Every community has its designated zones of idiocy. DUers' hatred of Texas is ours

[Bucky]

I dedicate this post to all my fellow DUers who like to bash Texas.

Without much thought put into the matter, tribally loyal, highly partisan conservatives get mad when they hear words like taxes, affirmative action, Mexican immigrant, Planned Parenthood, or stimulus package. By Pavlovian discipline, Rush Limbaugh and his echo chambermaids have taught them to close down their inquiries and spew out prefabricated arguments and logical inferences--untarnished by fact or experience--that denounce all the negative implications they can imagine falling out from these necessary things. Now, these are not stupid people; most of them handle complex problems and navigate daunting logistical tasks in their personal lives and react to the human community around them with compassion and decorum.

But when it comes to the political arena, they surrender their operational secular humanism to a tribalist identity--voting and donating and rallying to whatever proclaims itself Republican or Tea Party for public consumption. They have gay friends, but still vote for politicians who bray about "protecting marriage." They recoil from the harsh presense of racial prejudice when they see it in their neighborhoods, but still manage to pass those quieter prejudgments down to their children. They lose jobs to overseas companies, but still vote in favor of the Congresspeople who give massive tax cuts to fuel the outward flight of American investment capital. They ignore the fine details of America's complex politcal realities in favor of the dull comfort of familiar words because they feed their pre-set notions. Paying attention to social nuance means nothing when compared to the endorphinal kick they get from hearing and repeating the rhetoric that defines them as safely within their tribe.

Sociologists call this unthinking behavior "role immersion." After all, don't we all want to feel like we belong?

I compare this to the portion of DUers who like to mob onto the point that Texas is evil and full of nothing but haters. As a tack-on, they'll occasionally toss in the cliche "but we can keep Austin". These people are speaking out of a pure bone ignorance, smug in their stereotypes, and knowing nothing about the liberal enclaves in Kerrville, Beaumont, Odessa, the Red River Valley. They wilfully wipe Jim Hightower, the Dixie Chicks, Lloyd Doggett, and Molly Ivins from their pinched angry brains. They're too busy mimicking the scorn they think is required to assert their online tribal identity as liberals to calculate what a modern urban state like Texas adds to America's political equation, what it means to have NASA, and Rice University, and the Houston Medical Center, and the Port of Houston and the museums and small presses and charitable organizations that come out of Dallas and San Antonio and Fort Worth but still don't fit into their ignorance-based broad stroke stereotypes. They just see the word Texas and choose only to see the red.

But I don't get mad at them for this, any more than I get mad at my neighbor's dog for barking angrily at me every time my car pulls up the driveway. Dogs yip; that's what they do and there's no point in getting upset when they follow nature. I'm sure in real life even the most caustic Texas-bashing DUers have real life friends from Texas. Hell, they probably even have the good manners to not be such bigoted pricks when talking face-to-face with their off-line Texas friends... cause that's human nature, too.

If the defining characteristic of liberalism is an openmindedness to new ideas and different people that step out of tradition and defy social order wherever it holds back human potential, then none of us is perfectly liberal. We all have areas in which we prefer to not think through the details and just go along with how things have always been. If the unexamined life is not worth living, keep in mind the counterbalancing point: that a constantly re-examined life is not lived at all. If you wish to post "Let's get rid of Texas" threads on DU, I hear you. I live in Texas and I see up close the things your scorn from afar. I take a small comfort from the fact that your words don't really matter and that you probably don't really mean what you've said anyway.

But if you take a second to really think through what the implications are of the words you write and see some value in transcending the small minded prejudices that the flippantly rude ones among us use to define our tribe, I will preemptively offer you my gratitude and appreciation. It ain't easy being Texan, some days. But it feeds my prejudices when I see tolerance and inclusive thoughts coming from the left.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. why single out Texas -- DUers LOVE to bash the South. period.

[IDemo]

2. Don't forget the Mountain West - Idaho in particular

[QED]

3. And Arizona with its SB1070 "papers please" law

[Never Stop Dancin]

4. Texans

are rock solid on Israel and make great chicken fried steak. What's not to like?

[hfojvt]

9. and the midwest - basically anything that's not on the coasts or super-urban

but we rural people are "still hayseed enough to say 'look who's in the big town'"

[bluestate10]

91. Check your regional voting patterns. Listen to the people that you

send to Congress. Change what you have, then demand respect.

[IDemo]

111. Here's an example of what the OP is about

"the people that you send to Congress" and "change what you have" makes it pretty clear you either don't believe any actual progressives live here or we are uninterested in trying to effect change. It's this type of characterization of a state or region that makes it doubly tough for the liberally-minded who choose to live here for a variety of reasons - we must deal with the idiocy of republicanism and the disesteem of those in more progressive places who think we should either be sweeping Democrats into office on a regular basis or packing our bags for friendlier states.

Trust me on this - there does exist a population of Democrats and progressives here, many quite liberally minded, and we aren't cowering in the woods. Because it is a much greater challenge here to convince many that their chosen political beliefs are damaging to themselves, their state, and the nation, should be cause for increased respect from those in less politically challenged regions.

[bluestate10]

132. You win by taking over local offices, then regional offices, the state offices,

finally Congressional offices. I see none of that coming from progressives, or democrats in Idaho. Less challenged political areas are that way because residents fight for what they have. What I see from states like Idaho, the south, Texas, the mountain west, is republicans doing the fighting and winning. Again, respect is earned. Fight your ass off for democratic values, change will start to happen. I went through a difficult election in 2010 where people that you called less challenged defended a gubernatorial seat and four US House seats that could have been lost. None of the defense was easy.

[GTurck]

147. It ain't easy...

Like most states Texas has a political elite and that elite started turning red in the 60's. Texas is a state where only the wealthy need apply because they only get paid a per diem even in the legislature. Now the districts are being re-drawn by those elites to ensure that only the deepest red voters have a snow ball's chance to be represented even though the state itself leans left and is majority minority.
That your state is blue is great but each state has a different constitution and that can and does make all the difference.
Politically Texas does not feel like a democracy; it is definitely so socially and psychologically.

[blondeatlast]

15. And Arizona. nt

[HankyDubs]

72. The OP ignores salient points

Did Arizona NOT pass the papers please law? Did Texas NOT elect Rick Perry and Louie Gohmert?

The American south was solidly democratic when the democratic party was the defender of slavery, and later segregation and Jim Crow. When the parties gradually flipped, so that the republican party was the promoter of racism and xenophobia, the south became solidly republican.

The south's reputation is well-deserved.

[Nevernose]

88. California gave us Reagan & Manson & Scientology & Many finr race riots

Not to mention many fine meth labs and street gangs and air pollution-- really showed the rest of the country h ow those threeshould be done, in fact. That one state alone alone provides some of talk radio's biggest markets. But you don't see constant California bashing around here, do you?

