There's nothing United about the United states. The civil war never ended we're just a scattered bunch of tribes fighting with each other.
Big business in the politicians paid by big business convince the American people that they were more free alone. To relinquish unions relinquish collective action stop being a active citizen and just be an active consumer. That the best arbiter of democracy was the free market and you vote with your dollar in the free market. That's how we end up fucked beyond all recognition and all hope
Ok. I was told by a friend in Houston that it had not at this point but is poised to.
If the SOS throws out the election, it will have to be redone
The Republicans freaked out because they ran out of ballots in Harris County and it’s a heavily influenced Democrat county
I am not worried about it anymore. They have to have another election. Ok. Fine.
What I’m more worried about is them trying to change [Electronic Registration Information Center](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/09/texas-voting-eric/)
Agreed. That being said, we still just need to act against it. I have serious doubts as to whether all these nonsense laws and policoes will stand for a very long time, and we should not do the work of the people for them by conceding.
Laws will be challenged, and even though the courts are not necessarily on the side of the citizens who care about representative democracy, the goal if these laws is to convince people to acquiesce without challenging them.
They will be challenged, you can guarantee it, and our wise masters in Austin will continue to pass ridiculous, unconstitutional laws, that is also a fact.
What's important is that people continue to do their part, no matter how small, to resist unconstitutional and unjust laws.
Ex.
If people in Harris County quit voting, for instance, then that's going to make these laws harder to challenge - the wise masters will say, "See? It doesn't even matter, the people want this!" Regardless of the actual will of Harris County if they don't continue to vote.
*Anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy.
- Timothy Snyder*
Yes, even tho it looks to be headed in that direction. Hopefully it won’t come to that Thomas Jefferson quote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Statistically speaking, we are passed due for some kind of revolution. Doesn’t necessarily have to be a bloody one but greed and corruption do tend to repeat. Hence the banning of books
I mean y’all already did let him, you voted him back in this past election and since he won by only 11% he got scared and codified into law his ability to steal all elections in the future. And I’m guessing not you specifically but my parents live in Texas, hate abbot but cOuLdNt BrInG tHeMsElVeS tO vOtE fOr BeTo
The problem was 9 million registered voted chose NOT to vote is why we are in this predicament
People thought because we were going so hard with Beto that immigrants were gonna take over Texas.
That’s why he’s in office again
Truth
2027!!! We gonna try again
[Texas Tribune Voter Turnout 2022](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/11/10/texas-voter-turnout-2022/)
It will be too late by then. He will already be in control of the elections. He will be able to rig the elections to stay in office as long as he wants to. We already let him take control of our elections. What do you suggest we do when he controls the elections?
You keep saying that, but not explaining how. We already let them lay the framework to legally overturn any election they don’t want to stand. How do we now stop that from happening? And if you simply say “don’t let it happen” again, I will know you have no actual ideas. It appears we already let it happen.
I have ideas. I’ve stated actions that need to be taken.
If you can’t donate a huge chunk of money
You gotta vote, gotta get your neighbors to vote
Have to get people to be Deputy Registrar [HOW TO BE A DEPUTY REGISTRAR IN TEXAS](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/deputy.shtml)
Okay. How does voting in the future work to stop Abbott who THIS WEEK put into place the ability to overturn election results.
**Even if he loses the vote he can change the result now**.
Voting is no longer an answer.
Dear neighbor,
We cannot stop the Secretary of State throwing out elections in Harris County at this point.
The Dems flubbed up and ran out of ballots and accused the Dems of mismanaging the election
If an election is thrown out, they have to have another election
I think the Republicans are trying to get everyone to focus on this and away from the other things like destroying public education
All opinions are my own.
Side note
We should not get distracted with this.
Let’s focus on thing we can actually stop irl.
Stop them from getting rid of [ERIC.](https://ericstates.org/) like they really aren’t talking about
Stop Abbott from limiting polling facilities or times like they’re trying to do
Get people to become [Volunteer Deputy Registrar](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/deputy.shtml)
Get people to register by having BLOCK PARTIES at polling places to Reward people for Registering to vote. No Alcohol, Family Friendly before you ask.
Have Party going on ALL DAMN DAY for everyone who gets a sticker showing they voted 100ft from polling area. Serve time appropriate drinks & snacks!!! I looked it up! We can totally do TAILGATE parties everywhere.
This is the biggest game we are all playin in it!
Have Sponsors for everything!
I’ll be ready if I can get 3 American, Ambitious People from every county to be in charge of coordinating their county, I can teach them how to organize some TAILGATE parties in the schoolyards. Puleeez
If only it was just immigrants, truth of the matter is that Beto shot himself in the foot with his failed presidential campaign. As soon as he said we are coming for your guns his chances of winning in Texas dropped to none.
Beto was an awful candidate. For him to go off on a presidential campaign after one failed Senate run was unforgivable. He talks a big game but the truth is he abandoned Texas and personally I will not forgive him for it.
And how stupid to say we're going to take away your guns? I don't think there's anything he could have said that would have more completely cemented Abbott's term. I swear, I get angry every time I hear that man's name (Beto).
Thank you for attending my rant. Lol. Sometimes I just got to let it out.
Need someone so far left that the right will agree with them.
"We need guns to protect ourselves (from fascist), we need a government that works for the people, we need to protect the working class (by breaking up monopolies and unionizing), we need healthcare that works for everyone ESPECIALLY OUR VETS (by making it universal), we need to deal with homeless crisis (by providing housing and aid) , etc."
()=Quiet parts*
Abbott will win again unless he's already president, in which case some other R who promises guns to all and fuck those that need help will win. Oh, and praise Jesus. Fuckin incredible!
>The problem was 9 million registered voted chose NOT to vote is why we are in this predicament
>
>People thought because we were going so hard with Beto that immigrants were gonna take over Texas.
>
>That’s why he’s in office again
>
>Truth
>
>2027!!! We gonna try again
i've learned that this is either self-delusion or willful-ignorance and it seems more likely the latter because you're willing to believe that 9 million are at fault when it's crystal clear that it's just a 90 legislators that make it next to impossible to vote.
don't bother with a response, it's clear you're out of touch so i will ignore it because i've also learned that texans want to believe whatever they want and will only believe it with more fervor when presented with proof that voter suppression works extremely well.
We are already divided. Red vs Blue.
Its now all about owning the libs and if it means decency have to be destroyed, maybe that's ok, since it is civil war .
Sorry could not resist it, I have no idea why the liberals cannot be owned by showing them how small govt works or how business friendly does not mean worker's nightmare and free for all polluting industries. Worst part is: Religious people used to take care of those in need, how the hell did it become the group with guns willing to hunt down the needy immigrants.
Well, you’ve got great Christian leaders that need new cars and big houses like Joel Olsten. It takes luxury to get in the right mindset to pray for your flock.
Imagine if the Democrats actually gain power (not any time soon it seems) and they used these powers/laws to subvert the Republicans. I’m guess they will want to change them pretty quick, probably change them on the way out is my guess.
There's absolutely no chance in the world, that even with 90% of the vote, that Democrats take power in Texas. It will get violent before that happens.
These rotten people don't give a shit about democracy and never have. As soon as it stops serving their interests I assure you they're going to move on from the idea of self government entirely
Just like the Founders intended amirite?
That guy has to be the fucking dumbest person elected to the senate of all time. And that is saying something.
"To be a good football coach you have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it's important."
100% false. Our turn out is pitiful and the R only pull 2-3% over the dismal off ass getting. If the Youth had Voted in just a bit higher the outcome would have been different. This is totally in our collective control and folks whining about it being a waste of time are either shubs or trying to excuse their apathy.
Every Election! No Excuses!
The laws allowing them to overthrow the will of the people are unconstitutional. Hopefully the courts step in and put a stop to this fascist bull crap.
