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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.

 

 

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

tx 3 putt

Legacy Members
(edited)

my guess, abbott is 100% going to ban non citizens from K to public university 

he has to out maga other maga governors 

Edited by tx 3 putt

mchookem

Certifiably Surly

wait... what's the argument? 🤔 if not the state...like who?

this is a new one.

 

Sawbonz

Certifiably Surly
20 minutes ago, bluto said:

It’s literally in the fucking STATE constitution. 
A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.

Something about a University of the first class in there as well i think 

bluto

Certifiably Surly
1 minute ago, Sawbonz said:

Something about a University of the first class in there as well i think 

Let’s not be greedy these days. 

tx 3 putt

Legacy Members
29 minutes ago, bluto said:

It’s literally in the fucking STATE constitution. 
A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.

 

maga wipes their ass with any written law or consitutions.

it’s trump’s way or get the fuck out of his country

ChiTownDoc

Burnt Ends
(edited)
1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

‘Imagine thinking that it is the states responsibility to educate your children.’

            -True brain worms. 

Lol wut 🐛 

 

edit:   Sorry.  Got it.  

Edited by ChiTownDoc

safe sex

Burnt Ends

Like, I'm gooped

tx 3 putt

Legacy Members
1 minute ago, safe sex said:

For the first time in my posting history that I can recall, I would like Ana to expound on his point.

Oh No Cat GIF by Unscreen

DaysOff

Certifiably Surly

Yes, let's let our mostly uneducated populace be in charge of educating the future leaders and workers of Texas. All you need is the King James Version.

staboner

Legacy Members
6 hours ago, Dnaguy said:

You can say it.

It’s retarded.

 

* regarded

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
6 hours ago, bolverk said:

It's not my place to speak for Anastasis, but it appears he's offline, so I'll go ahead and venture a guess. He's likely saying that it's the responsibility of the parents/family to educate their kids. Ultimately, I would agree that's true from a general sense, though his statement can be taken in a couple of ways. Some would argue it might also apply to being responsible for their instruction. Obviously, we could never assume that all parents are suited to educating all subjects, and Anastasis would agree. But, again, he'd likely respond with a curt put-down to further inflame your collective ire and would then get distracted. So, all in all, I'd advise letting it rest. 

They can't all be bangers from outside the box. Our public school system is a fucking joke. Basically just organized indoctrination camps with some math and an athletic program tacked on. 

safe sex

Burnt Ends

Oh, that is super disappointing

TwiceHorn

Full Members
7 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

They can't all be bangers from outside the box. Our public school system is a fucking joke. Basically just organized indoctrination camps with some math and an athletic program tacked on. 

And private Christian schools are?

C'mon man, we had this conversation in private years ago.

Evil Bill Obrien

Full Members
10 hours ago, CTC2 said:

I mean, what’s the end game here?

Same as it always has been: to let the chosen few line their pockets at the expense of us pleabs/taxpayers/general public and then slink off to the next place where their grift will work before the consequences catch up with them here...

Evil Bill Obrien

Full Members
(edited)
10 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Imagine thinking that it is the states responsibility to educate your children. True brain worms. 

So, let's just set aside for a minute that you might be the one with the brain worms for posting this...please expound on who should be educating the children if you would? If we are just going to let someone light the State constitution on fire and all really want to know what you think a better alternative is...

Tell Schitts Creek GIF by CBC

EDIT: sorry missed where you replied that basically you think kids should be on their own with whatever parental situation they were born into and whatever they can teach them...god forbid anyone get exposed to any sort of world views or concepts outside of that...got it

Edited by Evil Bill Obrien
reasons

Fudge Nuggets

Legacy Members
7 hours ago, bolverk said:

So, all in all, I'd advise letting it rest. 

No, fuck him.  Universities have education degrees to prepare graduates to educate our kids.  Next up, "Imagine it's the state's responsibility to provide safety for you and your family."

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

And private Christian schools are?

Indoctrination camps with better reading lists and shitty athletic programs?