[Aristus]

127. Reagan was from Illinois. Manson was from Ohio. L. Ron Hubbard was from Nebraska.

Harlan Ellison once said about the people who sully California's good name: "Ever notice that they're always people who came from somewhere else, and never really fit in?"

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

159. That is far more eloquent that my father puts it,

Who to the present day blames every problem in California on the "Okie Motherfuckers"

[bluestate10]

92. Hail!! nt.

[bluestate10]

90. Take one look at how the south, sans Florida on occasion, votes. Enough said. nt

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I think Texas may get more than it's share of bashing since it's home to

GWB, but the entire South really takes a beating at times.

[PassingFair]

11. Texas and the "entire south" gets a bashing only because they overwhelmingly vote...

for Republicans.

That's the only reason. That's it.

Aside from sending moronic "red state" politicians to
D.C. to directly effect the rest of the country, it
provides cover in the "purple" states, and even in
the "blue" states, for right-of-center Blue Dogs and
New Dems, because they are the "only kind of democrat
who can win there".

There are, of course exceptions.
Most notably, from Texas:

Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18, Houston)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30, Dallas)


There is not a single person on DU that would state that
EVERY PERSON IN TEXAS OR THE SOUTH is a BAD PERSON.

[RainDog]

12. exactly. n/t

[JVS]

22. +1.

[nxylas]

56. In fact, liberals and progressives in the South are more acutely aware of this

I lived in South Carolina for 6 years, so I know the feeling of being surrounded by Teabaggers and having people I barely know automatically assuming in casual conversations that I vote Republican and hinge on Rush's every word, without feeling the need to check. Luckily, I'm a Christian - I imagine it must be 10 times worse for atheists, agnostics and followers of non-Christian religions.

[PassingFair]

75. The WORST is having them assume you are a racist...

just because you are white.

AKWARD!

[nxylas]

86. We know a song about that, don't we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Wut5FXbaw

Yeah, I had my fair share of people at bus stops and the like, striking up a conversation where it took about 2 minutes for them to start railing against "black people" (though contrary to popular stereotype, I don't ever remember hearing the n-word).

[7wo7rees]

59. Don't forget Lon Burnam

Fighting frackers from inside the belly of the beast.
http://fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4785:shale-regulation-drilled&catid=76:metropolis&Itemid=377

[JoeyT]

87. I wouldn't bet on that.

Every time a disaster happens in the south (The oil spill, the tornadoes, etc) there's a few that will trot out what amounts to "They deserve it for voting Republican.". Then they get pissed off if you compare them to Limbaugh or a televangelist.

[PassingFair]

104. I have NEVER seen that.

I HAVE seen the sentiment expressed that it is odd/hypocritical
that state governments who rail the most about federal
spending seem to use MORE of the federal dollars that all
states pay.

And when disaster hits, the state's Senators certainly cannot afford to
look like the hypocrites they are.

[cordelia]

151. I have.

[RaleighNCDUer]

79. It's not that it's the home of GWB -

it is that it is the home of the people who first ELECTED GWB and then pushed him onto the national stage.

[defendandprotect]

117. Posters are against rightwing positions and TX has been a hot spot ....

but every state has been contaminated by the rise of the right --

basically the rightwing taking control of government --

Consider that in the South "racism" was the cap holding down every other

human rights issue -- feminism, homosexuality - labor and human rights.


Same old story of the few violent among us controlling the many!




Here's another post I made on this thread on this issue --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1222276&mesg_id=1227716

[sabrina 1]

156. GWB was born in the NE.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

157. Yes, GWB was born in the NE,

and has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Texas (despite being twice elected Governor of TEXAS).

[hfojvt]

6. Is hatred of Kansas still okay, then?

It's not like people go around saying "What's the matter with Texas?" is it?

[booley]

13. OF course that's because of the context

In that that phrase is derived from a by now well known book about how a very progressive state became a very conservative one.

To my memory, Texas never had this history as a highly progressive state.

[hfojvt]

31. depnds on how you measure that

years that Texas voted for a Democrat for President

1924
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1960
1964
1968
1976

years that Kansas did

1932
1936
1964

Kansas was a hotbed of populism in 1896. In that year 51% of Kansans voted for William Jennings Bryan, the populist Democrat. In that same year 68% of Texans voted for Bryan.

Surprising to me though, that Kansas is seemingly redder than Texas in the last two, but Texas used to be more reliably Democratic.

[DeadEyeDyck]

128. Methinks you are confusing the

"I'm a Democrat because Lincoln won the war" with present day Democrats.

[Hippo_Tron]

154. It's not really a binary thing

William Jennings Bryan was neither a champion of civil rights nor of rational though for that matter (see the Scopes Trial). But, he was actually a supporter of economic policies that would benefit the common man, whereas William McKinley was in many ways the founder of the modern GOP as the party of the wealthy elites.

[bluestate10]

93. Don't insult progressive states by mentioning Texas in the same sentence

with the word progressive.

[BadtotheboneBob]

160. Texas has its Progressive enclaves...

... Austin being one of them.

[defendandprotect]

119. What happened in Kansas, given it's liberal/populist history ... is also a similar question ....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1222276&mesg_id=1227716

Did the book change anything in Kansas?

[w8liftinglady]

7. As a Texan, I thank you... Add Dr. Robert Haley

(With the addendum- Dr Haley lost his funding for Gulf War Illness reseach.It was reimbursed by another Texan- H. Ross perot)

http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept29100/files/94867.html

Dr. Robert Haley and colleagues at UT Southwestern have been conducting epidemiologic, clinical and laboratory research on the "Gulf War syndrome" and related neurologic illnesses in Gulf War veterans since March 1994. The work has been supported by a continuing grant from the Perot Foundation and by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense. The objectives of the research are to define new or unique clinical syndromes among Gulf War veterans, determine their causes, identify areas of damage or dysfunction in the brain and nervous system responsible for the symptoms, develop a cost-effective battery of clinical tests that can diagnose the illness, search for underlying genetic traits that might predispose to the illness, and perform clinical trials of promising treatments.

The initial studies identified three primary syndromes in a Naval reserve construction battalion (seabees) that appear to be unique, demonstrated that the syndromes are associated with subtle dysfunction of the brainstem and lower parts of the brain, and found epidemiologic associations between the syndromes and risk factors of exposure to combinations of chemicals in the Gulf War.

Genetic studies have identified a genetic trait (PON1 enzymes) that may explain why some soldiers sustained brain damage from exposure to neurotoxic chemicals while others working alongside them remained well. Most recently, research using magnetic resonance spectroscopy has demonstrated a loss of functioning brain cells in deep brain structures of ill Gulf War veterans. Additional commentaries by Dr. Haley have challenged the government's stress theory of Gulf War syndrome and findings of no difference in mortality, hospitalization and birth defects between Gulf War-deployed and nondeployed military populations. Additional research and publications are in process.