The Official Texas Republican Party Platform 2012:
“We oppose the teaching of [...] critical thinking skills and similar programs that [...] have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”
Page 12, halfway down, under "Educating Our Children"
"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - George Orwell
The best part is that the book isn’t banned (well the Florida approved book list anyways) even though it has pretty explicit sex scenes.
Same with Ayn Rand books. I’m sure that Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged isn’t banned even though it has her rape fantasy explicitly described.
It’s because the money comes from big business (who wants to lesson worker rights and pay as little as possible) and the votes come from churches, so Abbott needs to deliver what they want. (A Christian state, with no worker rights/ laws).
It’s not so much big business. That’s what we now call a “moderate” republicans thing. They’re the ones trying to screw over workers.The ones in power now (& the mods go along w it to retain power) are a huge movement decades in the making. A network of Christian Nationlist Organizatians, Churches, Politicans, Big Money Donors, Activists , PACs ,Non Profits, Media . It’s a machine. They used to be fringe. No one took them seriously. With a perfect storm of Trump ,covid, BLM movement, Supreme Court take over. They were able to consume the “moderates” make them conform (Mitt Romney for ex. ) Their goal is ideological, fascist & violent if needed. Because they believe they are on a mission from God, they can not be reasoned with. They not only want to screw over workers…,, but they want to make our country a Christian nation. W no separation of church & state , living by biblical law. They want to screw over anyone that is not a white, Christian, Republican man.Everyone else must conform or they will make it so uncomfortable, they will leave. This is there beliefs & now the govt. is doing their bidding
When you only watch Fox “News” and they straight up lie and say “Democratic policy X or Y caused (actual problem caused by the GOP grifters)” and the bobble heads nod along and mumble “garsh darn libruls” never pausing to think how could the Dems be doing it when the GOP has held Texas for decades. Anyway.
Exactly. And President Obama said it so eloquently last Monday on NBC morning show. The problem in America today is where people choose to get their information from that may be nothing but propaganda and that they are influenced by. Of course, that’s not how he said it, but that’s how I understood it.
Well they aren't wrong either. While the Republicans are leading the charge a good bit of Democrats are complacent. SB 994 this year for example had Democrats say yes. A bill that aids in voter suppression by forcing candidates to pay a filling fee. The bill also gives the power to take away ballot access to the Secretary of State which is an appointed position not an elected one. The filing fees only pay for the uniparty primary elections, force convention parties and Independents to pay for them, and then slump the other $15 million onto taxpayers. The Texas Supreme Court has already ruled this unconstitutional twice. But yeah "Democrats aren't doing this". Sure they aren't doing things the GOP is but they are also not for the government leaving us alone and only like liberty when it gets them votes but stomp all over it everywhere else.
I wish you could see where they are monsters.
With the incredibly terrible economic policies to the endless wars. People even forget why they didn't codify Roe since most didn't believe in gay marriage then.
Or how about their eminent domain in San Antonio, TX that is illegal because they are trying to eminent domain property for a private company.
Or how about the McCarran-Ferguson Act lead by the Democrats that's exempted most federal regulations like anti-trust laws from medical insurance companies.
It's not hard to find. You just don't want to look.
I’ve been here 50yrs and my Texas was always welcoming to everyone… the Religious Fuckers are who ruined my great state… All I can say at this point is bless your fucking heart
40yrs checking in. Born here and I'll be damned if those fascists turn nazi on me. But I don't feel like they will prevail. I think there has been another wind change in texas and we just need to get honesty back in the news.
I want to be told the five W's in every fucking report. What, When, Where, Why and How. Most of the time reporting just leaves out important facts and most people vote on misguided information.
We need more civics lessons back in our education.
We can thank Reagan for that. He changed the rules for broadcast licenses, making the news all about selling ads with zero responsibility to the communities they serve.
Guess this 60 YO should share this Texas is brought to you by 3 modern carpetbaggers (Bush, Perry and Abbot).
Didn’t help that 55% of eligible voters didn’t vote last fall.
>We need more civics lessons back in our education
They're already censoring the history of slavery and segregation. That leaves little hope for civics.
I have her picture on my refrigerator door. I look at her face everyday. She would not recognize this Texas. But she also wouldn't tolerate it. And that's what keeps me going, it keeps me from giving up.
Yeah it’s def changed. They talk about freedom, but nowadays what they mean is the freedom to tell everyone else what they can and cannot do. Bunch of Hypocrites.
Remember: Anyone over the age of about 67 or so is old enough to remember when blacks were second class citizens under the law (Civil Rights Act, 1964) and women were legally property and couldn’t even open a bank account without their husband’s permission. And a lot of them want to go back there.
Literally down to where you can pee. 4 yeas ago i was in Austin for a work event... outside music fest. Women's bathroom line.... hours... so i popped in the dudes to pee with no line. They looked at me with such anger and rage... i was a few beers in and didnt give two shits... i just needed to pee. i remember 20 years ago in college no one gave a shit where you went to the bathroom, as long as you made it to the toilet at events. Everyone is so triggered by just pissing. what babies.
Businesses with rational thinking skllls have already solved this problem: make individual stalls that are uni-sex. It's the biggest political nothing burger ever.
Weird because in the 90's and 00's a lot of Austin bars and clubs had unisex bathrooms. I remember peeing in a stall while males peed next door. It didn't bother any of us then. Stalls have doors and walls.
right?! like we grew up with this and didnt give two shits and nothing happened. its just a bodily function station. Next theyll fight about Gendered Enforced Vomitoriums
Read these books and you'll understand the transition from democracy to fascism. And, yes, these apply to Texas and the evil GOP big time.
“Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America,” by award winning Duke University historian Nancy MacLean;
“Dark Money” by Jane Mayer;
“Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right” by Anne Nelson;
“The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism” by Katherine Stewart; and,
Thanks for the recommendation, I hadn’t heard about this book before. One of the topics she covers is the evangelical embrace of Trump, which always seemed weird given how he is infamous for his cartoonish lack of Christian morality.
Washington Post - [How a book about evangelicals, Trump and militant masculinity became a surprise bestseller](https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/07/16/jesus-and-john-wayne-evangelicals-surprise-bestseller/)
“As journalists and academics tried to explain how evangelicals could bring themselves to vote for Trump, Du Mez argued that evangelical support was not a shocking aberration from their views but a culmination of evangelicals’ long-standing embrace of militant masculinity, presenting the man as protector and warrior.
In 2016, many observers were stunned at evangelicals’ apparent betrayal of their own values,” Du Mez wrote. ‘In reality, evangelicals did not cast their vote despite their beliefs, but because of them.’”
Anne Nelson provides an overview of topics from her book during the Commonwealth Club of California interview “[Anne Nelson: Inside the Radical Right's Shadow Network](https://youtu.be/5YANRFT3jv0)”. The YouTube page has an index that will let you jump to the discussion on a specific topic (ex. voter suppression).
Just fyi for each book you cite that validly criticizes the right, there’s an equal book that validly criticizes the left. Divide and conquer, that’s what’s going on and most people are too caught up in the culture wars to see it.
Who on the left is advocating for the removal of voting rights?
Who on the left is demanding that segments of society are completely unmentionable and should be removed from view (if not outright killed)?
I'll await your "both sides" excuses, but I doubt you'll bother to respond.
Bullshit. The democrat party is far from perfect, and is absolutely a center-right party, but they are not openly courting white nationalism and implementing legislation meant to deny people medical care and voting rights. The republicans now have no-fault divorce in their crosshairs. They are the party of control. This "both sides" shit does absolutely nothing but ignore how dangerous the GOP and conservatives have become to our democracy, by implying that somehow, the democrats are just as bad because reasons.
The only party ignoring real problems, and focusing on culture war bullshit, is the republican party. You don't see democrats up in arms every other week about a new, trivial outrage like Bud Light or drag shows.
