Texas

[DFW5Traveler]

Originally Posted by discreetgent

I assume in your erudition you meant to write now
Sorry, I just couldn't resist

FWIW I have always enjoyed my stays in Texas, whether for business or pleasure. I prefer to live elsewhere, but as you pointed out we are fortunate to have the freedom to make that choice.

Thanks for the correction DG.

[TexTushHog]

I'm trying to retire as quickly as I can. My estimate is about two more years, but it could be sooner. My family has been here since the 1870's. I'll keep some land here for sentimental reasons, and keep my royalty interests, but I'll be long gone, and glad to go.

The State is on a long downward death spiral, as I see it, and the educational system, with it's right wing slant is just one of the reasons. The failure to keep up our infrastructure is another. I have no interest at all in staying. I'll probably even sell my second home here eventually. It's sad, but the place holds almost no interest for me anymore.

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

I'm trying to retire as quickly as I can. My estimate is about two more years, but it could be sooner. My family has been here since the 1870's. I'll keep some land here for sentimental reasons, and keep my royalty interests, but I'll be long gone, and glad to go.

The State is on a long downward death spiral, as I see it, and the educational system, with it's right wing slant is just one of the reasons. The failure to keep up our infrastructure is another. I have no interest at all in staying. I'll probably even sell my second home here eventually. It's sad, but the place holds almost no interest for me anymore.

So where is the nirvana to which you are moving/retiring?

[OneHotMale]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

So where is the nirvana to which you are moving/retiring?

Knowing your luck PJ it is probably Florida.

[MrGiz]

Iowa has more pigs/hogs than any other state.... sort of like Swine Heaven! Paris might be nice....

[Texas Contrarian]

Originally Posted by OneHotMale

Knowing your luck PJ it is probably Florida.

Florida is a great choice! Like Texas, it does not impose a state income tax.

The same is true of Wyoming. The Jackson Hole area is wonderful.

Texas will always be my home base, even in my post-retirement years. But I plan to travel much of the time and will seek out cooler climes in July and August!

[charlestudor2005]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

So where is the nirvana to which you are moving/retiring?

PJ, meet your new next door neighbor!!!

Maybe the two of you can form a Coffee Party for your neighborhood.

[Rudyard K]

What a sad life? To have such a poor opinion of your neighbors and community...and yet stay around because the pay is right.

I guess I'm lucky in that I like most of the folks around here...and as so, don't have to lead such a grudging life. But I guess that explains a lot.

[charlestudor2005]

RK--

I think I know where TTH is coming from. I have lived in TX for a decade. I'm here because my SO is here. But I hate the fact that I disagree so fundamentally with most of the people I know here. I do like the people, for the most part, but I disagree with their politics.

What was said in another thread about getting involved and changing things is not even a possibility here. When you are so much in the minority it is almost not even worth wasting the time going to the polls. The only reason I go is so I can bitch. There is no way my one vote (or the votes cast by me and my SO) is going to change anything in TX. And it saddens me that although people say I can have an affect on the process, it is really not true. The only affect I am going to have is in decreasing the spread of my candidate's loss.

The only place I could make a difference is in those states that are continuously on the border of blue or red.

In the end, I do agree with TTH: the current policies of Texas are going to ruin this state, not only as a democracy, but also as a political/economic entity.

As soon as TTH moves, I'll probably be the only person on this board living in Texas that continues to hold these views. And I'll probably wind up needing protection on this board from the Ad Hoc Mods here.

[DFW5Traveler]

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

...
In the end, I do agree with TTH: the current policies of Texas are going to ruin this state, not only as a democracy, but also as a political/economic entity...

The key word there is democracy. Texas was founded as a representative republic just as the US was founded. You said your vote here doesn't matter, but let me ask you to take a look at states like Michigan or California where they would vote the same as you. How are those states doing in comparison to Texas? Can you see why the people of Texas vote the way we do now? We, in the majority, of TX do not want to end up like CA or MI. Is Texas faultering the same way those states are when we DON'T have a state income tax? The answer is no. The question is when are the people from the failing states going to realize that their votes did count and when are they going to realize their vote had a direct impact to the decline of their state?

Just read what the founding fathers said about democracy and learn the differences between a democracy and a republic.

Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death. - James Madison

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. - John Adams

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote! - Benjamin Franklin

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests. - Patrick Henry

[charlestudor2005]

Originally Posted by DFW5Traveler

The key word there is democracy. Texas was founded as a representative republic just as the US was founded. You said your vote here doesn't matter, but let me ask you to take a look at states like Michigan or California where they would vote the same as you. How are those states doing in comparison to Texas? Can you see why the people of Texas vote the way we do now? We, in the majority, of TX do not want to end up like CA or MI. Is Texas faultering the same way those states are when we DON'T have a state income tax? The answer is no. The question is when are the people from the failing states going to realize that their votes did count and when are they going to realize their vote had a direct impact to the decline of their state?

Just read what the founding fathers said about democracy and learn the differences between a democracy and a republic.

Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death. - James Madison

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. - John Adams

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote! - Benjamin Franklin

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests. - Patrick Henry

OK, I'll give you the republic stamp rather than the democracy.

But your comparison of Texas to Michigan and California is fundamentally flawed. The (up til now) economic success is rooted in Texas' multiple bases of income. It has oil, tech, aircraft, educational, and other industries that produce income.

Michigan has one: auto industry (and maybe education), while California has tech (which has cratered) and grass LOL. And Education. California maybe has tourism. In any event, the two states have not suffered from their politics so much as from their industries. Remember, the last 7 or so years has had Swarzenegger (a Rep) at the helm in CA. And let's remember that George Romney (a Rep) was Gov. of Michigan from 63-69.

