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I'm afraid the GOP in Texas is hurting itself on two issues (sorry, probably the wrong thread):

1)Getting rid of the state lottery - It's great and all, and I support that, *BUT* unless you provide a real solution to making up that revenue, that doesn't involve new taxes, there is no point. This also plays into the state income tax crowd

2)Getting rid of bilingual education : Sounds great, english only, etc. but just in the Austin area alone, we have a 100,000 people that can't speak english. If the kids of those 100,000 people in my area (and I know it's much much higher in south Texas and the Houston area) don't have a good way of learning english, they'll not make it through school, and will end up dropping out and end up getting on some sort of public assistance, which means my taxes will go up in some way, shape, or form.

Yeah, yeah, I'm cold-hearted and care only about keeping my taxes down. I support much of what the platform calls for, but some of these planks were either crafted with no thought in the end-results, or the people crafting them aren't from Texas, or haven't lived here long and are from the north.

Putting aside results/solutions, let's look at elections. A part of the Texas GOP really seemed anti-Hispanic. Those people could hurt Conservatives in Texas for years to come. Yeah, I'm being cold-hearted and just seeing Hispanics as numbers at the polls now, but let's face it - GWB was able to win, in part, to wooing Hispanic voters. Maybe they weren't that large of a chunk of voters, but they helped. If those Hispanics that share the same Conservative/religious values that the rest of us share, feel like we see no place for them on the right side, they'll vote for the dems, and that just means more votes will have to be made up elsewhere, and that will especially impact local districts.

Sorry for rambling. It just took us so long to get GOPs/Conservatives in power in Texas, and I don't want it discarded because of a few people or groups of people.

The "bilingual education" issue doesn't have anything to do with teaching or not teaching people to speak English; rather, it has to do with teaching children in a language (Spanish) based upon their last name or physical appearance.
This approach has a long history of not "main-streaming" the hispanics, and is perhaps responsible for there being such a large number of folks in the Austin area who don't speak English.

English IS our language, and the sooner these immigrants figure that out, the better off they'll be. If they can't, well, the border works both ways.

You were NOT rambling. This is an appropriate location for such response. I will try to answer these one at a time.

1)Getting rid of the state lottery - It's great and all, and I support that, *BUT* unless you provide a real solution to making up that revenue, that doesn't involve new taxes, there is no point. This also plays into the state income tax crowd

The pro-income tax crowd loves the state lottery. It would not be in-place of but an addition to. Lotteries are a terrible way to fund education (btw it doesn't even do that). There is a real solution, it is called installation of competition (i.e. private school, home school, charter school, parental choice of public school, etc.) that doesn't cost $$. I am very anti-lottery and discourage anyone who will listen from playing it.

2)Getting rid of bilingual education : Sounds great, english only, etc. but just in the Austin area alone, we have a 100,000 people that can't speak english. If the kids of those 100,000 people in my area (and I know it's much much higher in south Texas and the Houston area) don't have a good way of learning english, they'll not make it through school, and will end up dropping out and end up getting on some sort of public assistance, which means my taxes will go up in some way, shape, or form.

The univeral language of business is ENGLISH. I work with Italian pressure vessel fabricators and all business correspondence is in ENGLISH (even between them and their foreign customers). If any person goes to another country, they need to learn the native tongue. Sounds cruel but that's life. Move to France, they DEMAND you speak French. Move to Mexico (except in vacation hot spots) and they DEMAND you speak Spanish.

Yeah, yeah, I'm cold-hearted and care only about keeping my taxes down. I support much of what the platform calls for, but some of these planks were either crafted with no thought in the end-results, or the people crafting them aren't from Texas, or haven't lived here long and are from the north.

Get a copy of the final resolutions and study them. Next election cycle, prepare the changes you want. Make noise to your SREC and get on committees. Get involved and don't get discouraged if/when obstacles appear.

Putting aside results/solutions, let's look at elections. A part of the Texas GOP really seemed anti-Hispanic. Those people could hurt Conservatives in Texas for years to come. Yeah, I'm being cold-hearted and just seeing Hispanics as numbers at the polls now, but let's face it - GWB was able to win, in part, to wooing Hispanic voters. Maybe they weren't that large of a chunk of voters, but they helped. If those Hispanics that share the same Conservative/religious values that the rest of us share, feel like we see no place for them on the right side, they'll vote for the dems, and that just means more votes will have to be made up elsewhere, and that will especially impact local districts.

Which part are you referring to? Probably need more specifics to comment properly, but I have suspicion you are falling for the democrats lies on this.