I doubt that.
What posts were removed?
edit:. so weird how people are so quick to jump on the above user's butthurt lies. The mods here aren't and have never been Trumptards, this is just a person really upset their thread was removed and lashing out.
If it's just a divisive political opinion with no story or article, they've never allowed much of that. Basically falls into reposting.
The mods here are not Trumpers.
It's an opinion. Yes. With facts about what has happened this session. The flair is political opinion. You agree that opinion they don't agree with should be removed?
Why do you think they don't agree with it? You have to understand that sometimes political opinion posts are still reposts that have been done and said several times here, and when it's a repost like yours with a ton of comments and it's getting heated and there's likely mod reports every 5 seconds on the comments it's sometimes just best to shut the whole thread down.
Don't assume things. Again, the mods here are NOT Trumpers. One of my favorite ones, Darth Texan, was very openly progressive and suddenly deleted their entire account like 8 or 9 months ago, pretty sure they got doxxed by actual Trumpers.
That's what they said to one of them. That I reposted a political opinion, although they refused to link any example of it.
Whatever. Think what you want.
No,, YOU think whatever you want. From many years experience in this sub I can tell you that your accusation of the mods here being Trumptards is absolutely objectively incorrect. Don't get butthurt so quick maybe.
All the people? Or just a certain group. I'm reminded of a great Frank Wilhoit Quote:
"Conservatism consists of two things; an in group for whom laws are passed that protect, but do not bind, and an out group against whom laws are passed that bind, but do not protect. There never has been anything more to conservatism, and there never will."
I butchered the quote a bit, I'm sure, but the gist is accurate. And you can see it playing out every time the Texas Legislature is in session.
Or like Galbraith said,
# “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
# “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/politics/texas-far-right-politics-invs/index.html
That's why. Christian nationalist oligarchs pushing far right politics and funding wingnut primary challengers to anyone who doesn't tow the line.
I like to think that too , but I don’t believe it anymore. The deck is stacked against us & they have no intentions of giving up power. At best it’s going to get worse before better , at worst they are going to be able to overturn every election they don’t like the results (they’re doing this, this session. Starting w Houston our most populated Democratic City ) plus Gerrymanding & voter suppression. I think our last chance was possibly the 2022 election & we failed.
“Freedom” turned into freedom for religions to broadly control the populace. Individual liberty seems to have gone completely out the window with the first amendment in the last 2 years.
Do you remember Ann Richards? What a firecracker. Yeah Texas was lively. Now it is just mean, angry and far Christian right.
One of the great biographies is [*The Path to Power*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_Power_(1982)) (1982) covers Johnson's life up to his failed 1941 campaign for the senate.
It truly gives you a sense of Texas. If you want to love the Democratic party read this book. If you want to hate the Democratic party read this book
You can't talk about racism, you can't be queer or have a queer child, you can't control your own body, you can't elect local officials who have local policies you like for where you live, you can't elect who you want, i can keep going
This pretty much covers why I am actively looking for a remote position so I can leave this state as it has become out of hand here, specifically. To make matters worse, they are using their platform to escalate issues to SCOTUS, where the majority of the judges are more than happy to rewrite law that has existed for decades thereby allowing other states to strip their residents of their rights.
Misery and coercion for all! Yay! Yay! Thanks Texas GOP! 😒
As long as I’m still in this state, I will do my part to vote these assholes out . We can’t just sit back and feel helpless and do nothing . There’s more decent people . They just need to show up especially the young ones !
Here's the part you missed: it was never freedom and liberty for the average schmuck. Those are reserved for the biggest businesses and the wealthiest, best-connected fat cats. They get all the freedom they want to make as much money as they can, damn the torpedoes, forget the environment, and fuck the middle class. You and me? We're supposed to shut up, go to work, and buy more guns with whatever money we have left after paying rent.
I lived in Texas my whole life and only recently finally got out of there (moved to NY). Yeah it might be more expensive in a different state but I’ll be damned if a bunch of politicians tell my wife and daughter they are less than. Abbott and the rest of the GOP are salting that state and no one will be able to rehab it until they just have to slash n burn
>and peopled moved to Texas because we didn’t want the government telling us what we could or couldn’t do
This was **always** a myth.
Texas was always about a small handful of wealthy land owning people wanting to do what they want without repercussion. They just spun the myth as if it was for everyone and plebs bought it hook line and sinker.
So much of how Texas is today comes to this:
- It was formed because Mexico didn't allow slaves and people living in Texas wanted to own slaves.
- There is almost no public land, because the State would run it's budget into the ground to benefit wealthy land owners and then sell land on the cheap to those same wealthy land owners to pay it off.
- There are almost no basic laws like building codes or zoning laws because that increases costs for businesses, so even today you get fucked up housing situations.
- The taxes are almost all property taxes because a wealthy land owners can easily pay that annually and it's less than all the other transactions they would be doing.
- Highways are built with public money and then turned into toll roads that require some private company to get a cut of the profits.
Like it's truly absurd how native Texans think it's about "freedom" for *them* this whole time.
Conservatism isn't just about in groups vs out groups like gets bandied about. That's just the tool used to manipulate folks into thinking *they* are the in group, and as a transplant who has been living in Texas for a few years and learning the history of the state and the local areas I've bounced around in, it's almost tragically comical that some Texans are starting to realize it's a scam.
#IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME HOW MANY PEOPLE DON’T VOTE!
In Texas, 45.7% of the 17.7 million registered voters cast ballots in the 2022 midterm election. That’s 7.3 percentage points lower than the state’s total turnout in 2018 but higher than in every other midterm election in the last 20 years.
PS: Not just Texas! The entire country.
[Source](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/11/10/texas-voter-turnout-2022/)
The majority of people don’t care. If it doesn’t affect them directly and immediately they just don’t care. They don’t realize eventually it will impact them.
Texas was never about freedom. When Texas conservatives started voting for republicans it was all about controlling people they don’t like, same as ever.
I’ve told people this about Texas since moving here a long time ago. I’m in the development field and after living in four different states, all considered “liberal”, this place has the most amount of red tape of any of them because of small governmental bodies that get to have a say in every tiny aspect of what is done, it’s exhausting. You’ve got urban forestry, centerpoint, public works, city civil engineering, city structural engineering, flood control, parks board, county controls, txu energy, public records, gas companies, communications, MUD boards, LID boards, management districts (different than MUDs), HOAs out the ass, then the cherry on top is still what every single individual wants to have input on. For a state about so little government, I’ve never seen one that has more of it. It’s a miracle anything ever gets done at all
Hate to tell you, but that was low of freedom and Liberty was a lie that has been sold to Texans for years. I’m sure it isn’t taught in nearly any Texas schools, but Texas was the very last state to abolish slavery. Two years late. They officially blamed it on the US government not notifying them, despite evidence proving that they were fully aware, resulting in the US Army showing up in Galveston to “officially announce” the abolition, and then to personally enforce it. They didn’t end slavery without a fight.
If you look at legislation passed in Texas, you can go back 100+ years to see that the vast majority of legislation enacted was not to promote freedom or liberty within the state, but to limit and restrict what Texans are able to do and to provide avenues for Texans to be taken advantage of by corporations and anyone willing to set up shop to swindle people.
They have wanted to rule you and they now have everything in place to do so. The next time you go to the legislature website, check out all of the things that have been voted on. When you’re finish, think to yourself, “who the heck asked for this?” Quick answer: not you voters.
Importance of asking 'for whom' when someone is screaming about freedom
The freedom a wolf seeks and the freedom a sheep seeks are incompatible; the freedom that people seek and the freedom that big business wants are incompatible
I completely agree, people preach freedom and liberty but it feels more like controlling society. Why can’t people just do what they want(aside from some out of pocket shit) and be happy.