[Fuddnik]

8. I was willing to give Texas a break. I really was.

But, then the criminals at Texas A&M took the heat out of the jalapeno pepper. And were these diabolical evil-doers content? Hell no. They started developing the mild habanero pepper!

Death to Texas!

Ok, maybe Mexico will take them back.

[petronius]

10. I think it's doubly unfair for Texas since the state gets it from both sides

Red state bashing from the left, and this hideous stereotype of a 'bagger Mecca (meant as a positive thing) played up from the right, generally from people who don't know anything about TX that they didn't read on Drudge or hear from Rush...

[McCamy Taylor]

14. I have lived in Texas for 42 years and the South my whole life, and all I can say is

a society which was raised to believe that incest is OK but interracial dating is an abomination is sick to its core.

I, for one, applaud the influx of northerners which we have seen in the last few decades. They are diluting the stupid right out of us.

Read "Absalom, Absalom" by William Faulkner and/or "The Mind of the South" by Cash if you want to know more about the historical baggage which we carry.

Are we sure that this "Texas Sanctifying" thread is not intended to make a Gov. Perry presidential run palatable to Dems?

[Maru Kitteh]

17. Is somebody on DU advocating for Rick Perry for president?

I've totally missed that. Admittedly, I haven't been looking for it but still....

[Dreamer Tatum]

26. Speak for yourself and your family.

I don't know ANYONE who thinks incest is OK, and I was born and raised in Texas. Maybe they're diluting the stupid out of you,
but I didn't need to be brought into the current century by anyone.

Don't tell people to read stories about the Deep South if we're talking about Texas. Texas isn't the Deep South.

[lonestarlib]

40. "I, for one, applaud the influx of northerners we

have seen in the last few decades. They are diluting the stupid right out of us."

Really?????? All them damn Yankees around me are either the nuttiest wingnuts I've ever encountered or Wall Street's missionaries.

[ScreamingMeemie]

41. Well that's nice. Thanks for making me feel so welcome.

:hi:

[PassingFair]

77. You are living proof that there are some people in Texas...

who are "nice people".

:hide:

[treestar]

102. Prejudice against "Yankees" in the South

Would be just as execrable, no?

And I know of the right wing Southern claim that northerners are just as racists, etc., which is probably true, but in the overall scheme of things, there are still more liberals concentrated in the cities. (which includes the cities of red states). No reason not to admit to that.

For instance Austin, TX. Or Lincoln NE - NE is as red as they come but the Lincoln EV still went to Obama.

So now I've victimized rural liberals - no, I know they exist - just that the cities are more jam packed full of liberals.

[PassingFair]

107. Except that Texas has THREE cities in the US top ten.

Houston - San Antonio - Dallas


1. New York, N.Y. 8,143,197
2. Los Angeles, Calif. 3,844,829
3. Chicago, Ill. 2,842,518
4. Houston, Tex. 2,016,582
5. Philadelphia, Pa. 1,463,281
6. Phoenix, Ariz. 1,461,575
7. San Antonio, Tex. 1,256,509
8. San Diego, Calif. 1,255,540
9. Dallas, Tex. 1,213,825
10. San Jose, Calif. 912,332

http://www.infoplease.com/toptens/largestcities.html#ixzz1OJZZEg4K

[treestar]

124. Didn't know San Antonio was that large!

Cool info!

[PassingFair]

146. Thanks.

It surprised me, too.

[defendandprotect]

120. Interesting . . .

Think we are all opposed to rightwing stances on issues --

unfortunately Texas has been a hot spot for radical rightwing movement --

though, like the Civil War, how few may actually believe in the cause?


Remember Dealey Plaza on 11/22/63 -- welcoming Pres. John F. Kennedy --

Imo, assassination and rightwing political violence are what have moved

the nation to the right -- government by gangsterism.


And once "racism" was removed as the cap holding down the South, elites

had much else to fear -- feminism, homosexuality, labor and human rights!


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1222276&mesg_id=1227716

[mrcheerful]

16. I'm sorry to disagree Du ers do not hate southerners, they dislike the rabid right

christian white superiority folks who live in the south. Those folks have voted against their own best interest's, especially since the end of Jim Crow law's. A lot of southerners ravel in their stupidity, the south is where the rabid right started their attack on civil rights, gay rights and oppression of minorities, after losing the war between states the south incorporated the Stars and Bars battle flag into their state flags. Northern states do have their nut cases, but unlike the south the working man in the north understand that unions give them more power as well as pay being higher then the souths right to work anti union BS. It isn't so much hatred as it is confusion on how the folks who live in the south can tolerate the intolerable.

edited to fix grammar error

[socialist_n_TN]

30. Well edit again to fix the spelling error

I believe you're looking for "REVEL in their stupidity," not ravel. If you're going to talk about stupidity, don't mispell. :)

Unfortunately I agree with you about the working class voting against their interests, but I believe it's because no southern politician since Huey Long has actually EXPLAINED to the southern workers WHY they're voting against their own economic interests. I believe a modern day "Huey Long" type economic populist could do very well here. And I'm socialist_n_TENNESSEE.

[mrcheerful]

61. Oppppps editing time expired, sorry haven't been sleeping well and my speeling

reflects it.

[socialist_n_TN]

115. Sorry about busting your chops about that, but

because I make mistakes as well. But as I said, when you talk about stupidity, don't do it. :)

[bluestate10]

94. Exactly. Add Arizona and the mountain west to the list, along with Texas and the south. nt

[treestar]

103. You are right, adding that there are "rednecks" in the North

Simply not as concentrated in the population, which anyone can admit.

And NY and CA have conservatives too. I wonder if the freepers in those places feel the same way.

[defendandprotect]

121. Will agree that rightwing elites have had fierce control over Texas ...

and other parts of the South --

Poor whites fought the Civil War for elites who profited from slavery --

rightwing propaganda always seems to work!

Emotional issues of "racism" used by elites helped keep the cap on other issues --

and still seems to be working -- feminism, homosexuality, labor -- human rights.


Was there ever actually a "Southern Strategy" or was there only ever the electronic

voting computers?

50 years of out in the open rightwing political violence -- assassinations --

certainly worked to move people's government into elite hands -- but you can't kill

everyone and think once they had control they moved onto the electronic computer

voting roadway --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1222276&mesg_id=1227716




Also --


Two Florida journalists also began to investigate the unverifiable election results

in the late 1960's -- though we didn't begin to even question computer voting until 2000!!


See: Votescam - The Stealing of America

http://www.constitution.org/vote/votescam__.htm



And keep in mind we've had 20 years of the Koch Bros./DLC being harbored within the

Democratic Party -- !! How many Democratic Party members warned us about that?


