Make Texas Great Again

[royiv 9164]

A couple of posts today have got me thinking about what would it take to fix the shit show that is Texas politics. Nothing is going to change until we figure out a way to remove the GQP's influence from the capitol so what are things that would actually move the needle? That said, I thought I would make a list of things I would do if I were king of Texas. I'm interested to hear what others thoughts are on these issues. These are in no particular order.

Legislative Session

-Institute an annual legislative session. Texas is one of four states with a biennial session, the others being MT, ND and NV. It seems nuts to me that a state as large, complex and important as Texas thinks we can effectively govern meeting once every two years for 140 days. 

Marijuana

-Legalize it and tax it. Use tax proceeds to fund mental health and addiction services for homeless and un/under-insured Texans.

-Pardon all inmates that are serving a sentence for only simple possession. I would listen to ideas of how far that should go. As a bonus, it would be great if this would help Texas get out of the private prison business. I would include expunging the records of those who have already served sentences under the same terms.

Healthcare

-Expand Medicaid. It blows my mind that we as a state leave federal dollars on the table. That means we all pay federal taxes and we're leaving money on the table to be sent to other states that could be coming our way.

-Repeal the anti-abortion law. Allow women and their healthcare provider to make decisions about an individual woman's health.

-Stop the attacks on LGBTQ+ community. 

Guns

-Institute a red flag law. We need to make sure that Texans suffering a mental health crisis don't have access to guns. We need to protect our own.

-Institute a 21 year age minimum to purchase an assault weapon (and, no fatty, I'm not going to get into one of your dumb bullet debates with you - these are all 10k foot ideas).

-Get rid of constitutional carry. You want to carry a gun legally, you're going to need a permit for that.

-Waiting period on the purchase of guns. 7 days for shotguns, sporting rifles, 14 days for handguns, 28 days for assault weapons (again, fatty, don't muck this up with your bullet talk).

Education

-Reevaluate Robin Hood. I admit that I'm not an expert in how to equitably fund education in this state, but I'm smart enough to know our current system is broken. We have bright people in this state, let's get them together and figure out a fix.

-Improve funding for higher education. California kicks our ass up and down the field on this one. We are woeful for a state of our stature.

-Get God out of the public schools. End the book ban BS. Return sanity to the classroom so that kids can learn. Listen to our best and brightest educators and fix standardized testing.

Gambling

-Why do we let so many dollars cross state lines into LA and OK? Lots of other states have figured out to regulate and tax casino gambling. Let's quit donating money to LA and OK.

-Legalize sports gambling. See above.

TABC

-Burn it to the ground and start over. It's an oversized agency with oversized power in this state. It needs to be overhauled. 

Taxes

-This is probably the biggest bogeyman. Our hands are tied w/r/t an income tax in this state so we have got to figure out how we fix the regressive propert tax burden placed on Texans. I'm not the guy to figure it out, but I'd love to brainstorm with some smart economists.

What am I missing? Transportation? Other agencies that need to be completely overhauled? I'm really interested in hearing people's thoughts. I'm hoping this turns into a thread of healthy discussion on ideas how to change the current course of our state, but it will probably turn into monkeys flinging shit at each other by the fourth post.

[fattyflattie 4636]

I got no issues with the healthcare, guns, gambling, or TABC parts. You should run for office. 

Edited April 13, 2023 by fattyflattie

[henrygandorf 29179]

mobilize young voters and that shit can happen. i honestly don’t know how y’all keep electing those dopes. 

keep electing them, and none of that shit happens, including you becoming the king of a state. 

[atomheartbevo 89450]

8 minutes ago, royiv said:

Nothing is going to change until we figure out a way to remove the GQP's influence from the capitol so what are things that would actually move the needle?

 I love a lot of what you posted, but until you get through to the legislature/Abbott/Patrick/etc. to govern for all 30 million Texans and not the 5.9 million that voted for Trump (and a huge chunk of those will vote (R) no matter what, so it's not even 5.9 million, more like a million or two), I don't see it changing.

A few comments.

- Robin Hood/Recapture - Austin should not be sending $760 million to other districts (many rural or small town) this year, allowing those districts to skimp on certain things and keep their rates low and using bonds to pay for bullshit non-necessities.  If you won't raise the money through normal means, use your bonds to pay your teachers or keep your lights on instead of fucking fancy athletic facilities.  Especially when those rural areas and smaller towns love to shit all over Austin.  If we are keeping your teachers paid and your schools open, shut the fuck up about your opinion of the People's Republic of Austin because it's pretty fucking socialist of you to rely on us to pay your teachers or keep your lights on when we could use a few hundred million of that $670 million to boost AISD facilities and pay. Over the last 20 years Austin taxpayers have sent $6 billion to the recapture fund to help smaller districts out.