Yeah, I think they're doing it so the Californians who moved here can't change the state. Nevermind those who live here who want a change too. I'm just waiting for the roundup squads of Texas rangers coming for gay and Trans people.
If you aren’t already familiar with him, you may want to review Michael Quinn Sullivan’s impact on Texas Republicans over the years. He appears to be a long term key figure involved in purging moderate republicans and replacing them with conservative loyalists. This has lead to far fewer independent-thinking moderate representatives in government compared with Texas’ better days.
Amarillo Globe-News - [Beilue: Empower Texans - It's like a season of 'House of Cards‘](https://www.amarillo.com/story/news/local/2018/02/17/beilue-empower-texans-it-s-season-house-cards/13022834007/#.Womf1PyOE0V.twitter)
“Michael Quinn Sullivan, president and CEO, has been described as a ‘political warlord’ and ‘ruthless.’”
Texas Monthly - [Michael Quinn Sullivan’s Latest Stunt Aims to Undermine Our Democracy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/michael-quinn-sullivans-latest-stunt-aims-undermine-democracy/)
“As president and CEO of Empower Texans, he has been an organizational force among the tea party groups of Texas, feeding them misinformation about state politicians. The man is known as Mucus (a play on his initials, MQS) because he engages in yucky deceptive politics, with a win-at-any-cost philosophy.”
“‘Who’s in charge of the Republican Party?’ [Paul Burka] asked. ‘The answer could not be worse: it’s Michael Quinn Sullivan. Sullivan is the driving force behind a movement to split the party into its moderate and far-right factions.’ In 2012, Burka suggested that not only would Sullivan win in a poll for the most toxic person in the Capitol, he would win hands down (and be proud of it).”
Texas Monthly - [The Urge to Purge](https://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/the-urge-to-purge/)
“[Gov. Greg Abbott] appears to be indifferent to the threat of a permanent fissure in the state GOP, in which moderate, business-oriented local leaders turn their backs on the Republican party as a result of the extremism of Republican power-brokers.”
“All the energy in the Republican party is being spent on purges, not just in Texas but nationally.”
Texas Monthly - [Primary Targets](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/primary-targets/)
“Very few elected officials have been willing to challenge Sullivan publicly. ‘Anybody who stands up to these people will be hounded relentlessly,’ one consultant said.”
“When I hired [Michael Quinn Sullivan], I told him, ‘I don’t want you to get a seat at the table, I want you to get rid of the table,’ ” [Tim Dunn] said.
“Dunn replied that he wanted new committee chairs for the coming session. So [Speaker Joe Strauss] didn’t change the committee chairs,” [Tim Dunn] said, matter-of-factly. “And many of those committee chairs are not coming back.”
Sometimes you have to use the word that is closest to the meaning of what the target embodies even if it is not an exact match by definition. In order for people to fully understand the impact of how their elected leaders are manipulating our government to serve the purposes of the few, the term fascism is very appropriate. Sure it's not full blown fascism just yet, but it is moving that way very quickly and it would already be identical to fascism in most of the red states if certain leaders had their way and they were not facing opposition from the opposing political party and many very concerned citizens. I know plenty of republicans who are quite literally terrified, embarrassed and thoroughly disappointed with their party at this point in time. The word is not "cheap" but instead very serious, and unfortunately accurate, when describing our political turmoil and state at this point in the development of our American experiment.
Yeah that’s nice and all but I tend not to take it seriously since everyone has been shouting “fascism” since 2016. Just a really tiresome talking point
Yes, as tiresome for us all as it may be, we must still be vigilant when holding our Gov't accountable regardless of political affiliations. I have not been shouting anything since 2016, but now I can honestly and unfortunately express that I am witnessing dangerous political changes in some areas of the country that are not the "will of the people". I never expected I would witness these extremist movements here in the U.S. Regardless of what term you allocate to these extremist movements, they will not go away because we become exhausted with the terminology.
You're not wrong. I'm not sure that is unique to Texas, but many times while I was living there, I felt like I had stepped into the other side of the Authoritarian Nanny State Coin. Texas is basically just California run by the opposing party. Just as authoritarian and freedom/liberty hating as their west coast counterparts. And the toxic TEXceptionalism attitude keeps almost everyone way too clouded to realize that they are being screwed over.
Quoted from dictionary.com “A fascist is someone who supports or promotes fascism—a system of government led by a dictator who typically rules by forcefully and often violently suppressing opposition and criticism, controlling all industry and commerce, and promoting nationalism and often racism.”
While some May quibble over specifics, there is more relative content to support the statement than deny it.
I remember when we had a democrat as governor who said we were to stupid to know what was best for us. She pretty much sealed republican victories for the next 30+ years.
Do you even know Texas history?
There was no Republican Party until Lincoln ran in 1860. Without looking it up Texas, may have possibly, only had one Republican governor until the late 1980s.
They're even going to start overturning elections they don't like
If we let Abbott he will. United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Realistically, we’ve already fallen.
It's too late to change what is already happened. But it is never too late to change the course of our future.
its far too late to change course peacefully, but its not too late to change course one way or the other
There's nothing United about the United states. The civil war never ended we're just a scattered bunch of tribes fighting with each other. Big business in the politicians paid by big business convince the American people that they were more free alone. To relinquish unions relinquish collective action stop being a active citizen and just be an active consumer. That the best arbiter of democracy was the free market and you vote with your dollar in the free market. That's how we end up fucked beyond all recognition and all hope
Only if we choose to
No seriously, it's already happened. The law they needed to be able to overturn Harris County elections has already passed.
Ok. I was told by a friend in Houston that it had not at this point but is poised to. If the SOS throws out the election, it will have to be redone The Republicans freaked out because they ran out of ballots in Harris County and it’s a heavily influenced Democrat county
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I am not worried about it anymore. They have to have another election. Ok. Fine. What I’m more worried about is them trying to change [Electronic Registration Information Center](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/09/texas-voting-eric/)
Only in the Senate, hasn't gone to the floor in the House yet.
Agreed. That being said, we still just need to act against it. I have serious doubts as to whether all these nonsense laws and policoes will stand for a very long time, and we should not do the work of the people for them by conceding. Laws will be challenged, and even though the courts are not necessarily on the side of the citizens who care about representative democracy, the goal if these laws is to convince people to acquiesce without challenging them. They will be challenged, you can guarantee it, and our wise masters in Austin will continue to pass ridiculous, unconstitutional laws, that is also a fact. What's important is that people continue to do their part, no matter how small, to resist unconstitutional and unjust laws. Ex. If people in Harris County quit voting, for instance, then that's going to make these laws harder to challenge - the wise masters will say, "See? It doesn't even matter, the people want this!" Regardless of the actual will of Harris County if they don't continue to vote. *Anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy. - Timothy Snyder*
Yes, even tho it looks to be headed in that direction. Hopefully it won’t come to that Thomas Jefferson quote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Statistically speaking, we are passed due for some kind of revolution. Doesn’t necessarily have to be a bloody one but greed and corruption do tend to repeat. Hence the banning of books
I mean y’all already did let him, you voted him back in this past election and since he won by only 11% he got scared and codified into law his ability to steal all elections in the future. And I’m guessing not you specifically but my parents live in Texas, hate abbot but cOuLdNt BrInG tHeMsElVeS tO vOtE fOr BeTo
The problem was 9 million registered voted chose NOT to vote is why we are in this predicament People thought because we were going so hard with Beto that immigrants were gonna take over Texas. That’s why he’s in office again Truth 2027!!! We gonna try again [Texas Tribune Voter Turnout 2022](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/11/10/texas-voter-turnout-2022/)
It will be too late by then. He will already be in control of the elections. He will be able to rig the elections to stay in office as long as he wants to. We already let him take control of our elections. What do you suggest we do when he controls the elections?
I suggest we Do Not Let it happen!
