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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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Recommended Comments

Hornius Emeritus

Legacy Members
7 hours ago, Im_smarter_then_you said:

Damn shame this state sucks as the real estate is cheap


Where? Odessa?

Im_smarter_then_you

Burnt Ends
13 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:


Where? Odessa?

I mean it’s all relative I guess

tx 3 putt

Legacy Members
22 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:


Where? Odessa?

loving county

Gil Bang

Certifiably Surly
8 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

BWAHAHAHAHAHA

Have you never read the Daily Texan board?

Yep. The overwhelming majority of Texas alums are trump worshipers. It's not 99% like aggy, but it's over 75%

TwiceHorn

Full Members
2 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

Yep. The overwhelming majority of Texas alums are trump worshipers. It's not 99% like aggy, but it's over 75%

Not sure I'd go that far. The demographics of a basically football board (or sports, anyway) skew things pretty decidedly, if not dramatically.

bluto

Certifiably Surly
2 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

Yep. The overwhelming majority of Texas alums are trump worshipers. It's not 99% like aggy, but it's over 75%

This is some hyperbolic bullshit. Even in 2020 it was 50/47 favoring Biden among Texas voters with college degree. That gap widened in 2024. And that also includes an absolute shit ton of southwest conference grads so the D vote must be coming from somewhere in high numbers.

bluto

Certifiably Surly

Also this, recent grads but even anm campus flipped blue recent times

The Daily Texan
No image preview

Blue among red: 10 years of voting at Texas public univer...

For the past 30 years, the state of Texas has voted Republican. For the past five, conservative lawmakers have passed a slew of legislation targeting a central, threatening idea — liberal college camp

tx 3 putt

Legacy Members
4 minutes ago, bluto said:

Also this, recent grads but even anm campus flipped blue recent times

The Daily Texan
No image preview

Blue among red: 10 years of voting at Texas public univer...

For the past 30 years, the state of Texas has voted Republican. For the past five, conservative lawmakers have passed a slew of legislation targeting a central, threatening idea — liberal college camp

old army is pissed about this

mchookem

Certifiably Surly
36 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Not sure I'd go that far. The demographics of a basically football board (or sports, anyway) skew things pretty decidedly, if not dramatically.

yeah i mean anecdotes are meaningless but i am fairly good friends/in regular contact irl with (counts) 13 alums, 11 of which have been progressive/liberal since we met and 2 recovering republicans like me 😆 and i was in the Young Reps at Texas so it's not like i was self-selecting when we met 😜

otoh, as mentioned elsewhere last night, an entire branch of my extended family tree are almost all Texas grads, frat/sorority types, very well connected in Texas...are all on board with Abbott/maga.

Gil Bang

Certifiably Surly

whatever makes y'all sleep at night.

bolverk

Legacy Members

Texas set to ban smokable cannabis as soon as Jan. 25
Smokable cannabis products sold legally across Texas could disappear by the end of the month under proposed state rules that would redefine how THC is measured and dramatically raise costs for hemp businesses.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has drafted sweeping new regulations for the hemp industry, including child-resistant packaging, stronger warning labels, expanded testing, recall procedures and fee increases of roughly 10,000% for manufacturers and retailers.

Under the proposal, posted online for public comment the day after Christmas, annual fees for hemp manufacturers would jump from $250 to $25,000 per facility. Retailers would be required to pay $20,000 per location each year, up from the current $150 registration fee.

The proposed rules would still allow for edible hemp products, like gummies and drinks containing Delta-9, Delta-8 and potent cannabinoids such as THCP.

Those products would be required to carry warning labels, clear dosing instructions and web links to independent lab tests showing the concentration of active ingredients and the presence of any heavy metals, pesticides or microbial contamination.

More than 9,100 retail locations in Texas are registered to sell consumable hemp products, according to state health records. An emergency rule adopted in September prohibited sales of hemp products to people under 21, even though many, if not most, stores already carded customers.

State health officials drafted the new regulations in response to an executive order issued by Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 10 directing state agencies to develop new rules governing what Texas calls "consumable hemp products."

The order followed a stalemate in the Legislature, where lawmakers failed to agree on whether to regulate mind-altering hemp compounds or attempt another outright ban. In June, Abbott vetoed an initial bill prohibiting THC products that had been championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Under Texas law, hemp is defined as cannabis containing no more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana. That definition was adopted by state lawmakers in 2019 and closely mirrored federal legislation passed the year before.

Neither state nor federal law explicitly banned THCA, a naturally occurring cannabis compound that converts into Delta-9 THC when heated or smoked. Even in states where marijuana is legal, most of the Delta-9 THC in smokable cannabis starts as THCA.

The proposed rules would include THCA amounts in the calculation of Delta-9 THC levels, a change that would effectively outlaw most smokable hemp products.

During a public hearing Friday morning, DSHS commissioners heard from dozens of small hemp business owners and cannabis users. Many said they supported stricter packaging rules and age limits, but objected to the effective ban on smokable products and the sharp increase in licensing and registration fees.

"These proposed fees don't regulate small businesses, they eliminate them," Estella Castro, owner of Austinite Cannabis Co., told commissioners. "This proposal would force me to close, despite doing everything right."

Several speakers accused the health department of exceeding its authority by attempting to redefine THCA as Delta-9.

"Changing Delta-9 to total THC is a legislative function, not administrative," said Jesse Mason, owner of the San Antonio hemp store Reggie & Dro. "By counting THCA prior to heat, you are banning products the legislature legalized."

A handful of speakers testified in full support of the regulations and called on the state health department to go even further.

"Thank you for increasing license fees. The more difficult it is for the industry to addict users, the better. Age limits should be higher than 25," said Christine Scruggs, an anti-THC activist who said her son had developed psychosis from cannabis use and required medical treatment to recover.

Dr. Lindy McGee, a Houston pediatrician who spoke to commissioners on behalf of the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Pediatric Society, called for stricter labeling requirements, including statements that THC can be habit forming and take more than two hours to kick in.

"[Label warnings] should be easily recognizable and large enough for a grandparent who is babysitting to be able to tell that the gummies are edibles and not something they should be giving their grandkids," she said. "That's another thing we see in the emergency department."

State health officials can still revise the rules based on public feedback. The regulations could take effect as soon as Jan. 25, or the department could delay or phase in enforcement.

The drafted rules would not affect the state's medical marijuana program, which was expanded in 2025 to allow for 15 dispensaries statewide, up from three.

Longhorn_Fan68

Certifiably Surly
14 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

whatever makes y'all sleep at night.

y'all sleep?

atomheartbevo

Certifiably Surly
7 hours ago, bolverk said:
  Quote

Texas set to ban smokable cannabis as soon as Jan. 25
Smokable cannabis products sold legally across Texas could disappear by the end of the month under proposed state rules that would redefine how THC is measured and dramatically raise costs for hemp businesses.

In an election year?

bold GIF

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