Expanding Medicaid, amen, I don't know why Abbott and Co. think they are cute when it comes to leaving that money on the table.

Transportation - have somebody come up with a coherent plan for high-speed rail between Houston/Dallas/Austin/San Antonio (even if it's not actual high-speed rail like in France or Japan, but that higher-speed Amtrak on the East Coast) and maybe a spur or two out to Fort Worth or Grapevine and Galveston.  It's a pipe dream, but would be amazing for sporting events and tourism in Texas.  If you could make it easy to get between those four cities, to where it's much faster than driving/flying (flying between them can get into driving time territory with security, waits, delays, parking, etc.), to where people might do quick trips up on a Friday and come back Saturday night or Sunday, or where people could hop on a train after breakfast, goto the OU game in Dallas, and then get home by dinner, it would be fucking awesome.  If I can get on a train and spend an hour or two reading/surfing Surly/etc., and then get off in Dallas or Houston and go to a game or catch a shuttle to a hotel and then to the tourist places or whatever, fantastic.  And it would probably be a boon for business travelers during the week - if it's decent enough, some may even catch an early train ride to wherever (eat breakfast on the way) and then come home in time for dinner.

 

[GW Hayduke 1952]

2 hours ago, royiv said:

A couple of posts today have got me thinking about what would it take to fix the shit show that is Texas politics. Nothing is going to change until we figure out a way to remove the GQP's influence from the capitol so what are things that would actually move the needle? That said, I thought I would make a list of things I would do if I were king of Texas. I'm interested to hear what others thoughts are on these issues. These are in no particular order.

Legislative Session

-Institute an annual legislative session. Texas is one of four states with a biennial session, the others being MT, ND and NV. It seems nuts to me that a state as large, complex and important as Texas thinks we can effectively govern meeting once every two years for 140 days. 

Marijuana

-Legalize it and tax it. Use tax proceeds to fund mental health and addiction services for homeless and un/under-insured Texans.

-Pardon all inmates that are serving a sentence for only simple possession. I would listen to ideas of how far that should go. As a bonus, it would be great if this would help Texas get out of the private prison business. I would include expunging the records of those who have already served sentences under the same terms.

Healthcare

-Expand Medicaid. It blows my mind that we as a state leave federal dollars on the table. That means we all pay federal taxes and we're leaving money on the table to be sent to other states that could be coming our way.

-Repeal the anti-abortion law. Allow women and their healthcare provider to make decisions about an individual woman's health.

-Stop the attacks on LGBTQ+ community. 

Guns

-Institute a red flag law. We need to make sure that Texans suffering a mental health crisis don't have access to guns. We need to protect our own.

-Institute a 21 year age minimum to purchase an assault weapon (and, no fatty, I'm not going to get into one of your dumb bullet debates with you - these are all 10k foot ideas).

-Get rid of constitutional carry. You want to carry a gun legally, you're going to need a permit for that.

-Waiting period on the purchase of guns. 7 days for shotguns, sporting rifles, 14 days for handguns, 28 days for assault weapons (again, fatty, don't muck this up with your bullet talk).

Education

-Reevaluate Robin Hood. I admit that I'm not an expert in how to equitably fund education in this state, but I'm smart enough to know our current system is broken. We have bright people in this state, let's get them together and figure out a fix.

-Improve funding for higher education. California kicks our ass up and down the field on this one. We are woeful for a state of our stature.

-Get God out of the public schools. End the book ban BS. Return sanity to the classroom so that kids can learn. Listen to our best and brightest educators and fix standardized testing.

Gambling

-Why do we let so many dollars cross state lines into LA and OK? Lots of other states have figured out to regulate and tax casino gambling. Let's quit donating money to LA and OK.

-Legalize sports gambling. See above.

TABC

-Burn it to the ground and start over. It's an oversized agency with oversized power in this state. It needs to be overhauled. 

Taxes

-This is probably the biggest bogeyman. Our hands are tied w/r/t an income tax in this state so we have got to figure out how we fix the regressive propert tax burden placed on Texans. I'm not the guy to figure it out, but I'd love to brainstorm with some smart economists.

What am I missing? Transportation? Other agencies that need to be completely overhauled? I'm really interested in hearing people's thoughts. I'm hoping this turns into a thread of healthy discussion on ideas how to change the current course of our state, but it will probably turn into monkeys flinging shit at each other by the fourth post.

In order to accomplish most of those things, the Texas GOP would either need to be removed from power (lose elections) or get to the point where it becomes obvious to them that they will lose elections if they don't change their polices.

