July 31, 2008 5:40 AM

When being #1 is nothing to celebrate

(via John Cobarruvias)

Texas not only has the highest insurance rates in the nation, the highest teen pregnancy, the highest rate of uninsured children, the highest pollution in the nation, but now we have the highest electricity rates in the nation. The promises of lower rates through deregulation is as good as a retirement portfolio of Enron stock. Enron, by the way, was the driving force behind deregulation in Texas lead by Ken "Rest in Peace" Lay. So even while lying peacefully in his grave, he continues to watch Texans get screwed by his plan of deregulation.

The unofficial Texas state motto used to be "Thank God for Mississippi!" Now I'm no longer certain that Mississippi is even on the bottom looking up. The sad thing is that it didn't have to be this way. Once upon a time, things in Texas actually worked. Then Republicans took over state government, and government was almost immediately turned over to industry, special interests, and Christian wackjobs. To say that these dillweeds have turned the Texas statehouse into their own personal piggy bank and playground wouldn't begin to do justice to the depth of corruption and ineptitude that Texans seem to have accepted as their birthright.

OK, so I no longer live in Texas, and I've devoted a lot of column inches to what some have felt to be "Texas-bashing" or "Houston-bashing". After 10 years in Texas, though, I think I know of which I speak. Texas is a place with so much potential- after all, it's ramping up efforts to exploit it's abundant wind energy potential (yes, Texas blows)- and it's capable of so much more. If you look at what's happening, though, you have to wonder about the mental and moral capacity of those steering the ship. When teaching creationism is considered a legitimate issue, you have to wonder if the inmates aren't running the asylum. When deregulating electricity and allowing rates to become the highest in the nation, you have to wonder if state government hasn't lost sight of who they're responsibility to. Throw in he highest insurance rates in the nation, the highest teen pregnancy rate, the highest rate of uninsured children, and the worst, most egregious levels of pollution in the nation...and you have to wonder how the criminals responsible for this keep getting elected.

I suppose the short answer to the question of why Texans keep electing the same wolves to run the henhouse is that they're just too (&^%$#@ stupid to pay attention. Texans have been voting against their own interests for years now, so perhsps they think the way things are is the way they're supposed to be. Perhaps they think it's what they deserve...and in that respect they might be on to something. If you can't be bothered to pay attention to what's being doing in your name, you have no right to complain- and Texans generally aren't complaining. If you insist on voting Republican because it beats the Hell out of thinking, if voting Republican is more reflex than the result of conscious decision-making...well, you deserve to reap the reward of your intellectual and moral sloth.

Texas is a place that, if Texans were willing to demand better from their leaders, could set so many positive examples for the rest of the country. Instead, they seem OK with what Paul Begala (a native Texan) once referred to as "the soft bigotry of low expectations." When you expect and demand little...well, don't claim to be surprised when that's exactly what you get. Apparently, Texans like their women barefoot and pregnant.

I hear that Mississippi's new unofficial motto is "Thank God for Texas!"

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 31, 2008 5:40 AM.

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