Posted on 03/08/2010 6:18:30 PM PST by SeekAndFind
"Stop messing with Texas!" That was the message Gov. Rick Perry bellowed on election night as he celebrated his victory over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary for governor. In his reference to Texas' anti-littering slogan, Perry was making a point applicable to national as well as Texas politics and addressed to Democratic politicians as well as Republicans.
His point was that the big government policies of the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders are resented and fiercely opposed not just because of their dire fiscal effects but also as an intrusion on voters' independence and ability to make decisions for themselves.
No one would include Perry on a list of serious presidential candidates, including himself, even in the flush of victory. But in his 10 years as governor, the longest in the state's history, Texas has been teaching some lessons to which the rest of the nation should pay heed.
They are lessons that are particularly vivid when you contrast Texas, the nation's second most populous state, with the most populous, California. Both were once Mexican territory, secured for the United States in the 1840s. Both have grown prodigiously over the past half-century. Both have populations that today are about one-third Hispanic.
But they differ vividly in public policy and in their economic progress -- or lack of it -- over the last decade. California has gone in for big government in a big way. Democrats hold large margins in the legislature largely because affluent voters in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area favor their liberal positions on cultural issues.
Those Democratic majorities have obediently done the bidding of public employee unions to the point that state government faces huge budget deficits. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to reduce the power of the Democratic-union combine with referenda was defeated in 2005 when public employee unions poured $100 million -- all originally extracted from taxpayers -- into effective TV ads.
Californians have responded by leaving the state. From 2000 to 2009, the Census Bureau estimates, there has been a domestic outflow of 1,509,000 people from California -- almost as many as the number of immigrants coming in. Population growth has not been above the national average and, for the first time in history, it appears that California will gain no House seats or electoral votes from the reapportionment following the 2010 Census.
Texas is a different story. Texas has low taxes -- and no state income taxes -- and a much smaller government. Its legislature meets for only 90 days every two years, compared to California's year-round legislature. Its fiscal condition is sound. Public employee unions are weak or nonexistent.
But Texas seems to be delivering superior services. Its teachers are paid less than California's. But its test scores -- and with a demographically similar school population -- are higher. California's once fabled freeways are crumbling and crowded. Texas has built gleaming new highways in metro Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth.
In the meantime, Texas' economy has been booming. Unemployment rates have been below the national average for more than a decade, as companies small and large generate new jobs.
And Americans have been voting for Texas with their feet. From 2000 to 2009, some 848,000 people moved from other parts of the United States to Texas, about the same number as moved in from abroad. That inflow has continued in 2008-09, in which 143,000 Americans moved into Texas, more than double the number in any other state, at the same time as 98,000 were moving out of California. Texas is on the way to gain four additional House seats and electoral votes in the 2010 reapportionment.
This was not always so. In the two decades after World War II, California, with its pleasant weather, was the Golden State, a promised land, for most Americans, while Texas seemed a provincial rural backwater. Many saw postwar California's expansion of universities, freeways and water systems a model for the nation. Few experts praised Texas' low-tax, low-services government.
Now it is California's ruinously expensive and increasingly incompetent government that seems dysfunctional, while Texas' approach has generated more creativity and opportunity. So it's not surprising that Texas voters preferred Perry over an opponent who has spent 16 years in Washington. What's surprising is that Democrats in Washington are still trying to impose policies like those that have ravaged California rather than those which have proved so successful in Texas.
Any suggestions of the names of small Texas towns where I can buy a few acres? Prefer some green pasture land over desert, and I can pay cash. (Really.)
Yes, I was born in Los Angeles. But, well, you know . . .
People vote with their feet but in their new homes they miss the wonderful things that government did for them in California and set about to improving their new state to be just like California. They do not connect the ubiquity of the inefficient “services” and the number of bureaucrats required to oversee the huge number of lesser civil servants with the ever rising taxes. They recreate the old situation and then are nonplussed that their new state, while improving in atmosphere and services is sucking all the dollars out of their bank accounts and the crime rate is rising.
If you can move to Texas without bringing California with you then you will be an asset. If you bring Cali along to Texas you will be the curse that has afflicted Colorado.
Lots of good green areas in Central Texas at reasonable prices. Look in Bosque County around Valley Mills, or in nearby Crawford in McLennan County. Tons of land available in Limestone or Freestone Counties.
Moving to Texas myself in April or May.
First State to recover from this BS, might wind up being the last free place in America (don't worry, arthurus, I was born and raised 9 miles from your border in Clovis, NM).