In order for that to happen, the Texas voting population is going to need to shift from voting for the GOP to the Democrats.

In order for that to happen, we probably need a mix of a) curtailment or regulation of misinformation and disinformation, b) increase in education funding, c) reform the education system to address critical thinking and propaganda susceptibility and instill basic moral values (citizenship, compassion, lying is bad, breaking the law is bad, adults acting like children is bad, adults insulting others is bad, etc.), d) mobilization of progressive donors, e) reform the Dem's party apparatus to increase effectiveness, f) increase voter turnout (remove barriers and increase motivation)... there are probably several other things but those are at the top of mind. 

It sucks but elections have consequences and the Texas population and their voting habits are very flawed.

[Post Oak 20187]

We've got to figure out the grid and increase investment in water management, future water storage and plans for new reservoirs.   

[South Austin 52146]

Bring back Prima Nocta.

[hornmpa96 2598]

Nothing happens until we convince the normies to actually register and vote in primaries and the general. If people actually started voting, this state’s political climate would change quickly.

[Snake Diggity 4614]

Some decent ideas but almost none that have a chance of getting done in the next 10 years.

My state-level issues that I think have some chance being addressed:

tweak Robin Hood 

legalize weed

legalize gambling

 

Pipe dreams:

TEA overhaul: dramatic increases in teacher salaries, dramatic decreases in student/teacher ratio

Extended waiting periods, red flag laws, and increased background checks for guns

Medicare/Medicaid expansion

State funded public college for all 

High speed rail that follows I-10, I-35, and I-45

 

 

[gmr548 16517]

Nothing happens until we convince the normies to actually register and vote in primaries and the general. If people actually started voting, this state’s political climate would change quickly.

Would it?

We had two very high turnout elections in 2018 and 2020 and Republicans swept statewide offices, mostly with comfortable margins, despite running several pathetic and embarrassing candidates.

Polling is pretty good at gauging where the electorate stands with a sample of 500-1000 registered voters. We’ve had elections with 50+, 60+ percent of registered voters participating. The results didn’t change much from lower turnout elections. That’s a pretty good sample size to say this state is what it is

[Bookman 4611]

I'm all for legalizing marijuana but why tax it? It's not like Texans don't already pay enough in taxes.

[Captainant 27467]

5 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Polling is pretty good at gauging where the electorate stands with a sample of 500-1000 registered voters. We’ve had elections with 50+, 60+ percent of registered voters participating. The results didn’t change much from lower turnout elections. That’s a pretty good sample size to say this state is what it is

Gerrymandering is also worth considering here. We are under an effective supermajority that is also in a power consolidation posture. Our state government wants to be the emperor of Texas and squash all local rule too - at least in those ebil libtard cities

[atomheartbevo 89450]

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

Bring back Prima Nocta.

Who said it went away?  Just because you don't practice it in your neighborhood doesn't mean the rest of us do...

[safe sex 11684]

nm

Edited April 13, 2023 by safe sex

[South Austin 52146]

1 minute ago, atomheartbevo said:

Who said it went away?  Just because you don't practice it in your neighborhood doesn't mean the rest of us do...

I’m clearly on the wrong message boards.

[tx ind 7000]

Liquor stores open on Sunday’s and holidays.

[gmr548 16517]

Gerrymandering is also worth considering here. We are under an effective supermajority that is also in a power consolidation posture. Our state government wants to be the emperor of Texas and squash all local rule too - at least in those ebil libtard cities

Statewide races aren’t gerrymandered.

[Pato del Muerto 52342]

Would probably take federal legislation that gets upheld at scotus on gerrymandering to redraw Texas districts more fairly to have a chance at any of this. 

[hornmpa96 2598]

33 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Would it?

We had two very high turnout elections in 2018 and 2020 and Republicans swept statewide offices, mostly with comfortable margins, despite running several pathetic and embarrassing candidates.

Polling is pretty good at gauging where the electorate stands with a sample of 500-1000 registered voters. We’ve had elections with 50+, 60+ percent of registered voters participating. The results didn’t change much from lower turnout elections. That’s a pretty good sample size to say this state is what it is

Even at those turnout rates, we are in the bottom half of the US in turnout. I’m probably being optimistic that the non-voters lean anti-fascist and hope’s a dangerous thing.

[Beau Vine 54004]

The problem with this thread is that every single one of the things you listed are things that make Texas Texas, unfortunately.  

So if you fix those problems, you haven't made "Texas great again," you have made Texas into a completely different state.  

This state is so fundamentally broken that it's impossible to fix.  

[atomheartbevo 89450]

48 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Would it?