The Rightwing Koch Bros. Funded the DLC --

http://www.democrats.com/node/7789

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x498414

[defendandprotect]

122. PS on this .... EVERYONE in US seems to have "voted against their own best interests" ... !!

Now how might that have happened -- computers?

[booley]

18. You should hear what i say about Missouri

and I live in Missouri.

I don't hate states. I only hate stupid people who seem to have a great deal oft influence and numbers in particular states.

Unfortunately my home state happens to be one of them.

And we can argue about how there are still good liberal or at least not bat crap crazy people in these states. but the fact is they seem to be outnumbered by the bat crap crazy ones who keep voting in bat crap crazy politicians who do bat crap crazy things that then get reported in the news.

And if this is some kind of prejudice against non-coast urban states, then how does one explain New Jersey?

[OHdem10]

19. I do not believe DUers hate Texas or the South. DUers rather

have close to contempt for Conservative Economic Fundamentalism.

If you go through each of these states what do they
have in common???

LONG HISTORY of REPUBLICAN RULE:
Their Pro Business history begins to look like
Business Rules the state. Everything is sacrificed
in order to bring business to the states.

Therefore, you have highest rates of Poverty, each is
is down to the bottom in education,( 45th, 46th 48th 50th,etc).
Poor Healthcare except for the upper class. The list
goes on---Do not forget low wages equals lower standard
of living.

Duers simply do not want what the Republicans have heaped
on these states heaped on the rest of us.

As a place, I love the south and spent my life there
until young adulthood. I want better for them and
for the rest of the country.

Texas may get some snide comments. We get tired of hearing
how wonderful Texas is. Yes, for Business and the Rich.

[WinkyDink]

20. How's that "secession" thing workin' for ya?

[efhmc]

43. Not so well for the over 40% of us Democrats.

As to the point of the point of the post, way to be biased and a "great help to those of us Democrats who are trying to change things".BTW:sarcasm:

[bluestate10]

96. Win more fing elections. Save the rest of us from having to eliminate the

knuckle-draggers you send to Congress.:grr:

[treestar]

105. True, though one thing to consider

Is WI electing knuckle draggers to run the state, MA electing Brown to go to the Senate - no state is really immune.

And maybe there is a Southern/Western liberal or two in Congress.

[Melissa G]

118. "It's not who votes... It's who counts the votes."

I come from a long line of activists in Texas and am friends with many more. Disenfranchisement is a HUGE issue in this very purple state. So is Gerrymandering. All significant population growth here is minority. The redistricting that is going on is ridiculously weighted toward R's.
My beloved Travis county is being sliced five ways and Lloyd Doggett is being crafted a deep red district.

We fight these facts here everyday. Thanks for your support.

[defendandprotect]

125. Agree --

and if I understand what you are saying, it's about oppression by elites who

control politics/government?

More clearly -- government by gangsterism --


Another post I made on this thread, if you're interested ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1222276&mesg_id=1227716

[Melissa G]

142. Yes, we agree

but in Texas it is not only the voting machines that are the problem. Wasn't it 70,000 of likely Bill White Houston voters who had their registrations invalidated? Have we not had convenient bus snafus on voting days in major metropolitan areas? While most of Texas is now 80% urban and that urban has been trending bluer we get urban areas gerrymandered into anemic pie slivers breaking up our communities of interest. Travis county's current 5 way disaster of redistricting is enough to make me cry. It takes years to repair even a bit of this blatant travesty in the courts. They are counting on Doggett to be gone by then.:grr:

All this and so much more happens before our votes disappear into the questionable black boxes owned by Republican corporations.

[bluestate10]

134. Minorities can be given sound wisdom to vote democrat.

Again. Republicans are gaming the system, but as the recent results in NY state and Jacksonville Florida showed, they can't game away defeat when democrats run well organized campaigns and hit the right issues.

[Melissa G]

145. Minorities don't need to be "given" sound wisdom to vote Democrat.

We usually do. In case you've missed it, that is a major part of the "southern strategy" making the Democrats the party of minorities. The pubs targeted all the white male Dems in Texas. Doggett is about all we have left.

[bluestate10]

95. The wildfires put an end to that talk. nt

[JVS]

21. Texas is held in the same esteem as Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi.

And rightfully so.

[ceile]

23. K&R

[Taverner]

24. I don't hate Texas, just the idiots who vote for Perry

In fact, I'd love to go Gulag Archipelago on their pasty white asses

I agree, bashing Texas is broad brush, but you have to admit, there is a large number of crazies there. And some folks move to Texas BECAUSE of the Crazies, so they can crazy all over each other.

Let me put it this way: Right out of Austin Airport, I'm driving my rental on this connector road, and at the stop sign, there are three billboards, all telling me to 'Come to Jesus.' After a long flight, I have trouble cumming to anything, let alone some whackjob's invisible friend. There is not enough Astroglide in the world to make me do that!

[cherokeeprogressive]

25. Totally fucking agree. EVERY state in the union has DU'ers. n/t

[Richardo]

27. Goddamn, Bucky

Thank you! :kick: and

[TBF]

34. +1 nt :)

[arbusto_baboso]

28. Naw, I prefer to bash Utah.

The truly looney cultishness called mormonism deserves some bashing. Yes, yes, I know that mormons are only about 60% of that state, but they pretty much control all the state's institutions.

It's no mistake that stores in Utah still sell t-shirts that read: "Welcome to Utah. Now set your watch back 40 years".

[radhika]

29. I bash Florida worse - they really earned it...

Rick Scott, Alan West and the legislature that voted to collect the piss of everyday citizens that simply want the Unemployment Insurance they've already paid into. And hand the profits to the wife of Baldy McThug? A bunch of selfish retirees too stupid to know that the corrupt thugs they elected to punish OTHERS plans to annihilate them too. And charge them for the privilege.


Just an idea: If I was a Floridian (whether or not I wanted benefits) I swear I fill a sample bottle and toss it on the lawn of the State House.

[KamaAina]

33. Yup.

The sad thing is that Goodhair Perry probably isn't even in the top/bottom ten of RW whackjob governors any longer. And a lot of his replacements are from north of the Mason-Dixon: Walker, Snyder, Christie, Corbett, Kasich, LePage.

[KamaAina]

32. And Bill Moyers

see my new sig line.

[JackDragna]

35. I'm sorry, but Texas has more than earned its scorn.

Yes, there's enclaves of liberalism, science and development in the state, as one would expect of such a large place. It cannot be ignored, however, that the state is a bulwark of some of the most reactionary, paranoid thinking in the United States. Many of its citizens not only have venom for the regular targets of right-wing hate (blacks, gays, women, etc), they also have a special disdain for anyone not born in the state or anything that doesn't originate from within its borders. I have never encountered any group of people for whom their identity as a state was something to wear on their sleeve and wave in the face of others.