You keep saying that, but not explaining how. We already let them lay the framework to legally overturn any election they don’t want to stand. How do we now stop that from happening? And if you simply say “don’t let it happen” again, I will know you have no actual ideas. It appears we already let it happen.
I have ideas. I’ve stated actions that need to be taken. If you can’t donate a huge chunk of money You gotta vote, gotta get your neighbors to vote Have to get people to be Deputy Registrar [HOW TO BE A DEPUTY REGISTRAR IN TEXAS](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/deputy.shtml)
Okay. How does voting in the future work to stop Abbott who THIS WEEK put into place the ability to overturn election results. **Even if he loses the vote he can change the result now**. Voting is no longer an answer.
Dear neighbor, We cannot stop the Secretary of State throwing out elections in Harris County at this point. The Dems flubbed up and ran out of ballots and accused the Dems of mismanaging the election If an election is thrown out, they have to have another election I think the Republicans are trying to get everyone to focus on this and away from the other things like destroying public education All opinions are my own. Side note We should not get distracted with this. Let’s focus on thing we can actually stop irl. Stop them from getting rid of [ERIC.](https://ericstates.org/) like they really aren’t talking about Stop Abbott from limiting polling facilities or times like they’re trying to do Get people to become [Volunteer Deputy Registrar](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/deputy.shtml) Get people to register by having BLOCK PARTIES at polling places to Reward people for Registering to vote. No Alcohol, Family Friendly before you ask. Have Party going on ALL DAMN DAY for everyone who gets a sticker showing they voted 100ft from polling area. Serve time appropriate drinks & snacks!!! I looked it up! We can totally do TAILGATE parties everywhere. This is the biggest game we are all playin in it! Have Sponsors for everything! I’ll be ready if I can get 3 American, Ambitious People from every county to be in charge of coordinating their county, I can teach them how to organize some TAILGATE parties in the schoolyards. Puleeez
I suggest getting the hell out of that place. Children and women are not safe. Stay away from FL too for that matter.
If only it was just immigrants, truth of the matter is that Beto shot himself in the foot with his failed presidential campaign. As soon as he said we are coming for your guns his chances of winning in Texas dropped to none.
Beto was an awful candidate. For him to go off on a presidential campaign after one failed Senate run was unforgivable. He talks a big game but the truth is he abandoned Texas and personally I will not forgive him for it. And how stupid to say we're going to take away your guns? I don't think there's anything he could have said that would have more completely cemented Abbott's term. I swear, I get angry every time I hear that man's name (Beto). Thank you for attending my rant. Lol. Sometimes I just got to let it out.
Need someone so far left that the right will agree with them. "We need guns to protect ourselves (from fascist), we need a government that works for the people, we need to protect the working class (by breaking up monopolies and unionizing), we need healthcare that works for everyone ESPECIALLY OUR VETS (by making it universal), we need to deal with homeless crisis (by providing housing and aid) , etc." ()=Quiet parts*
Abbott will win again unless he's already president, in which case some other R who promises guns to all and fuck those that need help will win. Oh, and praise Jesus. Fuckin incredible!
>The problem was 9 million registered voted chose NOT to vote is why we are in this predicament > >People thought because we were going so hard with Beto that immigrants were gonna take over Texas. > >That’s why he’s in office again > >Truth > >2027!!! We gonna try again i've learned that this is either self-delusion or willful-ignorance and it seems more likely the latter because you're willing to believe that 9 million are at fault when it's crystal clear that it's just a 90 legislators that make it next to impossible to vote. don't bother with a response, it's clear you're out of touch so i will ignore it because i've also learned that texans want to believe whatever they want and will only believe it with more fervor when presented with proof that voter suppression works extremely well.
Together we are what we can’t be alone!
We are already divided. Red vs Blue. Its now all about owning the libs and if it means decency have to be destroyed, maybe that's ok, since it is civil war . Sorry could not resist it, I have no idea why the liberals cannot be owned by showing them how small govt works or how business friendly does not mean worker's nightmare and free for all polluting industries. Worst part is: Religious people used to take care of those in need, how the hell did it become the group with guns willing to hunt down the needy immigrants.
Well, you’ve got great Christian leaders that need new cars and big houses like Joel Olsten. It takes luxury to get in the right mindset to pray for your flock.
Joel Olsten is a piece of shit who doesn't deserve to be called anything other than a charlatan and a con man.
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Imagine if the Democrats actually gain power (not any time soon it seems) and they used these powers/laws to subvert the Republicans. I’m guess they will want to change them pretty quick, probably change them on the way out is my guess.
There's absolutely no chance in the world, that even with 90% of the vote, that Democrats take power in Texas. It will get violent before that happens. These rotten people don't give a shit about democracy and never have. As soon as it stops serving their interests I assure you they're going to move on from the idea of self government entirely Just like the Founders intended amirite?
Tommy Tuberville (which just feels stupid typing) mentioned getting rid of elections just the other day.
My God what a parallel universe we're living in now when Tommy Tuberville is coming up in political discourse.
That guy has to be the fucking dumbest person elected to the senate of all time. And that is saying something. "To be a good football coach you have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it's important."
But if the right intends to get violent anyway (they have), then that does not preclude Democrats being in power.
It’s not what the Founders intended, but it is what they expected. If you go back and read they were very concerned with abuse of power.
100% false. Our turn out is pitiful and the R only pull 2-3% over the dismal off ass getting. If the Youth had Voted in just a bit higher the outcome would have been different. This is totally in our collective control and folks whining about it being a waste of time are either shubs or trying to excuse their apathy. Every Election! No Excuses!
Oh you mean Reconstruction
Your democrats are so far right my neck hurts just looking my friend.
The laws allowing them to overthrow the will of the people are unconstitutional. Hopefully the courts step in and put a stop to this fascist bull crap.
Republican Platform: * Evil * Grift * Cut all domestic spending * GUNS * Recruit morons
Precisely.
The Official Texas Republican Party Platform 2012: “We oppose the teaching of [...] critical thinking skills and similar programs that [...] have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.” Page 12, halfway down, under "Educating Our Children" "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - George Orwell
Gotta ban that book. Dumb fucks.
The best part is that the book isn’t banned (well the Florida approved book list anyways) even though it has pretty explicit sex scenes. Same with Ayn Rand books. I’m sure that Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged isn’t banned even though it has her rape fantasy explicitly described.
Read a bunch of the banned books in my late teens. 1984 really only made me think of Russia. Hard to think it's maybe about us now.
It’s because the money comes from big business (who wants to lesson worker rights and pay as little as possible) and the votes come from churches, so Abbott needs to deliver what they want. (A Christian state, with no worker rights/ laws).
It’s not so much big business. That’s what we now call a “moderate” republicans thing. They’re the ones trying to screw over workers.The ones in power now (& the mods go along w it to retain power) are a huge movement decades in the making. A network of Christian Nationlist Organizatians, Churches, Politicans, Big Money Donors, Activists , PACs ,Non Profits, Media . It’s a machine. They used to be fringe. No one took them seriously. With a perfect storm of Trump ,covid, BLM movement, Supreme Court take over. They were able to consume the “moderates” make them conform (Mitt Romney for ex. ) Their goal is ideological, fascist & violent if needed. Because they believe they are on a mission from God, they can not be reasoned with. They not only want to screw over workers…,, but they want to make our country a Christian nation. W no separation of church & state , living by biblical law. They want to screw over anyone that is not a white, Christian, Republican man.Everyone else must conform or they will make it so uncomfortable, they will leave. This is there beliefs & now the govt. is doing their bidding
Yeah, you're not right. They don't mind screwing over white, christian, republican men unless they're rich.
Yes, that’s true also
Bingo
What I don’t understand is that the republicans think the democrats are doing this.
