Right now, triumphant conservatives in Washington are declaring that they can cut taxes and still balance the budget by slashing spending. Yet they haven’t been able to do that even in Texas, which is willing both to impose great pain (by its stinginess on health care) and to shortchange the future (by neglecting education). How are they supposed to pull it off nationally, especially when the incoming Republicans have declared Medicare, Social Security and defense off limits? People used to say that the future happens first in California, but these days what happens in Texas is probably a better omen. And what we’re seeing right now is a future that doesn’t work.
Having lived in Texas for a little over 10 years (I moved back to Portland in late 2007), I think I have a pretty good perspective on the state of politics there. It’s difficult to imagine a state whose politics are so thoroughly, slavishly, and blindly wedded to Conservative ideology and dogma. It turns out that Texas is a shining example of what can happen when politicians are so thoroughly welded to ideology that they lose (if indeed they ever really had) perspective and any idea of how to fix what’s wrong.
Yes, politics in Texas has always been a highly entertaining comedy gold mine. The late Molly Ivins (long one of my heroes) made a career out of skewering the corrupt, ignorant, and often cluelessly entertaining souls who dotted Texas’ political landscape. Not all of those who Ivins hoisted on her petard were Republicans, mind you, but of late Texas has been reliably and predictably Red. There are few organizations more thoroughly and dependably off-kilter than the Texas GOP, so referring to Texas Republicans as a target-rich environment would be something of an understatement.
While it’s tempting to drift off into a comically-tinged assessment of how Texas lied and propagandized itself into the mess the state current finds itself in, I want to head in a different direction. Somehow, humor and ridicule seem inappropriate…and besides, when it comes to jokes, the reality of Texas politics generally far exceeds anything I could come up with. No, Texas is the perfect example of what can happen when political reality becomes irretrievably yoked to ideology and propaganda. Instead of taking an honest look at the problems facing Texas- both in the present and into the future- politicians have chosen to either kick the can down the road or to fall back on Conservative dogma as the panacea needed to solve any and all problems. And the jokes sometimes just write themselves….
This isn’t to say, of course, that a more Liberal take on the issues facing Texas would prove any more effective. Still, why would anyone hoping to solve a problem rule out half the toolbox before even examining the problem? Texas finds itself in dire straits largely because its political leaders have become so blind to anything but reliably Conservative solutions, thereby eliminating a whole range of possible solutions out of hand. It may be broken, but if a Liberal shows up with a hammer, you can bet that Texas Conservatives will be demanding a hacksaw.
To be blunt, Governor Rick Perry and the rest of the Republican leadership in Texas has fiddled while Rome has burned around them. This one CAN be blamed on Republicans, because not a single statewide office in Texas is held by a Democrat. Most Texans would vote for a ham sandwich if it had an “R” behind it. Rather than take a long, critical look at the mess that’s been made in their name, Texans reflexively and repeatedly vote for those who dragged the ox into the ditch in the first place.
It would be easy to thrash Republicans over what’s happened in Texas. Hell, they ARE responsible for the sorry state of affairs in the Lone Star State. Nonetheless, the point I’m trying to make is that Texas can and should be viewed as a laboratory for what can and will go wrong when dogma and ideology trump EVERYTHING- including common sense. Whether we’re debating Conservatism or Liberalism, no one ideology is perfectly suited to addressing problems and issues unique to a political entity, especially a state as large and diverse as Texas. When leaders refuse to even consider ideas put forward by those in the minority, they deny themselves a valuable perspective that might well offer a way out…albeit one those in the majority might consider distasteful and disagreeable. So it is in Texas, where myopic and sclerotic Conservatism has forced the state down policy paths that those with more open minds might well have identified as dry holes.
Texas has never been the “recession-proof economic miracle” that Governor Goodhair has so often claimed. The reality is that Texas is facing a potential $25 BILLION budget shortfall because of willful ignorance, whistling past the graveyard, and some very creative accounting. Texas is no more immune to normal economic cycles and realities than anywhere else; politicians there are just better at papering over those realities so as to protect their positions and power.
Lest any of my readers still think I’m engaging in Conservative-bashing, allow me to offer an example from my current home, Oregon. The Beaver State is every bit as Blue as (overall, though the demographics are markedly different) Texas is red. Here in Oregon, I can’t think of a single state-wide office that’s held by a Republican, though the recent election did leave one chamber of the Legislature split evenly at 30-30. Oregon is a state with a long and well-deserved reputation for being hostile to business interests, a legacy of the strain of Liberalism long in vogue here. As a result, Oregon’s economy still lags well behind what it arguably could be. Portland, for example, has the frustrating combination of a high cost of living and low average wage. Oregon continues to suffer because of the long-standing Liberal antipathy towards business. Big is not always bad, but just try convincing your average Oregon Liberal of that. I am an Oregon Liberal, and I’m just now beginning to come around.
Again, my point is not that I’m trying to engage in some gratuitous Conservative-bashing. The reality is that, as I look around me, I’m coming to recognize that Truth is not resident in, nor the sole and exclusive property of, any one ideology. Being Conservative doesn’t mean that all Liberals are bad, nasty, evil…and just plain wrong. Nor is the reverse true. Perhaps it’s time that we all stepped back and took a good, hard look at what we believe and why. If you don’t believe me; if you don’t think it’s time for things to change…well, just take a good look at Texas. THAT mess could well become every state’s reality before too much longer.
Until, and unless, we begin to deal with reality AS IT IS, we have little hope of turning things around. Wanting and believing things to be a certain way doesn’t necessarily make it so. In fact, wearing those blinders make getting from where we are to where we want to be just that much harder.
Isn’t it about time we stopped the shouting, the screaming, and the recriminations…and just started listening?? I’m offering a place in something that feels like the middle, where perhaps we could find some resolution and perhaps even some solutions. Of course, I’m just one lone voice in the wilderness…and I’m not at all certain that anyone’s really listening, anyway.