Now, before I get inevitably flamed here, I am aware that there's good people there. I have family in Texas and I've enjoyed the places I've been, despite some of the attitude I've gotten. It's also not the only state that deserves to be kicked around here: I live in Louisiana, and love the state, but have no illusions about the makeup of its citizens or how their backwards attitudes have caused tremendous damage here. We deserve a good helping of disdain here, as does pretty much every Gulf state.

[Taverner]

37. Although, by that argument, California should earn scorn too

It gave us not one, but two horrible Presidents

At least Texas can claim to have given us LBJ, who is a mixed bag

[JackDragna]

38. Good point..

..the prop 8 stuff, too. The Governator as well. What the hell is wrong with people there? I was hoping it could be a place I could retire to when the South finally secedes again. They'll shoot people like me. :(

[Taverner]

39. Prop 8, Gropenfuher, Prop 13, etc...

But we live in different neighborhoods

Chances are any suburb is a very deep purple, the cities, blue and the central valley, with the exception of Sac, a hard red.

[dana_b]

42. nah - you can still retire here

just stick to the Bay Area or L.A. The rest is red or as taverner said, a deep purple. Btw - I blame much of Orange County (not all, of course)for the crap that California has done. I lived there for a few years and have relatives there. Many of the folks there are so entranced with themselves it is almost funny, if it weren't so sad.

[arbusto_baboso]

50. Not just Orange but San Diego County, too.

Issa has a district there. Duncan Hunter. Pete Wilson. Minuteman sentiment. As gorgeous as the area is, it's a fucked-up place poltiically.

[dana_b]

53. good points

a great place to visit - wouldn't want to live there type thing.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

83. Southern California once had more KKK per capita then

anywhere in the US.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

141. Two. Eisenhower was born in Denison, TX.

And he warned us about the military-industrial complex in his farewell address in 1961.

Nobody listened.

[Dreamer Tatum]

48. What a silly argument.

You can say the same about ANY state.

[Hippo_Tron]

155. I'm sorry, but have you spent any time at all in New York City?

There's a famous line in the musical Gypsy where Mama Rose remarks that "New York is the center of New York" in reference to the fact that far too many New Yorkers think it's the center of the universe. Texans are far from the only ones with a stick up their ass, in that regard.

BTW my apologies to those New Yorkers, Texans, and anybody else who is humble enough to realize that while they may love their hometown or home state, there are other wonderful places in the universe as well.

[librechik]

36. can't help it. I'm from Colorado. n/t

[Joe Fields]

44. Texas, and the southern states are beacons of virtue and hope,

to be held high as wonderful examples of how human beings should behave toward one another. All other Americans should look to the South for guidance.

[fascisthunter]

70. lol

[JVS]

45. Yeah, and there were some good people who lived in Germany before 1945, but by and large...

their politics sucked. The rest of the country notices what kind of politicians Texans generally go for, we see them in the house, the senate and sometimes the white house. If you decide to take criticism of the state for these politicians or the kinds of policy they enact personally, that's your decision.

[bluestate10]

97. Exactly. nt

[defendandprotect]

126. This saga isn't only true of Texas and the South ... it's widespread across US ....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1222276&mesg_id=1227716

[Manifestor_of_Light]

46. It ain't easy being Texan.

According to the "goddamn hippie vegans" on DU, if you live in Texas, you have to live in Austin.
If you don't live in a liberal town, you are not politically correct.

You guys have already heard me complain about the idiots here in Redneckistan.
I am not moving back to Houston. No way in hell.

[TBF]

67. Houston ain't so bad -

but then this is why democrats will continue to lose in this state. Fucking insult everyone around you, act like you're better than everyone else, and then expect them to vote for you? Yeah, right.

[libodem]

47. Great essay

So well written. Point taken, Bucky.

[LondonReign2]

49. As simple perusal of the 2008 Electoral Map

Will explain why DUers are not overly fond of the South

[JVS]

51. Or 2004, or 2000, or 1996, or 1992, or 1988.

And if someone wants to pull some pre-1932 stuff out of their hat, the claim that support of the democratic party in that era is an indicator of left-leaning politics is a weak claim indeed.

[readmoreoften]

66. Yeah, 45% of people voting in your favor: fuck 'em until they get that other 5%

DU is full of genius ideas.

[LanternWaste]

52. I imagine provincialism is illustrative of a lazy mind...

I imagine provincialism to be illustrative of a lazy mind, so I don't get irate as much as I simply want to pat them on the head and say, "there, there now, bless your little heart..."

[LondonReign2]

55. I imagine condescension to be illustrative of a lazy mind...

I imagine condescension to be illustrative of a lazy mind, so I don't get irate as much as I simply want to pat them on the head and say, "there, there now, when you stop voting for assholes we'll stop treating you like you vote for assholes..."

[LanternWaste]

60. However, condescension is not the subject of the thread...

However, condescension is not the subject of the thread. Might make a great OP, though. Bless your little heart...

[Bucky]

109. !!!

:rofl:

[WatsonT]

68. Little known fact about the electoral college: Texas controls over half the votes

meaning that whatever way Texas votes determines the presidency.

Hence we are to blame for each and every president. The other states have no say whatsoever.

[Marr]

129. mispost

I'm doing that a lot lately. :P

[Kolesar]

54. TEXAS is still paying for JOHN KENNEDY'S DEATH! ... n/t

[Ishoutandscream2]

57. BEAUTIFUL!

Thank you so, so much!

[Downtown Hound]

58. I have nothing against individual Texans

But I have never encountered such a fanatical religion surrounding any state than I have with Texas. Yes we've all hear it, "DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!" Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah. It's a fucking state Texans, not a god damn religion.

Texans that are open minded and cool I have no problem with. Texans that drive around in oversized pickup trucks constantly berating the entire planet with how badass they are can pretty much kiss my butt. I laugh at them and their ridiculous fanaticism.

[ScreamingMeemie]

74. "Don't Mess With Texas" is a phrase coined to fight littering.

:eyes:

[WatsonT]

152. Don't mess with Texas = state anti-littering campaign

So . . . what's wrong with that?

Are you pro-littering?

[Heidi]

62. Recommended. I was born in Arkansas and raised in Oklahoma.

I've got my own cultural laundry to tend.

:kick:

[bvar22]

63. Why limit it to Texas?

The Hate the South contingent only proves that there is bigotry everywhere.

The South is beautiful,
and belongs to us ALL.
Why throw it away? :shrug:
Those "concerned" about the South,
should move here & help change it.
We moved from Big Blue North
to Deep Red Rural South,
and love it here.

bvar22 & Strakraven
turning the South Blue,
one vote at a time.