We had two very high turnout elections in 2018 and 2020 and Republicans swept statewide offices, mostly with comfortable margins, despite running several pathetic and embarrassing candidates.

Polling is pretty good at gauging where the electorate stands with a sample of 500-1000 registered voters. We’ve had elections with 50+, 60+ percent of registered voters participating. The results didn’t change much from lower turnout elections. That’s a pretty good sample size to say this state is what it is

14 minutes ago, hornmpa96 said:

Even at those turnout rates, we are in the bottom half of the US in turnout. I’m probably being optimistic that the non-voters lean anti-fascist and hope’s a dangerous thing.

We've got 16 - 17.5 million voters registered in the state.

Trump got less than 5 million votes in 2016 and he got 5.9 million votes in 2020 (Biden got 5.2 million votes).

Crack that nut and things change a lot.

[High Plains Drifter 10978]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

- Robin Hood/Recapture - Austin should not be sending $760 million to other districts (many rural or small town) this year, allowing those districts to skimp on certain things and keep their rates low and using bonds to pay for bullshit non-necessities.  If you won't raise the money through normal means, use your bonds to pay your teachers or keep your lights on instead of fucking fancy athletic facilities.  Especially when those rural areas and smaller towns love to shit all over Austin.  If we are keeping your teachers paid and your schools open, shut the fuck up about your opinion of the People's Republic of Austin because it's pretty fucking socialist of you to rely on us to pay your teachers or keep your lights on when we could use a few hundred million of that $670 million to boost AISD facilities and pay. Over the last 20 years Austin taxpayers have sent $6 billion to the recapture fund to help smaller districts out.

 

 

 

I don't think an ISD can use bonds to pay for salaries or light bills.

Bonds are only for construction/repair/upgrade of facilities. And those bonds have to be voted on by the citizens of the district.

 

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

The only solution is to stop paying for schools with local property taxes, where you end up with huge disparities in revenue per student. 

 

 

[CooterBrown 17913]

Travis, Bexar, Harris, Dallas, and El Paso counties secede and form their own New Tejas state. It'll kick ass economically and socially. 

Maybe allow Hays just to get those TXST ladies in the fold.

Edited April 13, 2023 by CooterBrown

[royiv 9164]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

 I love a lot of what you posted, but until you get through to the legislature/Abbott/Patrick/etc. to govern for all 30 million Texans and not the 5.9 million that voted for Trump (and a huge chunk of those will vote (R) no matter what, so it's not even 5.9 million, more like a million or two), I don't see it changing.

A few comments.

- Robin Hood/Recapture - Austin should not be sending $760 million to other districts (many rural or small town) this year, allowing those districts to skimp on certain things and keep their rates low and using bonds to pay for bullshit non-necessities.  If you won't raise the money through normal means, use your bonds to pay your teachers or keep your lights on instead of fucking fancy athletic facilities.  Especially when those rural areas and smaller towns love to shit all over Austin.  If we are keeping your teachers paid and your schools open, shut the fuck up about your opinion of the People's Republic of Austin because it's pretty fucking socialist of you to rely on us to pay your teachers or keep your lights on when we could use a few hundred million of that $670 million to boost AISD facilities and pay. Over the last 20 years Austin taxpayers have sent $6 billion to the recapture fund to help smaller districts out.

Expanding Medicaid, amen, I don't know why Abbott and Co. think they are cute when it comes to leaving that money on the table.

Transportation - have somebody come up with a coherent plan for high-speed rail between Houston/Dallas/Austin/San Antonio (even if it's not actual high-speed rail like in France or Japan, but that higher-speed Amtrak on the East Coast) and maybe a spur or two out to Fort Worth or Grapevine and Galveston.  It's a pipe dream, but would be amazing for sporting events and tourism in Texas.  If you could make it easy to get between those four cities, to where it's much faster than driving/flying (flying between them can get into driving time territory with security, waits, delays, parking, etc.), to where people might do quick trips up on a Friday and come back Saturday night or Sunday, or where people could hop on a train after breakfast, goto the OU game in Dallas, and then get home by dinner, it would be fucking awesome.  If I can get on a train and spend an hour or two reading/surfing Surly/etc., and then get off in Dallas or Houston and go to a game or catch a shuttle to a hotel and then to the tourist places or whatever, fantastic.  And it would probably be a boon for business travelers during the week - if it's decent enough, some may even catch an early train ride to wherever (eat breakfast on the way) and then come home in time for dinner.

 

On your first point, you're absolutely right and I don't have my head buried in the sand on that gargantuan challenge. Perhaps I wasn't clear because it was late at night and I was having trouble sleeping, but my initial premise to my thoughts here is what issues can be hammered on to mobilize the folks that don't vote? What gets those people mobilized and excited to go the polls? I'm clearly no expert, but there has to be a way. Perhaps drag shows at every polling place? Just kidding, maybe only a little bit.