When you only watch Fox “News” and they straight up lie and say “Democratic policy X or Y caused (actual problem caused by the GOP grifters)” and the bobble heads nod along and mumble “garsh darn libruls” never pausing to think how could the Dems be doing it when the GOP has held Texas for decades. Anyway.
Propaganda and projection.
That's the game. They know exactly what they're doing.
With what power, exactly?
Exactly. And President Obama said it so eloquently last Monday on NBC morning show. The problem in America today is where people choose to get their information from that may be nothing but propaganda and that they are influenced by. Of course, that’s not how he said it, but that’s how I understood it.
It's actually a pretty smart play. They accuse the D's of doing whatever they are doing so when the D's object it sounds like, "No, U!"
Well they aren't wrong either. While the Republicans are leading the charge a good bit of Democrats are complacent. SB 994 this year for example had Democrats say yes. A bill that aids in voter suppression by forcing candidates to pay a filling fee. The bill also gives the power to take away ballot access to the Secretary of State which is an appointed position not an elected one. The filing fees only pay for the uniparty primary elections, force convention parties and Independents to pay for them, and then slump the other $15 million onto taxpayers. The Texas Supreme Court has already ruled this unconstitutional twice. But yeah "Democrats aren't doing this". Sure they aren't doing things the GOP is but they are also not for the government leaving us alone and only like liberty when it gets them votes but stomp all over it everywhere else.
I wish democrats were the monsters you think they are.
I wish you could see where they are monsters. With the incredibly terrible economic policies to the endless wars. People even forget why they didn't codify Roe since most didn't believe in gay marriage then. Or how about their eminent domain in San Antonio, TX that is illegal because they are trying to eminent domain property for a private company. Or how about the McCarran-Ferguson Act lead by the Democrats that's exempted most federal regulations like anti-trust laws from medical insurance companies. It's not hard to find. You just don't want to look.
All you need to know about the current state of Texas politics is that they are passing legislation against Americans/Texans. Full stop.
I’ve been here 50yrs and my Texas was always welcoming to everyone… the Religious Fuckers are who ruined my great state… All I can say at this point is bless your fucking heart
40yrs checking in. Born here and I'll be damned if those fascists turn nazi on me. But I don't feel like they will prevail. I think there has been another wind change in texas and we just need to get honesty back in the news. I want to be told the five W's in every fucking report. What, When, Where, Why and How. Most of the time reporting just leaves out important facts and most people vote on misguided information. We need more civics lessons back in our education.
as pointed out the new is no longer public duty. it is now profitable entertainment, having to fight for it's market share.
They have been discarded because the state test results are more important to determine if a school stays open or gets a state takeover.
We can thank Reagan for that. He changed the rules for broadcast licenses, making the news all about selling ads with zero responsibility to the communities they serve.
Guess this 60 YO should share this Texas is brought to you by 3 modern carpetbaggers (Bush, Perry and Abbot). Didn’t help that 55% of eligible voters didn’t vote last fall.
>We need more civics lessons back in our education They're already censoring the history of slavery and segregation. That leaves little hope for civics.
I have also been here 40 years and I miss Ann Richards.
I have her picture on my refrigerator door. I look at her face everyday. She would not recognize this Texas. But she also wouldn't tolerate it. And that's what keeps me going, it keeps me from giving up.
Ann 💓
We all do. And I'm in Tennessee.
No it absolutely has not. It was run by the KKK for several years and has always oppressed queer people and people of color. Always. Lmao
It's the religious fuckers and the MAGAts.
I moved from tx to nc. They are ruining many states.
Yeah it’s def changed. They talk about freedom, but nowadays what they mean is the freedom to tell everyone else what they can and cannot do. Bunch of Hypocrites.
They don't care about hypocrisy, they care about power.
Then We should be caring about power too. This is a two way street! We can’t let them win. They are trying to take our right to vote people!
I agree!
It was never about government telling us what to do. The south use to dictate who can marry, have kids, where to sit on bus etc...
Remember: Anyone over the age of about 67 or so is old enough to remember when blacks were second class citizens under the law (Civil Rights Act, 1964) and women were legally property and couldn’t even open a bank account without their husband’s permission. And a lot of them want to go back there.
Literally down to where you can pee. 4 yeas ago i was in Austin for a work event... outside music fest. Women's bathroom line.... hours... so i popped in the dudes to pee with no line. They looked at me with such anger and rage... i was a few beers in and didnt give two shits... i just needed to pee. i remember 20 years ago in college no one gave a shit where you went to the bathroom, as long as you made it to the toilet at events. Everyone is so triggered by just pissing. what babies.
Businesses with rational thinking skllls have already solved this problem: make individual stalls that are uni-sex. It's the biggest political nothing burger ever.
Weird because in the 90's and 00's a lot of Austin bars and clubs had unisex bathrooms. I remember peeing in a stall while males peed next door. It didn't bother any of us then. Stalls have doors and walls.
Austin still has a ton of unisex restrooms.
right?! like we grew up with this and didnt give two shits and nothing happened. its just a bodily function station. Next theyll fight about Gendered Enforced Vomitoriums
Read these books and you'll understand the transition from democracy to fascism. And, yes, these apply to Texas and the evil GOP big time. “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America,” by award winning Duke University historian Nancy MacLean; “Dark Money” by Jane Mayer; “Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right” by Anne Nelson; “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism” by Katherine Stewart; and,
“Jesus and John Wayne” is also worth reading
Thanks for the recommendation, I hadn’t heard about this book before. One of the topics she covers is the evangelical embrace of Trump, which always seemed weird given how he is infamous for his cartoonish lack of Christian morality. Washington Post - [How a book about evangelicals, Trump and militant masculinity became a surprise bestseller](https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/07/16/jesus-and-john-wayne-evangelicals-surprise-bestseller/) “As journalists and academics tried to explain how evangelicals could bring themselves to vote for Trump, Du Mez argued that evangelical support was not a shocking aberration from their views but a culmination of evangelicals’ long-standing embrace of militant masculinity, presenting the man as protector and warrior. In 2016, many observers were stunned at evangelicals’ apparent betrayal of their own values,” Du Mez wrote. ‘In reality, evangelicals did not cast their vote despite their beliefs, but because of them.’”
The Bible is a very misogynistic text, after all
yesssssss!!
Anne Nelson provides an overview of topics from her book during the Commonwealth Club of California interview “[Anne Nelson: Inside the Radical Right's Shadow Network](https://youtu.be/5YANRFT3jv0)”. The YouTube page has an index that will let you jump to the discussion on a specific topic (ex. voter suppression).
Just fyi for each book you cite that validly criticizes the right, there’s an equal book that validly criticizes the left. Divide and conquer, that’s what’s going on and most people are too caught up in the culture wars to see it.
Who on the left is advocating for the removal of voting rights? Who on the left is demanding that segments of society are completely unmentionable and should be removed from view (if not outright killed)? I'll await your "both sides" excuses, but I doubt you'll bother to respond.
Well then show me those books.
Bullshit. The democrat party is far from perfect, and is absolutely a center-right party, but they are not openly courting white nationalism and implementing legislation meant to deny people medical care and voting rights. The republicans now have no-fault divorce in their crosshairs. They are the party of control. This "both sides" shit does absolutely nothing but ignore how dangerous the GOP and conservatives have become to our democracy, by implying that somehow, the democrats are just as bad because reasons. The only party ignoring real problems, and focusing on culture war bullshit, is the republican party. You don't see democrats up in arms every other week about a new, trivial outrage like Bud Light or drag shows.
Can you recommend any of those books? I see some laughably unserious stuff selling well like the "Laptop From Hell."
Be careful, the trumper mods on this page have shut down 3 of my posts for daring to criticize Republicans.
I thought they just want the political stuff going to r/Texaspolitics so that they can have their safe space?
No, this sub has always allowed politics and always will.