[Phentex]

64. I live in Georgia. I cannot bash!...

I'll bash Newt till the cows come home BUT HE DOES NOT REPRESENT US!!!!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

71. Love your lantana and Rose of Sharon.

Beautiful picture.
I'm a Texas gardener myself. I love the tropical plants like hibiscus and mandevilla.

[readmoreoften]

65. Logicians call it "Fallacy of Division"

The majority of people in that state are right-wing. Therefore, every individual thing or person in that state is right-wing. The height of sloppy, lazy thinking by people who don't really care about making the world a better place. It's thinking like this that allows us to carpet bomb whole countries.

[Armstead]

69. Personally I think the whole country should be kicked out of the Union -- except Massachusetts

And I'm not even sure we deserve to stay either sometimes.

(Irony alert. This post was not meant to be taken seriously.)

[bluestate10]

98. Massachusetts and Vermont. Let California, Oregon, Washington State,

Connecticut, NY State, in on probation.

[RagAss]

73. I Love Austin

[robdogbucky]

76. You think this place hates Texas? Check these opinions out

"I remember moving to texas from the east coast few years back. I was tired of living in close quarters with my neighbors and wanted a big spread in the country in texas. Well, I got want I wanted, 60 acres in the country. What I didn't anticipate is the filth, idiocy, ignorance, dispicability unrivaled by any other state. I had to contend with people shooting at me, driving onto my property willy nilly, and a good old boy system, where stupidity and ignorance are king. The only decent people in Texas are ironically those from out of the state who have to pay to own, and not simply inherent. I am pretty sure, were it not for outsiders, Texas would still be the last holdout of the neandrathals. Other than the people, all the mexican food gets kind of old, and I got chicken pox there at 30, so be careful and carry lots of purrel. A funny side note is the texas pride thing, people feel like they have accomplished something just by being in the state. I can go on and come off more and more bitter, so I'm going to stop here, suffice it to say I'm not a fan of the state."

Or this one:


"I moved from Florida to Texas 3 years ago, because of my husband's job. I was guidance counselor for 2 years in Florida, and I have over 6 years of experience counseling children and adolescents. when I got to Texas the board of education took $175 to review my credentials, only to tell me that I have to be a classroom teacher for 2 years before I can even submit my information to become a certified school counselor in TX. Then after I teach for 2 years, since I earned my Masters degree in FL they will have to review my transcript to make sure that it meets Texas requirement. Had I moved to any other state I would have been able to obtain employment as a guidance counselor with my education and experience in the school setting. These people act like they are they own country and if something is no from TX, then its not good enough. I have never experience racism, like I have since I move to this state. This place is so segregated, everyone stick to their own kind and they have big time us verses them mentality. I could go on and on, bottom line Texas sucks and I can't wait to get out. I pray for the next opportunity for us to get out of here, I will run out and will not look back. If you're thinking about moving to Texas, please don't. I don't wish this on anyone.


Or this one:

"I have lived in Texas my entire life. It is a horrible place to be. The laws suck, the people suck, and everyday, or should I say every minute of everyday, someone is trying to screw you over - which is kinda funny when you think about it considering the fact that they execute people for just about anything here. I could appreciate the strict laws if they were aimed at the correct people/crimes. The courts are corrupt, the people are rude (to hell with all that "the friendly state and "southern hospitality" crap - people here expect to be treated like babies, but then turn around and act like they're the baddest things on the planet). Everytime you turn around you're being scammed one way or another - and God help black people here - He is the only one who can!. Don't get me wrong, there are lot of people who are not racist, unfortunately they are few and far in between. The worst kind are the ones who try so hard to pretend like they are not - for instance, treating you like you're ignorant and uneducated just because you are black - I graduated summa *** laude with a bachelors in criminology and with honors with an MBA with a concentration in accounting - and still have people (white people who are high up the ladder (so they think) talking to me like I need a dictionary (although my intelligence is very obvious) Granted I'm really laid back and down to earth, but that is a long way from being ignorant and uneducated. I can't wait to get out this hellhole. I would never come back even for a visit. There is nothing about this place I would miss. I feel sorry for people who actually spend money to vacation here (and I feel even sorrier for those who pack up and move here)."


http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Hate-Texas/1080386



So, you still think DU is hard on Texas?


Yikes!

[russspeakeasy]

78. Don't forget the hanging **** Florida.

[Bucky]

110. "chad"?

[russspeakeasy]

131. not what I had in mind...

[MrModerate]

80. Agreed on many levels -- this coming from a happy-to-be-ex-Texan.

No state in the nation -- heck, no community -- is monolithic. But surely you understand why Texas looms so large in the center-left imagination as the archetype of Wingnut Nation. George Bush. Rick Perry. Completely hosed tax structure. Religious sanctimony of the highest order. State-based chauvinism. Texas pretending that it defines "American" like nowhere else. Textbook wrecking. Homophobia of a particularly pernicious sort. Etc., etc., etc.

Should we all take a more granular point of view in picking our targets for scorn? Probably. Would Texas still be in the top three anyway? Darn tootin'!

Doesn't mean it's not incumbent on us to support green shoots of sanity when we see them or to avoid slagging an entire state because its governing structures are largely peopled by goniffs and jerkwads.

But it is tempting, and it is human nature.

Mea culpa.

[strawberryfield]

81. A big portion of the country is very conservative

I have noticed a tendency here to dismiss entire regions of the country as just stupid and evil. That is not exactly a formula for winning people over and changing minds. Most of my neighbors in my little corner of rural Arizona are libertarian type conservatives. They are not dumb people and most of them would give you the shirt off their backs if you needed it. But on their little ranches, they believe they are god. They are throwbacks to the old west way, and hate everything from the outside. But they will listen to you, if you treat them with little respect.

[TheKentuckian]

84. I'm from Kentucky and expect some heat and feel we deserve much of it.

I say toughen up buttercup, you see the legions of rabid nutters all around you, you see the policies put into place, and you know best the influence on the rest of the country.

With Texas in particular, I tend to think a majority or very close to of those that bash are either residents or have been. Nobody tears some Texas ass like Texans.

[DFW]

82. As a Texan Democrat, you can imagine my shock

I guy I knew in DC when I was a teenager is now living in central Massachusetts, where he has a small business.
A couple of years ago, I decided to look him up. He was a music fan, as I was, and was even the catalyst in
getting me and my band a gig at the Ambassador theater, Washington's (brief) 60s equivalent to the Fillmore East.

So here I expect to find this fellow Deaniac progressive, and what do I find? This guy, whose IQ was so far
off the charts (at least it was in the 60s) I couldn't count that high, telling me, almost apologetically
that he was a Republican, but rationalizing it by saying that in Massachusetts, Republicans are almost like
Democrats in the South. Well, I had news for him--no, they're not. I also have news for people who think
that everyone in Texas is a clone of Rick Perry or Louie Gohmert: no, we're not--just as not everyone in
DC or Massachusetts is a clone of Barney Frank or Teddy Kennedy.