On Robin Hood, totally agree. I don't live in Austin now, but it makes me ragey how much money AISD taxpayers have sent away. Is anyone here an expert on the current laws? Do school districts have to have a minimum tax rate? It seems to me that they should have to max out their tax rate before they are eligible for any recapture dollars. Is that the case or not?

High speed rail, yeah that would be super cool, but probably not high on my list until my second term as king. The system in CA has been plagued with cost overruns so I would want to spend time figuring out the true cost of such a system and a way to acquire the land needed without completely alienating every landowner along the route.

[royiv 9164]

4 hours ago, GW Hayduke said:

In order to accomplish most of those things, the Texas GOP would either need to be removed from power (lose elections) or get to the point where it becomes obvious to them that they will lose elections if they don't change their polices.

In order for that to happen, the Texas voting population is going to need to shift from voting for the GOP to the Democrats.

In order for that to happen, we probably need a mix of a) curtailment or regulation of misinformation and disinformation, b) increase in education funding, c) reform the education system to address critical thinking and propaganda susceptibility and instill basic moral values (citizenship, compassion, lying is bad, breaking the law is bad, adults acting like children is bad, adults insulting others is bad, etc.), d) mobilization of progressive donors, e) reform the Dem's party apparatus to increase effectiveness, f) increase voter turnout (remove barriers and increase motivation)... there are probably several other things but those are at the top of mind. 

It sucks but elections have consequences and the Texas population and their voting habits are very flawed.

Yep. Again, not dismissing that. It's the biggest challenge we currently face in Texas. The question is how can you come up with a platform that is so exciting to the non-voter that they will get off their ass and vote. A bonus would be if you could get some of the folks that have been programmed to pull the R lever to reconsider their choices.

[royiv 9164]

2 hours ago, Post Oak said:

We've got to figure out the grid and increase investment in water management, future water storage and plans for new reservoirs.   

Yes! How the hell did I forget those? Water is already a major issue and is going to continue to be something we need to address if we want the state to continue to grow.

[atomheartbevo 89450]

16 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

I don't think an ISD can use bonds to pay for salaries or light bills.

Sorry, it was late and I was babbling as usual, but my point was that they don't have to pay a lot of those bills/raise rates if we are giving them free money, allowing them to easily sell bonds to the voters - if they were having to raise property taxes to pay for all of their bills, it might make the voters a little less likely to support bond projects for fancy shit.

16 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

The only solution is to stop paying for schools with local property taxes, where you end up with huge disparities in revenue per student.

Agreed, but that would require forward thinking from the legislature.  I would start with forcing districts that that want to go the bond route for fancy facilities, etc., to first repay their recapture money and then raise the property taxes to pay the shortfall from the lost recapture money.  If the voters can stomach higher tax rates and bonds, then let them build their fancy shit.

It's fucking insane that Austin alone has sent $6 billion to all of these smaller districts/rural areas over the past 20 years.  $760 million last year, and this year will be close to or more.

Edited April 13, 2023 by atomheartbevo

[royiv 9164]

1 hour ago, Bookman said:

I'm all for legalizing marijuana but why tax it? It's not like Texans don't already pay enough in taxes.

Don't tax medicinal, but absolutely tax recreational. That's how it's being done in other states. Taxes can be used to fund the public health initiatives that I mentioned in my OP.  

[royiv 9164]

56 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Statewide races aren’t gerrymandered.

Yep. Gerrymandering doesn't get fixed unless the federal courts step in or another party gains control of the state house.

[royiv 9164]

57 minutes ago, tx ind said:

Liquor stores open on Sunday’s and holidays.

The funny thing about that one is that it's the liquor store lobby that is keeping that one from happening, but, yes, one of my primary reasons for wanting to burn TABC to the ground and rebuild is due to the liquor store lobby.

[gmr548 16517]

Even at those turnout rates, we are in the bottom half of the US in turnout. I’m probably being optimistic that the non-voters lean anti-fascist and hope’s a dangerous thing.

I think it’s a pretty bold assumption to think someone who watched the Trump years, their aftermath, and the behavior of the Texas GOP over the past decade or two go by and didn’t show up to vote against the GOP is anti fascist.

[gmr548 16517]

We've got 16 - 17.5 million voters registered in the state.
Trump got less than 5 million votes in 2016 and he got 5.9 million votes in 2020 (Biden got 5.2 million votes).
Crack that nut and things change a lot.

10+ million is a pretty goddamn good sample size to predict where the RV body as a whole stands.

