Jump to content
  • 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



    Anastasis

    Posted

    On 4/10/2025 at 9:57 PM, Willfully Horn said:

    My wife is apoplectic. Tonight is the third night in a row Spectrum has engaged the emergency broadcast system almost the entire PBS News Hour.

    Shit man, we all have problems. Sorry that this one is yours. 

    LurkingHorn

    Posted

    11 hours ago, sasquatch69 said:

    This is interesting. 👀  The Quorum Report is well-sourced and pretty reliable (although I really wish they'd update their 1998-era website layout).

    https://quorumreport.com/

    I've never heard of the Quruom Report, but if that's true, you have to think these reps are hearing it from their constituents and getting queezy. 

    wildcat09

    Posted

    On 4/8/2025 at 10:15 AM, bolverk said:

    So much of social conservatism is rooted in self-loathing.

    That’s funny.  None of the conservative posters we typically see around here seem to have any issues.

    tx 3 putt

    Posted

    14 hours ago, sasquatch69 said:

    This is interesting. 👀  The Quorum Report is well-sourced and pretty reliable (although I really wish they'd update their 1998-era website layout).

    https://quorumreport.com/

     

    abbott would never let this happen 

    Updawg

    Posted

     
    abbott would never let this happen 

    Time to punish public schools
    tx 3 putt

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, Updawg said:


    Time to punish public schools

    bunch of lazy libs !!!

    Valmy77

    Posted

    Well why would Abbott fear having his wonderful proposal put before the people? Surely we would all line up to vote for it?

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 1
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 2
    ChuckNorrisActionJeans

    Posted

    Right... his stupid Facebook posts constantly crow about how Texans want vouchers. Put up or shut up! 

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 1
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
    elfenix

    Posted

    Quote

    In July 2022, Lauralei Crouch searched the Internet for advice on how to report child abuse.

     

    Her inquiries were not academic: Prosecutors say Crouch had for weeks been watching her boyfriend pummel his 2-year-old son, Wyatt, slapping and flinging him into tables and door jambs as punishment.

     

    But Crouch never made that call. Later that month, Randall Pickett, 29, beat Wyatt so viciously that Crouch told police the boy appeared drunk. Rather than calling police or rendering aid, Crouch beat the toddler herself.

     

    Horrible, awful story 

     

    https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/texas-child-endangerment-dangerous-homes-safety-services-removal/

    • Rage+1 4
    South Austin

    Posted

    On 4/10/2025 at 9:57 PM, Willfully Horn said:

    My wife is apoplectic. Tonight is the third night in a row Spectrum has engaged the emergency broadcast system almost the entire PBS News Hour. No broadcast audio, just the emergency alarm and the emergency message.

    I can come over tonight to fix that for your wife.

    spacer.png

    • Haha 1
    Brisketexan

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Sbbruin said:

    Makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.

    You sound like a socialist.

    The dead kids are what tells us the freedom is working.

    sddefault.jpg

    • Rage+1 5
    tx 3 putt

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Valmy77 said:

    Well why would Abbott fear having his wonderful proposal put before the people? Surely we would all line up to vote for it?

     

    abbott is extremely modest and winning this vote 80/20 would just be too embarrassing for him 

    RPM

    Posted (edited)

    Andy Hopper is dumber than a box of rocks, so of course he represents Wise County. He was trying to defund UT. Fortunately, Lauren Ashley Simmons was there. 

    Andy, that's not true.

     

    Edited by RPM
    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Haha 5
    • Rage+1 1
    Valmy77

    Posted

    Yes. Now we have to defend funding the UT system in the Lege.

    The clown show gets more moronic every session.

    • Rage+1 1
    Jive Turkey

    Posted

    Trump called in to rally the troops ahead of the vote on vouchers.

     

    • Rage+1 2
    RPM

    Posted

    tumblr_mvzl95sAid1s2gg27o1_400.gif

    • Like 2
    bluto

    Posted (edited)

    Scratch that, just the funding bill I guess passed 144-4. Voucher still to come. 

    Edited by bluto
    bluto

    Posted (edited)

    Amendment to put voucher up for statewide vote goes down in flames, 84 voted against it. All over but the crying and talarico (wasting everybody’s time) making them look foolish. 
     

    will the dems have the balls to go nuclear the rest of this session

    Edited by bluto
    • Rage+1 1
    Deej

    Posted

    13 hours ago, bluto said:

    will the dems have the balls to go nuclear the rest of this session

    Hahahahahahahahaha...no. 

    • Rage+1 1
    Evil Bill Obrien

    Posted

    So where do I send the paperwork to get my future Muslim Fundamentalist Private School certified to get some of these sweet, sweet taxpayer provided school vouchers?

    • Like 2
    Valmy77

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

    Enjoy spending your tax money on schools with no academic accountability ratings, no requirement to provide certified teachers, no requirement to provide special education services, no obligation to accept kids from tough circumstances, and no legal requirement to report staff fired for questionable behavior with students. 

    And not accountable to our elected school boards. Just over there stealing out money and handing it off to their private equity buddies.

    • Rage+1 1
    Larry T. Spider

    Posted

    29 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

    And not accountable to our elected school boards. Just over there stealing out money and handing it off to their private equity buddies.