[radhika]

85. CA - Three Strikes, Massive Prison Industry

Not only did CA give us a savage Three Strikes Law, it re-affirmed it by citizen referendum.

There are hundreds of prisoners doing life without parole for non-violent offenses, some as trivials as stealing pizza. (Some, fortunately are getting released through a variety of legal channels.) Not to mention a booming population of senile, aged and disabled prisoners that are kept in geriatric prison wards. Why? DA's like to run as Tough on Crime - it pleases the CA masses.

[bluestate10]

99. Still. I would take California any fucking day over Texas. nt

[bluestate10]

89. You're right. Some really good comes out of Texas. But mostly really

bad comes out of that state. BTW, where in the hell are Texas liberals at voting time? Why is almost the entire Texas US delegation, sans a few democrats from mostly minority enclaves, a bunch of knuckle-draggers? Texas gets bashed for a reason. Until it's defenders like you get busy and bring about real change down there, expect the bashing to continue.

[alarimer]

100. I hate Texas and I live here.

It is a sucky place to live, over and above the right-wing redneck piece of shit factor. I have to deal with those assholes every single day and I hate it. From a purely quality of life issue, it DOES suck. They have elevated suburban sprawl to an art form, the likes of which I have not seen anywhere else. And of course the giant trucks are a menace on the highway and elsewhere. A few weeks ago, the state Lege considered a bill to raise the state speed limit to 85 mph! Idiots. I guess they want to use up all the oil.

Beyond that, I desperately want to live in a blue state. I hate Republicans and conservatives (all of them, even the ones I know and work with) with a purple passion.

There is nothing good about Texas except maybe Austin. Definitely Austin but the rest of it can go to hell. Those right-wing IDIOTS (and right-wing voters ARE idiots) keep electing people who are bent on destroying everything that is good about this country. SO fuck them all.

[bluestate10]

135. North Carolina has become a semi blue state. Move the the Raleigh-Durham

area. The state can use more democrats to turn it bright blue. The southern accents in NC would be less shocking to your system than the speech farther north.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

161. LOL...a helluva a lot more. Are you even familiar with this state?

As of 2010, Rs control both chambers of the legislature (for the first time in 100 years). Five conservadems just crossed party lines to vote for the draconian GOP budget. Koch Industries and the John Locke Foundation have tremendous influence, particularly on the Wake County School Board (key players General Tata and (GOP northerners) Margiotta and Tedesco). Mayor Meeker is not running again, and the wingnuts are gunnin' for that seat -- goodbye mass transit and high-speed rail. Not all retirees moving to NC are Democrats; many are wealthy, anti-tax GOPers with the "I've got mine, the hell with everyone else" mentality. A Republican lawmaker on the coast recently referred to the NAACP as "racist thugs," and my Teabagger neighbors, in Raleigh, applaud him.

I've been here nearly six years and while there are good people and pockets of progressivism, Jesse Helms red is alive and well. NC bright blue? Never in a million fucking years.

[treestar]

101. IMO it's a matter of not taking comments like that too seriously

we all know there are DUers and liberals and progressives in the South. Occasional comments overgeneralizing about, what is after all a majority there, should not be taken as some sort of serious position - it smacks of creating victimhood just to gain sympathy points. Don't give the right wingers ammunition - that's one of their favorite slams on liberals.

[robcon]

106. Hatred of Texas??? What a waste of emotion.

n/t

[itsrobert]

108. Texas sucks

Live there for 3 years.

[Paladin]

123. 3.5 Million Texans Cast Votes For Obama.

You DU Texas-bashers need to get the fuck over it---particularly those of you ignorant enough to believe that Austin is the only decent place in the state. We could hasten the return of Texas to the Democratic side if you'd drop the brain-dead stereotyping.....

[bluestate10]

136. Progressive and moderate Texans are the people that will take

Texas toward more sanity. As long as I see GW Bushes and Rick Perrys getting elected governor without much of a fight, why should I take Texans seriously?

[Paladin]

144. That's OK---I Don't Take You And Your Snotty Attitude Seriously, Either.

By the way---you've articlated the reason I don't donate to or work for Democrats above the local level, anymore. The national Democratic apparatus always has its hands out for money from Texas, but it rolls over and plays dead in the face of a Perry or Bush. I repeat: 3.5 million Texas votes for Obama. If you don't see that as a basis for political action, fine; be happy in your self-satisfied "Blue State" world.....

[Bigmack]

112. I don't hate Texas...

because the residents of that state have provided me with some of the best stories to tell at parties.

The guys in the Corps were - by far - the most perverse individuals I encountered. And that's saying something when you're talking about the Corps!

"Git you a big ol' watermelon that's been sittin' in the sun. Then you cut this hole in it... just through the rind. You stick yer dick in that... you think yer gettin' a virgin."

You git you a copy of "Texas Crude" by Ken Weaver, and you'll know what I'm talking about. Those people actually talk like that.

http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Crude-Ken-Weaver/dp/0525480900

[Marnie]

113. While people go to ogasm over their hatred of Texas

just remember you hatred includes hundreds of thousands of Texans like myself who had the honor, and it is a honor, to have voted against George Duhbya Bush 4 times. Ann Richards has a 60+% approval rate but was out spent and cheated out of reelection.

Can you say a much?

Be careful when you throw shit in strangers' faces, there may be someone who is better than you that you have just infected with gravely with killer E. coli.

Obama does not now have my vote again because of two new wars and his and his closest staff's willingness to insult those of us who voted for him.

Be careful who you choose to alienate, you may want them as an ally tomorrow.

[Bucky]

114. Thank you. But that said... Ray Wiley Hubbard caught us pretty good with this song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-cFtSPIF4Q Loves me some Ray Wiley

[defendandprotect]

116. Think we are against the rightwing -- Texas has been useful for the RW re oil/rightwing issues --

and even the very liberal California was taken over by the right --

That's the question -- how did this happen?

Was there ever really a "Southern Strategy" or was there only electronic

voting machines?

And rightwing political violence over 50 years, of course -- assassination.




The voting computers began coming in during the late 1960's --

the large computers used by MSM came in during mid 1960's --

We began paying attention to all of this in 2000!!


However, two journalists in Florida began investigating the unverifiable election

results being reported in their state in the late 1960's --

They wrote a book about it -- and reported their findings to Larry O'Brien head

of the DNC at the Watergate ... just before Watergate.



Votescam -- The Stealing of America -

http://www.constitution.org/vote/votescam__.htm

[Marr]

130. I live in California and I don't hate Texas.

I have no opinion of the place. To be honest, rural communities all seem pretty similar to me, no matter what state they're in. There are real differences between the rural and metro populations that shouldn't be ignored, however.