I guess the point is, you're trying to compare apples and oranges. It's like trying to compare why the cost of RE in one part of Houston went up while at the same time, the price of RE in another went down. They are just different things. You can't compare.

[Rudyard K]

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

RK--

I think I know where TTH is coming from. I have lived in TX for a decade. I'm here because my SO is here. But I hate the fact that I disagree so fundamentally with most of the people I know here. I do like the people, for the most part, but I disagree with their politics.

What was said in another thread about getting involved and changing things is not even a possibility here. When you are so much in the minority it is almost not even worth wasting the time going to the polls. The only reason I go is so I can bitch. There is no way my one vote (or the votes cast by me and my SO) is going to change anything in TX. And it saddens me that although people say I can have an affect on the process, it is really not true. The only affect I am going to have is in decreasing the spread of my candidate's loss.

The only place I could make a difference is in those states that are continuously on the border of blue or red.

In the end, I do agree with TTH: the current policies of Texas are going to ruin this state, not only as a democracy, but also as a political/economic entity.

As soon as TTH moves, I'll probably be the only person on this board living in Texas that continues to hold these views. And I'll probably wind up needing protection on this board from the Ad Hoc Mods here.

I understand where he is coming from too CT. I've lived here 5 1/2 decades. What you call ruined is what we strive for. Your hell in a handbasket might be our heaven on earth.

That's ok. That's part of Texas. Do what you want. Be what you want to be. Just don't impose your doing and being on the rest of us. And finally, take responsibility for whatever you do and be.

We don't really care "how you did it back home". We'll listen, but if we don't agree we'll generally tell you so, and expect that you'll handle your doings and beings...and we'll handle ours.

I can also understand how that is a problem for folks who think if our thoughts don't agree with theirs...then it is us who must be fools. When everyone around you is out of step...perhaps you might think about the fact that it might not be them out of step...but you.

[DFW5Traveler]

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

OK, I'll give you the republic stamp rather than the democracy.

But your comparison of Texas to Michigan and California is fundamentally flawed. The (up til now) economic success is rooted in Texas' multiple bases of income. It has oil, tech, aircraft, educational, and other industries that produce income.

Michigan has one: auto industry (and maybe education), while California has tech (which has cratered) and grass LOL. And Education. California maybe has tourism. In any event, the two states have not suffered from their politics so much as from their industries. Remember, the last 7 or so years has had Swarzenegger (a Rep) at the helm in CA. And let's remember that George Romney (a Rep) was Gov. of Michigan from 63-69.

I guess the point is, you're trying to compare apples and oranges. It's like trying to compare why the cost of RE in one part of Houston went up while at the same time, the price of RE in another went down. They are just different things. You can't compare.

Have you been to Austin lately? My brother lives down there and I worked at Dell. The "silicon valley" is moving to Texas, because the laws in CA are are not business friendly.

Environmentalists have stopped oil drilling in CA. They have stopped controlled burns to get rid of "brush fuel" for wild fires. When that happened wild fires began reaching poplulated areas. When the wild fires destroy those areas they are now prone to mud slides with no brush or root systems to hold the soil. They have stopped watering farms to protect a minnow when CA was a huge ag producer. I'm sorry but those policies that have been enacted are things liberal voters are passionate about.

Unions lobby in MI to create Democratic policies that only protect union members, but who benifits the most; the union bosses. Have you seen MI lately? When people leave the state and the cities talk about bulldozing half their cities to control costs, something is seriously wrong.

There is nothing stopping those states from creating conditions within their states that promote growth. The policies currently in place stifle growth and punish success to the point that businesses, not just people, leave the state. Now our Federal government is doing the same thing, but on a national scale. And where will the businesses go when the fed has pushed them to the brink?

An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation. - John Marshall, McCullough v. Maryland, 1819

If taxes are laid upon us without our having a legal representation where they are laid, we are reduced from the character of free subjects to the state of tributary slaves. - Samuel Adams

[atlcomedy]

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

OK, I'll give you the republic stamp rather than the democracy.

But your comparison of Texas to Michigan and California is fundamentally flawed. The (up til now) economic success is rooted in Texas' multiple bases of income. It has oil, tech, aircraft, educational, and other industries that produce income.

Michigan has one: auto industry (and maybe education), while California has tech (which has cratered) and grass LOL. And Education. California maybe has tourism. In any event, the two states have not suffered from their politics so much as from their industries. Remember, the last 7 or so years has had Swarzenegger (a Rep) at the helm in CA. And let's remember that George Romney (a Rep) was Gov. of Michigan from 63-69.

I guess the point is, you're trying to compare apples and oranges. It's like trying to compare why the cost of RE in one part of Houston went up while at the same time, the price of RE in another went down. They are just different things. You can't compare.

I'm glad you are a lawyer not a businessman...Californ ia has a very diversified economy that as a standalone would be one of the largest in the world.

But, hey I'm glad you threw in that reference to leadership in the 60's....

[Texas Contrarian]

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

But your comparison of Texas to Michigan and California is fundamentally flawed.

No, it really isn't.

The legislatures of the latter two states are clearly in the tank for public employee unions. The Texas legislature is not.

Here's a good short article on how California committed economic suicide:

http://city-journal.org/2010/20_2_ca...ia-unions.html

And regarding Michigan, check this:

http://jackmchughblog.wordpress.com/...ees-part-deux/

http://jackmchughblog.wordpress.com/...gan-taxpayers/

Yet another case of the metastasization of the entitlement culture. The political class is whistling merrily on while we hurtle toward a fiscal train wreck.