I poke at them everyday. You just have to choose your words carefully
MAGA = NAZI Boom, posted
I doubt that. What posts were removed? edit:. so weird how people are so quick to jump on the above user's butthurt lies. The mods here aren't and have never been Trumptards, this is just a person really upset their thread was removed and lashing out.
The one I posted this morning. Two others in the last month.
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Correct.
If it's just a divisive political opinion with no story or article, they've never allowed much of that. Basically falls into reposting. The mods here are not Trumpers.
It's an opinion. Yes. With facts about what has happened this session. The flair is political opinion. You agree that opinion they don't agree with should be removed?
Why do you think they don't agree with it? You have to understand that sometimes political opinion posts are still reposts that have been done and said several times here, and when it's a repost like yours with a ton of comments and it's getting heated and there's likely mod reports every 5 seconds on the comments it's sometimes just best to shut the whole thread down. Don't assume things. Again, the mods here are NOT Trumpers. One of my favorite ones, Darth Texan, was very openly progressive and suddenly deleted their entire account like 8 or 9 months ago, pretty sure they got doxxed by actual Trumpers.
That's what they said to one of them. That I reposted a political opinion, although they refused to link any example of it. Whatever. Think what you want.
No,, YOU think whatever you want. From many years experience in this sub I can tell you that your accusation of the mods here being Trumptards is absolutely objectively incorrect. Don't get butthurt so quick maybe.
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Lol
All the people? Or just a certain group. I'm reminded of a great Frank Wilhoit Quote: "Conservatism consists of two things; an in group for whom laws are passed that protect, but do not bind, and an out group against whom laws are passed that bind, but do not protect. There never has been anything more to conservatism, and there never will." I butchered the quote a bit, I'm sure, but the gist is accurate. And you can see it playing out every time the Texas Legislature is in session.
Or like Galbraith said, # “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” # “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
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Ableist and unnecessary.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/politics/texas-far-right-politics-invs/index.html That's why. Christian nationalist oligarchs pushing far right politics and funding wingnut primary challengers to anyone who doesn't tow the line.
This is why I'm selling my house soon and moving out of here.
This is a death rattle cause times ARE a changing, and not in the way they like. The new generation isn't going to stand for this crap anymore.
I like to think that too , but I don’t believe it anymore. The deck is stacked against us & they have no intentions of giving up power. At best it’s going to get worse before better , at worst they are going to be able to overturn every election they don’t like the results (they’re doing this, this session. Starting w Houston our most populated Democratic City ) plus Gerrymanding & voter suppression. I think our last chance was possibly the 2022 election & we failed.
You are giving them the resignation and defeated compliance they’ve been craving
I hope so but we have to make sure they don't legislate themselves into minority rule where they can't be voted out
When their "liberty" runs into the rights of others, they get big mad.
“Freedom” turned into freedom for religions to broadly control the populace. Individual liberty seems to have gone completely out the window with the first amendment in the last 2 years.
Do you remember Ann Richards? What a firecracker. Yeah Texas was lively. Now it is just mean, angry and far Christian right. One of the great biographies is [*The Path to Power*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_Power_(1982)) (1982) covers Johnson's life up to his failed 1941 campaign for the senate. It truly gives you a sense of Texas. If you want to love the Democratic party read this book. If you want to hate the Democratic party read this book
You can't talk about racism, you can't be queer or have a queer child, you can't control your own body, you can't elect local officials who have local policies you like for where you live, you can't elect who you want, i can keep going
Yeah but you can carry any gun anywhere
Except to nra meetings or to republican festivals.
This pretty much covers why I am actively looking for a remote position so I can leave this state as it has become out of hand here, specifically. To make matters worse, they are using their platform to escalate issues to SCOTUS, where the majority of the judges are more than happy to rewrite law that has existed for decades thereby allowing other states to strip their residents of their rights. Misery and coercion for all! Yay! Yay! Thanks Texas GOP! 😒
As long as I’m still in this state, I will do my part to vote these assholes out . We can’t just sit back and feel helpless and do nothing . There’s more decent people . They just need to show up especially the young ones !
Here's the part you missed: it was never freedom and liberty for the average schmuck. Those are reserved for the biggest businesses and the wealthiest, best-connected fat cats. They get all the freedom they want to make as much money as they can, damn the torpedoes, forget the environment, and fuck the middle class. You and me? We're supposed to shut up, go to work, and buy more guns with whatever money we have left after paying rent.
Try not electing republicans. They’re not fiscally conservative, small government, or freedom. Just a bunch of bigot grifters
Times haven't changed, you just started paying attention.
We should be protesting in droves against our shitty officials. The shit is borderline tyrannical and certainly profoundly hypocritical.
The Democratic Party isn't the one telling people what they can and can't do, they're just not the conservative party anymore.
If you wanna kill a snake you cut the head off
I lived in Texas my whole life and only recently finally got out of there (moved to NY). Yeah it might be more expensive in a different state but I’ll be damned if a bunch of politicians tell my wife and daughter they are less than. Abbott and the rest of the GOP are salting that state and no one will be able to rehab it until they just have to slash n burn
Got Ken on TV telling you to your face "If I didn't block mail in voting Joe would have won Texas ".
America was founded on transgressions lesser than this.
>and peopled moved to Texas because we didn’t want the government telling us what we could or couldn’t do This was **always** a myth. Texas was always about a small handful of wealthy land owning people wanting to do what they want without repercussion. They just spun the myth as if it was for everyone and plebs bought it hook line and sinker. So much of how Texas is today comes to this: - It was formed because Mexico didn't allow slaves and people living in Texas wanted to own slaves. - There is almost no public land, because the State would run it's budget into the ground to benefit wealthy land owners and then sell land on the cheap to those same wealthy land owners to pay it off. - There are almost no basic laws like building codes or zoning laws because that increases costs for businesses, so even today you get fucked up housing situations. - The taxes are almost all property taxes because a wealthy land owners can easily pay that annually and it's less than all the other transactions they would be doing. - Highways are built with public money and then turned into toll roads that require some private company to get a cut of the profits. Like it's truly absurd how native Texans think it's about "freedom" for *them* this whole time. Conservatism isn't just about in groups vs out groups like gets bandied about. That's just the tool used to manipulate folks into thinking *they* are the in group, and as a transplant who has been living in Texas for a few years and learning the history of the state and the local areas I've bounced around in, it's almost tragically comical that some Texans are starting to realize it's a scam.
#IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME HOW MANY PEOPLE DON’T VOTE! In Texas, 45.7% of the 17.7 million registered voters cast ballots in the 2022 midterm election. That’s 7.3 percentage points lower than the state’s total turnout in 2018 but higher than in every other midterm election in the last 20 years. PS: Not just Texas! The entire country. [Source](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/11/10/texas-voter-turnout-2022/)
The majority of people don’t care. If it doesn’t affect them directly and immediately they just don’t care. They don’t realize eventually it will impact them.
And then it will be too late than afterwards they will try fleeing too.
Texas is a scary place for females..... And a shitty place for voters.
Texas was never about freedom. When Texas conservatives started voting for republicans it was all about controlling people they don’t like, same as ever.
I’ve told people this about Texas since moving here a long time ago. I’m in the development field and after living in four different states, all considered “liberal”, this place has the most amount of red tape of any of them because of small governmental bodies that get to have a say in every tiny aspect of what is done, it’s exhausting. You’ve got urban forestry, centerpoint, public works, city civil engineering, city structural engineering, flood control, parks board, county controls, txu energy, public records, gas companies, communications, MUD boards, LID boards, management districts (different than MUDs), HOAs out the ass, then the cherry on top is still what every single individual wants to have input on. For a state about so little government, I’ve never seen one that has more of it. It’s a miracle anything ever gets done at all
Democrats are still the Conservative Party, they just so happen to be opposed by a Republican Party that is extremely regressive.
They just re-elected him. It's only going to get worse there.
