Rand Paul is not right. People on this forum don't know what the Texas State Republican Party is doing and the mindset of Texans when they vote and Rand Paul doesn't know, either. To know what happens in Texas takes someone who was here, worked in the party, when the change happened from Democrat to Republican and stayed that way as it now is, and someone who has studied voting patterns in Texas and Rand Paul has not, but I have.
First, the state party has and is opening offices in areas that are predominately Spanish speaking. This takes money and the party is spending it to get this done. If you open an office, people will come. I've seen it happen.
Next, the time the state turned totally Republican was the year George Bush was elected governor and it's been that way since then. All state offices, (could be a Democrat judge some where), are held by Republicans. The Texas House and Senate have a majority of Republicans. There are usually more Libertarian candidates on a ballot than Democrats.
Historically, in Texas, Democrat numbers are low in a non-presidential election. Democrats know who the president is, but not many know who their state and federal representatives are, so they tend to not vote in a non-presidential year. I studied Texas election numbers for ten years so I know that trend is correct.
Republicans tend to vote at any and every election, presidential year or not. That gives us an edge over Democrats in non-presidential years of which this is one.
Republicans in Texas want to do their own thing and not be bothered by government. As long as Republicans are in office they are satisfied. There may be bumps in the road as to which Republican is in office, but any Republican is better than a Democrat. A Democrat who tries to be a Republican is found out early - “we don't like no liberal Democrat posing as a Republican - it ain't to our liking.”
You can argue the fine points of who is more of a liberal Republican and who is more a conservative Republican based on “your” definition of both, but Texas is a conservative state and it is staying that way and with the crap the sorry, Marxist, Muslim president is pulling, that pushes Texas into an even more public conservative state.
I want to explain why Austin is a liberal city. For generations upon generations, Texas was a Democrat state - there were no Republicans to make any waves. Before we became a Republican state, I was invited to join a Democrat special group of people in Dallas and I lived in a suburb of Dallas. The inviting person was a lawyer and he said we call it a Democrat group but it is a conservative group trying to turn this state Republican. They were hiding in plain sight as Democrats so they wouldn't cause trouble for themselves in their various jobs and with liberals they knew. This was the beginning, the under current that turned this state conservative.
Back to Austin: With the background above, you can see the state was solid Democrat. These generations of Democrats lived and still do, live in Austin. Democrat office holders and the staff of every agency, were Democrats and they lived in Austin. Their offspring still live there and their next generation will live there. So, Austin is full of those thousands of Democrats descended from the earlier generations. Austin has never, ever, been Republican and that's why. No other city in Texas is like that.
Now, I want to clarify guns in Texas. Guns are not political in Texas. Most every adult Democrat will have a gun, or more than one and they aren't going to give them up anymore than Republicans would give them up. Texas is really, really, big, and guns have been necessary in Texas since the first “Texican” came here.
Ranches were hundreds of acres and thousands of acres, and that land was controlled by guns out of necessity. Right now, wild hogs are everywhere and it's open season on them every day of the year and bless you for killing one or more.
A few months ago, I was on a man's property and he had exotic trees and vines and tropical fruit trees and wild hogs came in there the night before I saw that, and the ground was rooted up and big depressions were in the ground and lower growing tropical plants were destroyed. A wild hog will charge you and kill you. A child wouldn't stand a chance with a wild hog.
God Bless Texas
Thank YOU, so much, dearest, beautiful Marcella.
YOU KNOW Texas, unlike out of stater’s, including me.
GOD BLESS TEXAS and God bless and keep you.
I think we could round up a few FReepers for some hog depredation, if needed.
Right on, Marcella!! Texas is not a red state because it’s Republican. It’s a red state because it’s chock full of red blooded, gun toting, conservative Christian Texans!!
God bless TEXAS!!