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

We've got 16 - 17.5 million voters registered in the state.

Trump got less than 5 million votes in 2016 and he got 5.9 million votes in 2020 (Biden got 5.2 million votes).

Crack that nut and things change a lot.

I honestly didn't realize that the presidential election was that close. I think it's still a pipe dream, but the difference was 631,000 votes. I could see ~300,000 people switching their vote following January 6, Dobbs, school shootings, and culture war bullshit. It would be offset somewhat by people moving here due to it being a red state.

The governor's race definitely trended the wrong way, but Trump on the ballot is a special case. 

I give it a 5-10% chance, but there is a chance.

[Captainant 27467]

1 hour ago, gmr548 said:

Statewide races aren’t gerrymandered.

No, but if voters are discouraged and feel like their national vote doesn't make a shit (because it doesn't) then they're going to be way less likely to show up on vote day to vote for all the down ballot local dudes that are rarely anything but a straight ticket vote

[Evil Bill Obrien 3193]

These are all really good ideas but nothing is going to change until there is a shift at the top and sadly don't think Hot Wheels, or the man who is really stopping most of these things from happening Lt Dan are going anywhere anytime soon. Wheels might try to run for El Prez again but don't see his peen measuring contest with the Florida Meatball or Trump going very well and highly doubtful he wins so will keep rolling around Texas. Lt Dan is more interesting in that I think he wants Wheels job but won't actually challenge him straight up for it because he is a cuck. Until the Lt Dan shaped roadblock is removed in the Texas Senate don't see any sort of positive movement on these state wide issues such as gambling, marijuana, medicaid, any sniff of common sense firearms restrictions, school funding formula, etc.  

Eventually there will be enough of the olds and rural folk (sorry to resident blue hairs and country bumpkins) being removed from the voter rolls (6 feet under) that the state-wide races will flip and give more state-wide control back to the cities and population centers despite voter suppression efforts in said areas, but flipping individual representatives/senators and local officials will take longer. Just hope by the time these things start to occur and give more encouragement for some more rational voters to show up regularly and vote that it isn't too late. 

TL;DR: Fuck Abbott and Lt Dan 
 

[1978horn 880]

55 minutes ago, royiv said:

Yep. Gerrymandering doesn't get fixed unless the federal courts step in or another party gains control of the state house.

And they have to be in control when they redraw the lines every ten years.

  

[yoladu 4067]

an acronym that you can pronounce as a word would help.

[Satchel 6908]

15 hours ago, royiv said:

A couple of posts today have got me thinking about what would it take to fix the shit show that is Texas politics. Nothing is going to change until we figure out a way to remove the GQP's influence from the capitol so what are things that would actually move the needle? That said, I thought I would make a list of things I would do if I were king of Texas. I'm interested to hear what others thoughts are on these issues. These are in no particular order.

Legislative Session

-Institute an annual legislative session. Texas is one of four states with a biennial session, the others being MT, ND and NV. It seems nuts to me that a state as large, complex and important as Texas thinks we can effectively govern meeting once every two years for 140 days. 

Marijuana

-Legalize it and tax it. Use tax proceeds to fund mental health and addiction services for homeless and un/under-insured Texans.

-Pardon all inmates that are serving a sentence for only simple possession. I would listen to ideas of how far that should go. As a bonus, it would be great if this would help Texas get out of the private prison business. I would include expunging the records of those who have already served sentences under the same terms.

Healthcare

-Expand Medicaid. It blows my mind that we as a state leave federal dollars on the table. That means we all pay federal taxes and we're leaving money on the table to be sent to other states that could be coming our way.

-Repeal the anti-abortion law. Allow women and their healthcare provider to make decisions about an individual woman's health.

-Stop the attacks on LGBTQ+ community. 

Guns

-Institute a red flag law. We need to make sure that Texans suffering a mental health crisis don't have access to guns. We need to protect our own.

-Institute a 21 year age minimum to purchase an assault weapon (and, no fatty, I'm not going to get into one of your dumb bullet debates with you - these are all 10k foot ideas).

-Get rid of constitutional carry. You want to carry a gun legally, you're going to need a permit for that.

-Waiting period on the purchase of guns. 7 days for shotguns, sporting rifles, 14 days for handguns, 28 days for assault weapons (again, fatty, don't muck this up with your bullet talk).

Education

-Reevaluate Robin Hood. I admit that I'm not an expert in how to equitably fund education in this state, but I'm smart enough to know our current system is broken. We have bright people in this state, let's get them together and figure out a fix.

-Improve funding for higher education. California kicks our ass up and down the field on this one. We are woeful for a state of our stature.