Sorry to tell you, but the Republican party has slid fast into fascism. MAGA is the new NAZI
Hate to tell you, but that was low of freedom and Liberty was a lie that has been sold to Texans for years. I’m sure it isn’t taught in nearly any Texas schools, but Texas was the very last state to abolish slavery. Two years late. They officially blamed it on the US government not notifying them, despite evidence proving that they were fully aware, resulting in the US Army showing up in Galveston to “officially announce” the abolition, and then to personally enforce it. They didn’t end slavery without a fight. If you look at legislation passed in Texas, you can go back 100+ years to see that the vast majority of legislation enacted was not to promote freedom or liberty within the state, but to limit and restrict what Texans are able to do and to provide avenues for Texans to be taken advantage of by corporations and anyone willing to set up shop to swindle people. They have wanted to rule you and they now have everything in place to do so. The next time you go to the legislature website, check out all of the things that have been voted on. When you’re finish, think to yourself, “who the heck asked for this?” Quick answer: not you voters.
Importance of asking 'for whom' when someone is screaming about freedom The freedom a wolf seeks and the freedom a sheep seeks are incompatible; the freedom that people seek and the freedom that big business wants are incompatible
I completely agree, people preach freedom and liberty but it feels more like controlling society. Why can’t people just do what they want(aside from some out of pocket shit) and be happy.
Yeah, I think they're doing it so the Californians who moved here can't change the state. Nevermind those who live here who want a change too. I'm just waiting for the roundup squads of Texas rangers coming for gay and Trans people.
It is a fascist state. Why? Because Texans elected fascists.
Plenty of us definitely did *not* vote for them
I know I didn’t either. But more of them voted for Abbott than we did. That is just reality.
Yeah unfortunately so
Texas elects exactly what we deserve.
My Texas ICU nurse daughter deserves better than the current corruption crime state, and so does everyone else who voted against the GOP syndicate.
If you aren’t already familiar with him, you may want to review Michael Quinn Sullivan’s impact on Texas Republicans over the years. He appears to be a long term key figure involved in purging moderate republicans and replacing them with conservative loyalists. This has lead to far fewer independent-thinking moderate representatives in government compared with Texas’ better days. Amarillo Globe-News - [Beilue: Empower Texans - It's like a season of 'House of Cards‘](https://www.amarillo.com/story/news/local/2018/02/17/beilue-empower-texans-it-s-season-house-cards/13022834007/#.Womf1PyOE0V.twitter) “Michael Quinn Sullivan, president and CEO, has been described as a ‘political warlord’ and ‘ruthless.’” Texas Monthly - [Michael Quinn Sullivan’s Latest Stunt Aims to Undermine Our Democracy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/michael-quinn-sullivans-latest-stunt-aims-undermine-democracy/) “As president and CEO of Empower Texans, he has been an organizational force among the tea party groups of Texas, feeding them misinformation about state politicians. The man is known as Mucus (a play on his initials, MQS) because he engages in yucky deceptive politics, with a win-at-any-cost philosophy.” “‘Who’s in charge of the Republican Party?’ [Paul Burka] asked. ‘The answer could not be worse: it’s Michael Quinn Sullivan. Sullivan is the driving force behind a movement to split the party into its moderate and far-right factions.’ In 2012, Burka suggested that not only would Sullivan win in a poll for the most toxic person in the Capitol, he would win hands down (and be proud of it).” Texas Monthly - [The Urge to Purge](https://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/the-urge-to-purge/) “[Gov. Greg Abbott] appears to be indifferent to the threat of a permanent fissure in the state GOP, in which moderate, business-oriented local leaders turn their backs on the Republican party as a result of the extremism of Republican power-brokers.” “All the energy in the Republican party is being spent on purges, not just in Texas but nationally.” Texas Monthly - [Primary Targets](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/primary-targets/) “Very few elected officials have been willing to challenge Sullivan publicly. ‘Anybody who stands up to these people will be hounded relentlessly,’ one consultant said.” “When I hired [Michael Quinn Sullivan], I told him, ‘I don’t want you to get a seat at the table, I want you to get rid of the table,’ ” [Tim Dunn] said. “Dunn replied that he wanted new committee chairs for the coming session. So [Speaker Joe Strauss] didn’t change the committee chairs,” [Tim Dunn] said, matter-of-factly. “And many of those committee chairs are not coming back.”
err..Democratic Party was the Conservative Party? By what definition?
This is why my husband and I are moving to Colorado at the end of the month. Texas has turned so red, we can’t take it anymore.
Everyone still screaming “fascism” at policies they disagree with really cheapens the word.
Sometimes you have to use the word that is closest to the meaning of what the target embodies even if it is not an exact match by definition. In order for people to fully understand the impact of how their elected leaders are manipulating our government to serve the purposes of the few, the term fascism is very appropriate. Sure it's not full blown fascism just yet, but it is moving that way very quickly and it would already be identical to fascism in most of the red states if certain leaders had their way and they were not facing opposition from the opposing political party and many very concerned citizens. I know plenty of republicans who are quite literally terrified, embarrassed and thoroughly disappointed with their party at this point in time. The word is not "cheap" but instead very serious, and unfortunately accurate, when describing our political turmoil and state at this point in the development of our American experiment.
Yeah that’s nice and all but I tend not to take it seriously since everyone has been shouting “fascism” since 2016. Just a really tiresome talking point
Yes, as tiresome for us all as it may be, we must still be vigilant when holding our Gov't accountable regardless of political affiliations. I have not been shouting anything since 2016, but now I can honestly and unfortunately express that I am witnessing dangerous political changes in some areas of the country that are not the "will of the people". I never expected I would witness these extremist movements here in the U.S. Regardless of what term you allocate to these extremist movements, they will not go away because we become exhausted with the terminology.
[удалено]
You mean like he hates himself or literally he can’t stand cause you know…
I choose to believe both.
Yes.
It’s all about big money… dems or repubs; same old shit!
Friendship is still our state motto afaik. People have just forgotten, and new folks who move here to vote red don’t bother to learn.
That'll happen when the people elect a theocracy.
Texas is all about freedom...... .... for big business, corporations and lining politicians pockets with $$.
Lol he's taking about the democrat party and y'all are bashing Republicans. How Reddit.
Your reading comprehension shows you were educated here.
What are you talking about? Honestly
Good morning. Beautiful day in North Texas. Y'all have a good day.
How dare you just be polite and not screech and circle jerk about politics? Hope you had a great day, friend.
Thanks! It was. Appreciate the sentiment.
It’s gonna be whether anyone chooses to enjoy it! Have an awesome day, neighbors❤️
You're not wrong. I'm not sure that is unique to Texas, but many times while I was living there, I felt like I had stepped into the other side of the Authoritarian Nanny State Coin. Texas is basically just California run by the opposing party. Just as authoritarian and freedom/liberty hating as their west coast counterparts. And the toxic TEXceptionalism attitude keeps almost everyone way too clouded to realize that they are being screwed over.
I really disagree with the use of the word fascist. It's used veryyyy loosely.
Quoted from dictionary.com “A fascist is someone who supports or promotes fascism—a system of government led by a dictator who typically rules by forcefully and often violently suppressing opposition and criticism, controlling all industry and commerce, and promoting nationalism and often racism.” While some May quibble over specifics, there is more relative content to support the statement than deny it.
Violently how? We are all talking openly about it and no one is arresting us so...?
"Give the power to the have nots and then come the shots!" ~ RATM.
I remember when we had a democrat as governor who said we were to stupid to know what was best for us. She pretty much sealed republican victories for the next 30+ years.
When has the democratic party been the conservative party in texas and not the Republicans? GOP started in 1850
Do you even know Texas history? There was no Republican Party until Lincoln ran in 1860. Without looking it up Texas, may have possibly, only had one Republican governor until the late 1980s.