    Complain about wasteful spending in eduction.

    Solution: hand money over to schools with zero oversight, accountability, or regulations.

    • Like 2
    • Rage+1 4
    C-Man

    Posted

    37 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

    Everything republicans have ever preached about accountability for public schools is a farce. 

    FIFY

    • Like 2
    • Rage+1 2
    Valmy77

    Posted

    The sad part is that even if this platonically perfectly, even if we did get really high quality private schools that took all of our students, regardless of disability, and did a great job educating them and blew the Public School system away....it would still be disastrous since this would pretty much only happen in urban and suburban areas. The rural parts of the state and the small towns would still be screwed.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 2
    Deej

    Posted

    44 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

    I also hope that the residents of the 158 Texas counties that don’t even have a private school

    The ones coasting on that sweet AISD recapture money?

    GreenspointTexas

    Posted

    Thank god im white, in times like these

    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
    Larry T. Spider

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Deej said:

    The ones coasting on that sweet AISD recapture money?

    52.4% of local tax money paid. 821 million a year.

    Valmy77

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Larry T. Spider said:

    52.4% of local tax money paid. 821 million a year.

    I know. We did this when the Democrats controlled Texas. For them. We agreed to share our tax money with them because we wanted to help.

    And they hate us for it.

    • Rage+1 1
    tx ind

    Posted

    Are there limitations on who can receive the vouchers?

    RPM

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Evil Bill Obrien said:

    So where do I send the paperwork to get my future Muslim Fundamentalist Private School certified to get some of these sweet, sweet taxpayer provided school vouchers?

    Department of Homeland Security

    Larry T. Spider

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, tx ind said:

    Are there limitations on who can receive the vouchers?

    No dirty children of illegals coming here to steal our jobs and voucher slots.

    bluto

    Posted

    12 minutes ago, tx ind said:

    Are there limitations on who can receive the vouchers?

    As in like income limits?  no you goofus, bc then there wouldn’t even be enough kids to fill the program. 😂

    bolverk

    Posted

    17 minutes ago, tx ind said:

    Are there limitations on who can receive the vouchers?

    image.png.7c37125d5815dba1527899e26aa2705e.png

    • Like 2
    • Haha 1
    • Rage+1 4
    tx ind

    Posted

    35 minutes ago, bluto said:

    As in like income limits?  no you goofus, bc then there wouldn’t even be enough kids to fill the program. 😂

    Yeah that’s what I was asking about.  Really no income limitations? 

    Larry T. Spider

    Posted

    1 minute ago, tx ind said:

    Yeah that’s what I was asking about.  Really no income limitations? 

    Once you understand this is a new form of grift, it will make more sense.

    • Hook 'Em 3
    RPM

    Posted

    1 hour ago, GreenspointTexas said:

    Thank god im white, in times like these

    Let's take a peek at your voting record and social media before we determine what kind of white you are.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 1
    • Rage+1 1
    bluto

    Posted

    19 minutes ago, tx ind said:

    Yeah that’s what I was asking about.  Really no income limitations? 

    There was a back and forth when an amendment was presented, the gop challenged the dem to present a number of how many billionaires there are in Texas and how many of them have kids school age. Thats the level of thought that went into it. 
    the dem did have a good poke about Elon being a resident and having double digit offspring. 

    mchookem

    Posted

    13 minutes ago, RPM said:

    Let's take a peek at your voting record and social media before we determine what kind of white you are.

    image.jpeg.6e876b8764adcfe0ded37a21abc8effb.jpeg

     

    honestly we're probably not that far off...

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 2
    • Rage+1 1
    Evil Bill Obrien

    Posted

    1 hour ago, RPM said:

    Department of Homeland Security

    Nice try, fed

     

    royiv

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Valmy77 said:

    The sad part is that even if this platonically perfectly, even if we did get really high quality private schools that took all of our students, regardless of disability, and did a great job educating them and blew the Public School system away....it would still be disastrous since this would pretty much only happen in urban and suburban areas. The rural parts of the state and the small towns would still be screwed.

    Keep the poorly educated poorly educated. It’s the GQP’s base.

    • Like 1
    pyrohornIII

    Posted

    Now they are pushing hard on property tax rebates for those who choose to pull out of public ed and send their kids to private.   This could be even more devastating to the small rural schools due to how many they stand to lose to home schooling.  Especially in the elementary years.  Then after jr high, they want to send them back to the public system for a variety of reasons.  A public ISD that will be damaged by the loss of those tax rebates in the lower grades.

     

    image.thumb.png.b9b891a4a94a21efe40e7a15d5c1ecb6.png

    Paper_jam

    Posted (edited)

    Future generations will be indoctrinated in religious schools, taught a superficial understanding of history, and undereducated (at best) in hard science and critical thinking. A recipe for a permanent Republican majority.  And the best part--we're paying for it.

    If the Robin Hood system is still going to exist, the City of Austin should refuse to make any more payments into it.

     

    Edited by Paper_jam
    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 2
    Hank Scorpio

    Posted

    Shit I need to open a charter school and get me some of that free money.

    • Hook 'Em 3



    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...