My favorite state is probably Utah. Mormons seem like a really nice crowd to me, and the state is just beautiful in it's own right.

[ScreamingMeemie]

138. "Rural communities"

Many of us live in cities larger than most. :shrug:

[Marr]

140. I know that.

I'm not saying Texas is completely rural, I'm saying the conservative strain of thought people associate with Texas can be found in rural communities all over the country. I grew up the California high desert, and now live in Los Angeles. The people where I grew up, it seems to me, have a lot more in common with rural Texans than with residents of Los Angeles. And Los Angeles residents have more in common with people in Houston than they do with the people in California's rural areas.

[ScreamingMeemie]

143. I live in an area of Houston that is more liberal, in some ways, than

the area of Michigan I moved from.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

133. I just started reading the book, "The Passage" Justin Cronin, he doesn't care much for Texas .....

<exert>

"Special Agent Brad Wolgast hated Texas. He hated everything about it.

He hated the weather, which was hot as an oven one minute and freezing the next, the air so damp it felt like a wet towel over your head. He even hated the look of the place, beginning with the trees, which were scrawny and pathetic, their limbs all gnarled up like something out of Dr. Suess, and the flat windblowen nothingness of it. He hated the billboards and the freeways and faceless subdivisions and the Texas flag, which flew over everything, always big as a circus tent; he hated the giant pickup trucks everybody drove no matter that gas was thirteen bucks a gallon and the world was slowly steaming itself to death like a package of peas in a microwave. He hated the boots and the belt Buckles and the way people talked, , as if they spent the day ropin' and ridin', not cleaning teeth and selling insurance and doing the books like people did everywhere.

Most of all because his parents made him live here , back in junior high. Wolgast was forty-four still in decent shape but with the miscellaneous aches and thinning hair to show for it; sixth grade was long ago, nothing to regret, but still, driving with Doyle up highway 59 north from Houston, springtime Texas spread all around, the wound felt fresh to him. Texas, a state sized porkchop of misery: one minute he'd been a perfectly happy kid in Oregon, fishing off the peir at the mouth of the Coos River and playing in the woods behind his house with his friends for endless idle hours; the next he was stuck in the urban swamp of Houston living in a crappy ranch house without a scrap of shade, walking to school in one-hundred-degree heat that felt like a big shoe coming down on his head. The end of the world, he'd thought. That's where he was. the end of the world was Houston, Texas. On his first day of sixth grade, the teacher made him stand up and recite the Texas Pledge of Allegiance, as if he'd signed up to live in a whole different country. Three miserable years; he's never been so glad to leave a place, even the way it happened."

[Drew Richards]

137. I don't dislike Texas, Just the politicians that arise from Texas.

[Behind the Aegis]

139. It isn't limited to Texas.

Apparently, some bigotry is acceptable, especially if used by "our side" to make a point.

[Name removed]

148. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Drahthaardogs]

149. When I saw the Texas license plates...

I used to just groan. As a kid growing up in Southern Colorado, every fall and summer it was the same. Truckloads of Texans inundating our small town to enjoy our public lands because Texas has an incredibly small amount of public land,like 1/10 of the public land in Wyoming or Colorado. The Texas legislature did not save enough land to serve their large population and the rest of the West had to pick up the slack. Since our ranch bordered National Forest land, I cannot tell you how many times we had to explain to the Texans that if they did not want a visit from the sheriff, they best be getting their backsides back over that fence in a hurry. It was ridiculous, a daily occurrence. My dad was too nice to prosecute, but in reality, he should have. It might have solved a lot of the problem.

In retrospect, it irks me that another state had to support Texas's outdoor recreation because they were too greedy to put aside public land for their citizens because it might contain a mineral. It's wrong.

[ScreamingMeemie]

162. Really? We've have tons and tons and absolute TONS of public

land in my area of SE TX. I have yet to see the Texas you speak of. :shrug: Sounds like when we in WI would complain about FIBS from IL. It sounds rather silly, in fact. Come visit the public parks here, the coast line, Galveston. Unlike your attitude, most likely Texans would welcome you. :hi:

[Drahthaardogs]

164. Tons and tons eh?

Not going to argue with you because a simple google will show you just how wrong you are. Texas has squat for public lands when compared to the rest of the U.S. Greed is the only reason. They should have the most but they don't.

[Eddie Haskell]

150. You Texans

have an attitude problem. :sarcasm:

[webDude]

153. It does get tiring when you're kicked in the teeth, after you've fought...

..."'da man" all your life, but have the distinction of living in Texas. It's not just Texas, of course.

By definition, what they are doing is having a prejudiced view of a group of people that live in a certain area.

Heard the phrase, "assholes come in all colors"? They are in every part of the world, too, as are the saints.

[Eddie Haskell]

158. "assholes come in all colors" ...

they're just bigger in Texas.:-)

[Waiting For Everyman]

163. I won't even drive through Texas. Or Florida.

I wouldn't set foot in those states, and a few others, for any amount of money. Seriously. And I made that decision in 1974. A lot more is wrong about it since then.

That's my opinion of it. Most of the middle of the country is not much better. It has nothing to do with "liberalism" as such, except that too many fascists make for an intolerable environment after a certain tipping point is reached. It's also about a sucky climate and social culture.

I've spent time in all the states, so this is first-hand opinion. In fact, I used to have the time to drive coast to coast on a regular basis just for the fun of it... until so much of it became not worth going to anymore, and gas prices went through the roof. Call me crazy but I don't like deserts, and I don't like swamps, and I don't like places where it's winter 10 months of the year, or places that are prone to extreme storms or earthquakes - not to live in anyway. I also don't like places where most of the population is expected to be fine with living in abject poverty. All told, that leaves out most of the country. I wish it weren't so, but it is.

But YMMV. I don't bash Texans because they have enough problems, but I don't see how anyone puts up with it, or why anyone would want to. Same for living in NYC though, I don't get that either. I said that before on DU and a firestorm broke out over it. Fact is, it's a hell hole, I wouldn't live there for all the tea in China. But those who like it, good for them.

A lot of my friends in Maryland have moved to Florida. It seems like half the people I know are down there now. They keep asking me to visit, but I'm never going back there, not even all expenses paid, I hate the place. One friend even offered me a free house for life, but I'd rather live under a bridge in Maryland if it came to that.

I've looked the country all over, and I know what I like and what I don't like. And it has nothing to do with prejudice. It has everything to do with what's there.

[struggle4progress]

165. I grew up in Texas, among people much like G W Bush. Many of my childhood friends

still live in Texas. I am pleased, from afar, to see signs of improvement, but the state as I remember it was overrun by wackos, many of whom were in positions of authority. I remember some fine Texans, and I admire their fortitude in living amongst the heathen, but I couldn't stomach it myself