been on heightened alert and listening to radio or otherwise getting weather updates, and been ready to take action. It’s difficult to believe any of this happened, but we will see eventually. 
     

    then there’s the local government response. This one is tougher, because it’s not their job to go door to door to make sure everyone is aware. But theee seems to be an extended time delay between the flood warnings and city/county broadcasting of them. And there’s no phone tree for certain areas- especially the places with large congregations of people?  You claim you know that you are in flash flood alley and are no stranger to floods- and you know you don’t have the siren warning system- so what is your procedure?

    What the fuck else do they do? I don't expect a literal door to door alert throughout the county, but the riverside camps with shitty cell coverage and lots of kids in them seem like it'd be worth sending someone to make sure they're aware of the danger.

    Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand

    Posted (edited)

    37 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    TLDR; criticizing statewide Republican leadership that has been in control for over a generation, and federal Republican leadership that has seized total control of all levers of power, when events that have a real connection to their policy choices (eg, “deregulating” the Texas energy market to eliminate all capacity functions) is “broken-brained.”
    But spending hours upon hours on how Biden has dementia and a trans volleyball player in Wyoming is destroying our society is just good and smart conversation.
    We are getting exactly what we ask for, we’re getting it good and hard, and Ana wants to be very, very sure that we get a lot more of it.

    All the power.

    None of the responsibility.

    *edit*

    Likely parlayed into grievances they're being oppressed

    Edited by Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand
    • Rage+1 2
    Anastasis

    Posted

    I expect hayden to be along shortly lecturing people on shitty posting behavior. 

    • Fuck You 1
    Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand

    Posted

    *MTG bounces weather-seeding causation off of Ana's face*

    Ana- You CR clowns have lost it!

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 2
    • Drool 1
    PenelopeWitherspoon

    Posted

    16 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

     

     

    This. He is a troll. 

    I just neg him and move on. His shit is tired.

     

    Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand

    Posted

    Like, an actual elected rep with an actual House vote and nary a worry about getting re-elected, Harlem Globetrotter-style.

    Inspector Clouseau of Clown Detection is on the case.

     

    Steamboat1874

    Posted (edited)

    1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

    TLDR; criticizing statewide Republican leadership that has been in control for over a generation, and federal Republican leadership that has seized total control of all levers of power, when events that have a real connection to their policy choices (eg, “deregulating” the Texas energy market to eliminate all capacity functions) is “broken-brained.”
    But spending hours upon hours on how Biden has dementia and a trans volleyball player in Wyoming is destroying our society is just good and smart conversation.
    We are getting exactly what we ask for, we’re getting it good and hard, and Ana wants to be very, very sure that we get a lot more of it.

    Great post.

    Edited by Steamboat1874
    • Hook 'Em 2
    hayden_horn

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Anastasis said:

    I expect hayden to be along shortly lecturing people on shitty posting behavior. 

    do you mean you? already did that. you are a terrible poster and you know it. do you feel clever? 

    • Hook 'Em 1
    mchookem

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

    The broken, unhinged clowns on Surly Horns politics forum must taste the whip of my unique wit and be thoroughly vanquished before I can even begin to critique the pros and cons of the leader of the Free World's assertion that Joe Biden is a robot. 

    image.jpeg.c82fb9ad7eff345379e51cdf963e4182.jpeg

     

    • Haha 3



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