Evil Bill Obrien

Full Members
2 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

No, fuck him.  Universities have education degrees to prepare graduates to educate our kids.  Next up, "Imagine it's the state's responsibility to provide safety for you and your family."

Well the joke is going to be on Ana and a lot of MAGA folks when "the libs" start buying up all the guns to try to protect themselves from a tyrannical government...

Biff Tannen

Burnt Ends
6 hours ago, DaysOff said:

Yes, let's let our mostly uneducated populace be in charge of educating the future leaders and workers of Texas. All you need is the King James Version.

And there it is.

mchookem

Certifiably Surly

i still don't understand what's being advocated here. like surely Cletus in Elkhart isn't expected to teach his kid calculus??giphy(14).gif.6dde3f651d15a20649191d9c715d7961.gif

 

 

Evil Bill Obrien

Full Members
4 minutes ago, mchookem said:

i still don't understand what's being advocated here. like surely Cletus in Elkhart isn't expected to teach his kid calculus??giphy(14).gif.6dde3f651d15a20649191d9c715d7961.gif

 

 

It seems like Its eventually going to be either Cletus in Elkhart or the Pastor Pedo at the local church of child diddling who will be teaching the kids calculus here in Texas

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
4 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Universities have education degrees to prepare graduates to educate our kids. 

Yeah, I love those people.

18 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Next up, "Imagine it's the state's responsibility to provide safety for you and your family."

"Never call the cops." 

It's a little dogmatic, I know. But it's a pretty reasonable place to start with a 9 year old. You can break out the nuance when they get a bit older. 

Eskimohorn

Legacy Members

giphy.gif
Advocating against a system of free public schools

mchookem

Certifiably Surly

so Cletus IS expected to teach his kids calculus??

and bc he can't...

image.thumb.jpeg.74c2e4249fd2b52d3ff31c84f97c0795.jpeg

 

wow. it took less than a week for this particular mask to slip. just...wow. 

 

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
20 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:

Advocating against a system of free public schools

Nothing is free. And I am not advocating against public schools. But if you came through that whole COVID thing we all lived through a few years ago with a sense that you can rely on the state to educate your children, I am not sure what to tell you. We're not even talking about a long attention span being required here. 

Eskimohorn

Legacy Members
Nothing is free. And I am not advocating against public schools. But if you came through that whole COVID thing we all lived through a few years ago with a sense that you can rely on the state to educate your children, I am not sure what to tell you. We're not even talking about a long attention span being required here. 

Public school is free for students, as the Texas Constitution specifies. And you dont know what to tell us.

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
34 minutes ago, mchookem said:

so Cletus IS expected to teach his kids calculus??

Does he have a youtube channel? 

Iceman

Legacy Members - no CR
38 minutes ago, mchookem said:

 

wow. it took less than a week for this particular mask to slip. just...wow. 

 

This one hasn’t been a mask in a decade or so.  There is a war being waged on public schools.  Sad thing is, as idiotic and misplaced as the charter/ home school/ private horseshit is; the administration and conduct of public education has floundered at best to counter with substantive arguments/ results that would sway things in their favor. 
 

Public education has been driven into the ground. I just disagree that vouchers remotely solve the issue in any way. 

mchookem

Certifiably Surly
4 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Does he have a youtube channel? 

he probably barely has internet or the equipment to access it. i mean wtf dude. the election broke you too apparently. 

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
Just now, mchookem said:

he probably barely has internet or the equipment to access it. i mean wtf dude. the election broke you too apparently. 

I think that you condescend the "Cletus's" of the world. Fully 95% of the American population has internet access, and those without access are the very olds. If y'all would let him, Elon would probably shore up the last 5%. And it's not really about the internet. It is about this core notion at the heart of it. That you* know better than Cletus, and that once you can wrap that superior understanding of the world in the cloak of the state, everyone is better off for it. Elections do not break normal people. But they do deliver lessons.

