Texas, We Need to Talk
Hurricane Beryl is just the latest debacle to rock the Republican-run leadership in Texas and frankly, it’s embarrassing
Texas Republicans have had a stranglehold on legislative power for three decades. Since 1994, every elected statewide office has been held by Republicans. And yet, even with control of the governor's office and both state legislative chambers, the state still struggles where it matters the most (poverty, education, crime, infrastructure) while elected ‘leaders’ stoke fear and hostility toward fellow citizens.
Enough is enough.
Let’s start with poverty. Despite Texas political leadership bragging about the overall poverty rate dropping in 2022, 76 of Texas’ 254 counties saw an uptick in poverty rates. Most of those were rural counties with populations lower than 50,000. Nearly 5 million people live in rural Texas communities representing the largest rural population of any state. After the drop in overall poverty in 2022, it’s back up and now sits at roughly 14% of the state’s population.
An estimated 3.5 million Texans receive aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). A program Republicans in both Washington D.C. and in the state have consistently made harder to qualify for leaving families struggling to get by. Approximately 9% of Texans live in extreme poverty while 14% are food insecure.
The education system in Texas isn’t faring much better either. Just last year, Republicans blocked a school funding bill by forcing widely unpopular school vouchers into legislation that would have given teachers raises and helped schools get through budget shortfalls. Texas House Democrats and Republicans from rural areas stopped the measure.
Republican “side-step” political maneuvers are unfolding catastrophically after 10 years of decreased funding under Gov. Greg Abbott. A recent survey of 313 school districts shows that over half are projecting budget deficits for fiscal year 2024 saying they will be forced to cut teacher raises. Just under half are undergoing drastic cuts. Many school districts are eliminating hundreds of positions while facing budget shortfalls of over $100 million per district.
And then there’s violent crime. In 2022, Texas ranked as having the 12th most reported violent crimes in the nation. A rate that is much higher than the national average. Texas had a violent crime rate of 431.9 per 100,000 people in 2022. According to FBI data, the national average is 380.7 per 100,000. For context, Texas ranks higher than New York and Illinois.
Texas also ranked 15th in forcible rapes in 2023. The national average is 40 per 100,000 people while the average in Texas is 50 per 100,000. A study in January in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) estimated 26,313 rape-related pregnancies during the 16 months since Texas outlawed nearly all abortions. These are horrifying numbers.
Of course, we’re going to talk about the power grid in all its deregulated glory. The same hunk of junk that has been faltering more and more over the years. While our electric bills skyrocket and corporations like Centerpoint Energy take in record profits, they do nothing to improve reliability or keep up with population growth. Many rural communities rely on antiquated systems in dire need of repair or replacement and those areas often connect one part of a city to another.
This all stems from political leadership in Texas. Around here corporate leaders and political leaders are too often the same groups of people. Executives and politicians are in cahoots and couldn’t care less about citizens. Until it comes time to pay the bills when those executives and politicians fail us as they did in the freeze a couple of years ago, the tornadoes in May, and now Hurrican Beryl - the latest failure in Texas Republican political theater.
After all of the grid’s failures that have been exposed over the last few years, little has been done to address any of the problems. Every summer they say they don’t have enough power generation. Every winter they say the same thing. Years later they’re still saying it after a puny Category 1 hurricane in a season that’s expected to be the worst in a long time.
What are we to expect for the rest of the summer? The rest of the year? The next 10 years? They have to be kidding to ask for our vote, right?
These failures are the tip of the iceberg but highlight why we need change in Texas politics. No more cowards not willing to stand up to corporations as they drive wedges between us to hide what they’re doing. No more loud-mouthed, political-theater, playing-with-people’s-lives bigots and hypocrites to represent us. No more of this insanity hidden behind culture wars.
It has to end. It might as well end now.
I’m a freelance writer and journalist for Capitol Press, The Antagonist Magazine, and Unicorn Riot. Find me on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work become a paid subscriber or donate on Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp