Attention TX state and federal officials with R next to their names. Let me clue you in on a couple of points.
1) Secession is not an option. See the US Civil War.
2) TX does not have the authority to break up into smaller states autonomously. That went out the window when TX was re-admitted to the Union after the Civil War.
Bloviating about this pointless drivel makes the entire state look bad. Don't you realize that this garbage makes it difficult to convince smart people to move here, because it looks like the state is governed by idiots?
(This is my last Texas post for a long while - I promise.)
As much as it pains me to side with Rick Perry, surely the American government wouldn't deny Texans the right to self-determination?
ReplyDeleteHi Doug, as a foreigner to your country I am not always aware of details of everything is happening there. Can you tell me a source of what is happening? It really doesn't make sense to me what you are saying...
ReplyDeleteStephen - Texans have the right to pass state and local laws, elect whomever they like to statewide office, and they have the same rights as any other state to send representatives to Congress. I also think it's the height of hypocrisy for politicians to decry some mythical oppressive federal government on the one hand, and then turn around and demand federal assistance for, e.g., interstate highways, border patrol, and hurricane relief. Perry and apparently my own congressional representative are shamelessly pandering to the absolute extreme elements in their party. It's so blatant even for politicians that it's just laughable.
ReplyDeleteDaniel, don't worry about it. Basically the governor of Texas is interested in getting re-elected. To do this, he needs to win the nomination of his political party. Unfortunately for him, one of our senators (Kay Bailey Hutchinson) in his own party wants to run against him. So, the current governor has been trying to posture to the right wing of his party to curry favor. Unfortunately, to do this, he's been saying some genuinely stupid and harmful things. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal - it just really annoys me.
Shameless pandering? C'mon, it's theater. Think of it like that, and it becomes much less offensive. After all, is there anything significant about Rick Perry other than his hair?
ReplyDeleteOne imagines it's just theater, however, if the mostly R states did decide to leave the union, the rest of the country no longer has the guts to stop it militarily. The example of Czechoslovakia comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteBut in fact, there are huge numbers of R voters in D states and vice versa. Votes regularly end up close to 50%. The country is nowhere near as polarized as one would imagine from watching the news.
When third parties start up in this country they don't claim that the Rs and Ds are too extreme and that one should join the new party because it is the only moderate alternative. Instead they claim that the Rs and Ds are essentially identical and do not provide a real choice.
This reality is due to the way that political power is shaped by the election laws here. The two parties are forced towards the center in order to win swing votes. So we never have to choose, for example, between voting for a party that will join a coalition run by the Nazis or alternatively, support the coalition run by the Communists.
Last post for a while..? Let me point out that Joe Barton, Texas congressman, recently "baffled" Steve Chu with a basic question about where oil comes from.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen Steve Chu baffled. Ever. He may be un-baffle-able.
ReplyDeleteIt looked like Steve Chu was pained by the "dumbth" of the reasoning behind the question. He must be turning into a more patient guy, because he did put together a decent answer!
ReplyDeleteIt's all show--nothing more than an opportunistic politician trying to unseat the incumbent candidate of his own party in the upcoming senate election. He saw an angry mob and jumped in front of it trying to be the leader.
ReplyDeleteAlso, why such a large inferiority complex about living/working in Texas? If you are so embarrassed (or if it is so difficult to attract smart people to the state), why not move somewhere else?
I'm an Aggie and I was in the Corps of Cadets just like Rick Perry once was. We had a term for people like him. We called them "douchebags"
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