-Get God out of the public schools. End the book ban BS. Return sanity to the classroom so that kids can learn. Listen to our best and brightest educators and fix standardized testing.

Gambling

-Why do we let so many dollars cross state lines into LA and OK? Lots of other states have figured out to regulate and tax casino gambling. Let's quit donating money to LA and OK.

-Legalize sports gambling. See above.

TABC

-Burn it to the ground and start over. It's an oversized agency with oversized power in this state. It needs to be overhauled. 

Taxes

-This is probably the biggest bogeyman. Our hands are tied w/r/t an income tax in this state so we have got to figure out how we fix the regressive propert tax burden placed on Texans. I'm not the guy to figure it out, but I'd love to brainstorm with some smart economists.

What am I missing? Transportation? Other agencies that need to be completely overhauled? I'm really interested in hearing people's thoughts. I'm hoping this turns into a thread of healthy discussion on ideas how to change the current course of our state, but it will probably turn into monkeys flinging shit at each other by the fourth post.

The notion that Texas is still a state with stature exists mostly in the heads of Texans who are not paying attention.

[nbmishoid 941]

15 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

I got no issues with the healthcare, guns, gambling, or TABC parts. You should run for office. 

But if he is a D you would not vote for him, or am I mistaken?

[royiv 9164]

4 minutes ago, Satchel said:

The notion that Texas is still a state with stature exists mostly in the heads of Texans who are not paying attention.

Until fossil fuels are a thing of the past and/or the state starts shrinking, Texas will have stature. The state is, despite its many faults, just too much of an economic engine for this country to say otherwise. Has it become the butt of jokes for people that live in other states due to our insane state government? Abso-fucking-lutely. 

[Brisketexan 104628]

Y'all are adorable.  

Right now, you have one choice for state government: the party of naked cruelty and asininity.

Of course, that's because your other "choice" is a party that is too incompetent to put together anything resembling a statewide organization, so it has no prospects of mounting a meaningful challenge to the other party.

TLDR; you have one party that shoots itself/the state in the dick repeatedly and gleefully shouting about how much that owns the libs.  You have another that shoots itself/the state in the dick repeatedly because it isn't competent enough to know which end of the gun goes "bang."

I have zero hope for any substantive policy change in this state that actually benefits the state/its people.  Our days of even 10% functional government are so far in the past most people probably can't even remember them.  If you never voted for Bob Bullock, you have zero such memory.

Edited April 13, 2023 by Brisketexan

[royiv 9164]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

Y'all are adorable.  

Right now, you have one choice for state government: the party of naked cruelty and asininity.

Of course, that's because your other "choice" is a party that is too incompetent to put together anything resembling a statewide organization, so it has no prospects of mounting a meaningful challenge to the other party.

TLDR; you have one party that shoots itself/the state in the dick repeatedly and gleefully shouting about how much that owns the libs.  You have another that shoots itself/the state in the dick repeatedly because it isn't competent enough to know which end of the gun goes "bang."

I have zero hope for any substantive policy change in this state that actually benefits the state/its people.  Our days of even 10% functional government are so far in the past most people probably can't even remember them.  If you never voted for Bob Bullock, you have zero such memory.

The point is that instead of continuing to just say ho-hum D's in Texas are incompetent and that's just the way it is, what are the avenues to get a younger generation involved and energized about taking over the democratic party and breathing new life into it? I'm willing to do more than I have in the past, which has included donating money and time.

[Satchel 6908]

14 minutes ago, royiv said:

Until fossil fuels are a thing of the past and/or the state starts shrinking, Texas will have stature. The state is, despite its many faults, just too much of an economic engine for this country to say otherwise. Has it become the butt of jokes for people that live in other states due to our insane state government? Abso-fucking-lutely. 

True. Texas still has relevance economically. Was listening to the radio just today and the host opined that he had never been to Texas and was afraid to visit. Even our relative wealth is not enough for some to ignore just how backwards we are in perception and reality.

Edited April 13, 2023 by Satchel

[royiv 9164]

2 minutes ago, Satchel said:

True. Texas still has relevance economically. Was listening to the radio just today and the host opined that he had been to Texas and was afraid to visit. Even our relative wealth is not enough for some to ignore just how backwards we are in perception and reality.

I have friends in CO that have no interest in coming down here. They visited once pre-COVID and really liked Houston and were surprised by what a great city it is. Since then, not so much. To many, we're just another shithole state and I don't disagree on a lot of levels, but economically it's still a force. I do think that's at risk if our state government continues down the path it's on.