 

*royal you, not to be taken personally I hope. 

bluto

Certifiably Surly
2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

I think that you condescend the "Cletus's" of the world. Fully 95% of the American population has internet access, and those without access are the very olds. If y'all would let him, Elon would probably shore up the last 5%. And it's not really about the internet. It is about this core notion at the heart of it. That you* know better than Cletus, and that once you can wrap that superior understanding of the world in the cloak of the state, everyone is better off for it. Elections do not break normal people. But they do deliver lessons.

 

*royal you, not to be taken personally I hope. 

Considering the stereotype Cletus of Appalachia pours gallons of Mountain Dew down his kids gullets and doesn’t believe in modern medicine, somebody needs to be the none Q adult.  

TwiceHorn

Full Members
1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

Indoctrination camps with better reading lists and shitty athletic programs?

Ok, then.  The non-sectarian established private schools are around $30k/year.

What's the alternative?

Frank Drebin

Full Members
11 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Ok, then.  The non-sectarian established private schools are around $30k/year.

What's the alternative?

Homeschooling co-ops with University Models seem to be pretty effective with people I know.  Their kids absolutely crush it on standardized tests.  I used to think homeschoolers were nuts.  Now I do not.

 

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
2 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

Their kids absolutely crush it on standardized tests.

First, we throw all the standardized tests into a barrel and light it on fire. 

wildcat09

Full Members

I imagine Ana's ideal educational system is whatever religious indoctrination the worst fictional version of Opus Dei would come up with.

softlynow

Certifiably Surly
35 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

First, we throw all the standardized tests into a barrel and light it on fire. 

That's all you have. Torch shit because something happened that you don't like.

Stop being a pussy.

tx 3 putt

Legacy Members

god help us …

 

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
44 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

I imagine Ana's ideal educational system is whatever religious indoctrination the worst fictional version of Opus Dei would come up with.

I don't know what's in your imagination, but I find it hard to believe that it is worse than mindless regurgitation of check boxes to clear the system for college admission so they can go upside down in debt and still not understand how to formulate independent thoughts.  

wildcat09

Full Members
5 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

I don't know what's in your imagination, but I find it hard to believe that it is worse than mindless regurgitation of check boxes to clear the system for college admission so they can go upside down in debt and still not understand how to formulate independent thoughts.  

It involves that dude who whipped himself in the Davinci Code so it definitely doesn't generate graduates capable of forming independent thoughts.

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
8 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

It involves that dude who whipped himself in the Davinci Code so it definitely doesn't generate graduates capable of forming independent thoughts.

You got weird shit going on inside your head man. 

mchookem

Certifiably Surly
(edited)

i honestly didn't think this was where this discussion was headed. advocating for elimination of the public school system. 

200w(9).gif.97111fdafe9093d3bb1c36c95ba77817.gif

 

 

i once again offer my sincere sympathy for those of you with children still in the school/university system.

 

ETA i have clarified that Ana did expressly state on the previous page that he is not an actual advocate of complete public school elimination. 

he thinks parents should instead take responsibility for that role, but he doesn't necessarily think it should be eliminated. my bad.

 

 

Edited by mchookem

tx 3 putt

Legacy Members
5 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Fyi, republicans have been in control of this state for over 30 years. They are responsible for the current state of public education.

 

maga gqp - lies !!!!!!!

 

mchookem

Certifiably Surly
33 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Fyi, republicans have been in control of this state for over 30 years. They are responsible for the current state of public education.

 

tenor (25).gif

Evil Bill Obrien

Full Members

 

This would be hilarious to watch if it came to pass, might finally rid us of Maryland Dan at he same time

 

Pop Tv GIF by Schitt's Creek

Anastasis

Certifiably Surly
3 hours ago, mchookem said:

i honestly didn't think this was where this discussion was headed. advocating for elimination of the public school system. 

200w(9).gif.97111fdafe9093d3bb1c36c95ba77817.gif

 

About as reality based as the lead in to a dear penthouse letter. 

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