Heading for Farwell.
There are literally thousands...If you just want it for recreational purposes, East Texas is beautiful. The Piney Woods starting in Tyler and east to the Louisiana border are full of small towns where acreage lots are plentiful.
I recently discovered you can find real estate for sale in the google map search feature. Find an area you like in the maps, and add “real estate” in the search window. You can narrow it down by type of real estate. You’ll see...there’s a lot of property out there.
If Texas ever begins to split away from the US, I'll skidaddle back to Texas, pronto.
Not my border, I am a Floridian.
And, no offense to the Hill country lovers, but I wouldn’t call it ‘green pasture land.’ It seems closer to desert. I’ve never thought the Hill country was an especially lush landscape—it seems more brown and scruffy to me.
And, no one is mentioning the areas around North Texas (Dallas/Ft.Worth), where you will find beautiful acreage properties sometimes even within city limits.
Nicest small town in Texas is Fredericksburg. But it is not undiscovered.
Central and South Texas just got done with a prolonged drought. Since September, it has rained in Austin every 2-3 days and the lake levels have returned to normal but the vegetation still looks pretty sad in some areas. Mix in the effect of one hard freeze and some plants are not going to recover.
Other than high mountain country, Texas has something for everyone - beach land, rolling hills, thick forests, mesas, coastal wetlands, etc. There are some “mountains” around El Paso but they don’t compare to Colorado or Alaska.
However, two words of warning - you must be able to tolerate hot weather in the summer and you must get along with people who think blue jeans and cowboy boots are suitable attire for all occasions. If you can’t do those two things, best to leave that Yankee ass at home.
Also take a look at the area between Hamilton and Stephenville.
And remember, the summers in Texas are long and brutal - seriously.
Honestly, I’m seriously considering a relocation where such things exist. Indiana is ok, but it isn’t all that interesting. And the stench of Chicago can be felt all the way down to Indy.
I’ll sell you my place.
10 acres, 5 bedroom house, with a large shop, with a large over hang for a travel trailer.
4 miles South of Abilene, near historic Buffalo Gap Texas.
Good country living. Lots of wildlife.
Baja, I've lived in Stockton, Rescue (last Pony Express stop before Sacto), and a whole bunch of Texas towns. California has more dry, parched areas than Texas. All those Hollywood movies about Texas were shot in California.
We do have one California like city. It's the People's Republic of Austin. It's better to avoid it.
In most of the state, you can by a 3500 square foot home with a pool in an affluent community for less than $300K. The property taxes are higher, but the top marginal income tax rate is 0%. Gas is less because gas taxes are less. Electricity's about the same because we've got a bunch of stupid, senseless windmills in West Texas that work to line Boone Pickens' pockets, but do nothing for peak power generation (i.e., we need peak electricity when it's hot and air conditioners are running and the wind isn't blowing).
As a business owner and serial entrepreneur, I can say without doubt that the state is more business friendly than California. However, that's like saying Death Valley in August is a cooler environment than Hell. To be honest, we're over taxed here. And while we only have to worry about the legislature when they're in session, the unfortunate truth is they do meet from time to time.
Lessee, what else? You've got better artichokes, sourdough, and Calimari. You've got better wine (though we're making strides) and you've got better beer (specifically, Stone Breweries in San Diego and Sierra Nevada in Chico). You've got better snow skiing and surfing. We've got better Mexican food (really), beef, and chili. Our beaches (excepting Galveston) are better. Our customer service is better. We're friendlier. We can buy your best beer and wine for less than you pay, plus we get smoking prices on Chilean wine, French wine, and Belgian Trappist beer.
You pretend to have been a republic (e.g., your state flag). We actually were an independent republic and reserve the right to become one again.
I believe we've now got more Fortune 500 companies. We've got the Dallas Cowboys (unfortunately that includes their owner, though he's really an Arkansas carpetbagger).
I could go on. Texas isn't perfect and it's less perfect than it was. However, it's far better than the once golden state.
East Texas is a better choice. More rain, but still semi-rural - everything east of Dallas suburbs to the Arkansas and Louisiana borders is still a good option.
“If you can move to Texas without bringing California with you then you will be an asset. If you bring Cali along to Texas you will be the curse that has afflicted Colorado.”
Can I bring a little Kern County along?
We do Ag and Oil as well as anyone can!
Rock Ribbed Conservatives, right here in Bakersfield.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.