[Brisketexan 104628]

12 minutes ago, royiv said:

The point is that instead of continuing to just say ho-hum D's in Texas are incompetent and that's just the way it is, what are the avenues to get a younger generation involved and energized about taking over the democratic party and breathing new life into it? I'm willing to do more than I have in the past, which has included donating money and time.

Yeah....I dunno.  I feel like we've crossed a rubicon.  Young, high-income/educated people really aren't interested in coming here or staying here.  I've talked with too many people whose kids are at the "I'm gonna leave for college somewhere else, and I'm not coming back."  Yes, there are plenty of young people who are still here, and go to college here, but I think your "most likely to be politically engaged and motivated" group overlaps heavily with the "we can already see what a shitshow this place is, peace out" group.

I truly have no idea how to motivate young people (particularly women) to stay in this state and fight to make it better.  If someone has a real-deal plan, and there's something the rest of us can do to support it, lemme know and count me in.

[BevoAbyss 2057]

Lulz this thread. I appreciate the sentiment. I really do.

Texas has a blatant fascist theocracy running the state government, some local governments, and seizing power across the state. They are targeting women, POC, LGTQIA+, doctors, librarians, educators, university tenure system, while also attacking facts, knowledge, history, medicines, vaccines, science, and even reality, itself. When anyone believes the Creator of the universe — with two trillion galaxies stretching across 100 billion light years, etc. — has their back and promises eternal destiny for their "good" deeds on Earth, and no one challenges that fact-free claim, there there is no limit to the power they will seek and what they will do with that power. No limit. 

And this is gonna solved with a list of policy suggestions? Wow?

The only "possible" solution is two part.

—The 35% of America that is not religious needs to organize on a massive scale, but I do not see that happening. 

— Launch a philosophical war in which the real nature of MAGA-GQP is identified, critiqued, and blasted in public arenas. That means attacking/critiquing religion/evangelicalism, while defending science, defending overall evidence-based thinking in government and life, and defending universal human rights (as grounded in the science of evolution). That means saying clearly and loudly that local preacher doesn't know jack shit about women's medical rights and has no claims on anything else related to science or morality. And neither does that pompous Joel Osteen or any other megachurch prophet-entertainer. That means getting God is out of government, in accordance with the separation of church and state mandated by the First Amendment. And that wall of separation means God needs to be kicked out of the state universities, too. 

And none of this is gonna happen. Why. Because God and religion get a 100% free pass all across America. 

The media in Texas will not take on religion. Neither will any corporations or universities. When the fascist-theocrats seize total power, the university leaders and corporate CEOs may frown, but they will line up to do business and get tax funding and tax breaks. Proto-fascist Elon Musk has shown that. 

Now y'all can remain in denial, but religion and Christianity are the essential core foundation of MAGA-GQP fascism/theocracy. If that is left standing untouched, there is no way to win the battle. 

Sooner or later, they will come for the secularists, scientists, atheists, and various others. Just wait till they come for the telescopes and astronomy at the UT McDonald Observatory. It's coming. The seeds have been planted....

TLDR: Texas is being taken over by a fascist theocracy. It's too late for policy debates. Philosophical war is needed. 

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by BevoAbyss
Clarity

[atomheartbevo 89450]

1 hour ago, royiv said:

The point is that instead of continuing to just say ho-hum D's in Texas are incompetent and that's just the way it is, what are the avenues to get a younger generation involved and energized about taking over the democratic party and breathing new life into it? I'm willing to do more than I have in the past, which has included donating money and time.

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

I truly have no idea how to motivate young people (particularly women) to stay in this state and fight to make it better.  If someone has a real-deal plan, and there's something the rest of us can do to support it, lemme know and count me in.

Well, the elephant in the room is that the current Democratic leadership ain't going to get the job done.  Republicans are constantly attacking women and minorities, and during the worst parts of the pandemic the state government was trying to fuck over local school districts to please rural MAGA idiots, and even now our government keeps flirting with destroying public education until the rural folks realize that it'll destroy their school districts as well. Our governor was afraid of a fucking Mogwai and is now afraid of a meatball (who is not even from Texas), and our elected officials obsess over children's genitalia and who is in the bathroom. 

These things should all be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, but Texas Democrats fucking suck and there is no LBJ or Ann Richards on the horizon.

[Sawbonz 27436]

[Brian Fantana 6668]

A good start would be Abbott getting his ass kicked by another tree

[burntorangebongos 10681]

10 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

The problem with this thread is that every single one of the things you listed are things that make Texas Texas, unfortunately.  

So if you fix those problems, you haven't made "Texas great again," you have made Texas into a completely different state.  

This state is so fundamentally broken that it's impossible to fix.  

We are truly a banana republic. The corruption runs so very deep. I don't know that there is a way to fix it that is socially acceptable.