Ordinary Texans and the Establishment

The Disconnect Between Texans and Their Elected Officials

I believe that the author, Stephen L. Klineberg, struck a very unnoticeable cord with this article. From the very first quote, " A violent, lawless, backward state, a hang-'em-high kind of place that relishes the death penalty, that's obsessed with guns, anti-education, anti-science, anti-immigrant, anti-environment (quote is from the Houston Chronicle)", the writer draws you into a tale that is kind of hard to believe unless you live here. The Texas State government for all intent and purposes is ran by the Republican Party and they are able to push forward their ideas, even if those ideas are not a reflection of the state's population as a whole. Greg Abbot only received 2,796,547 of the 4,718,268 that showed up to vote out of the 13+ million people that are/were registered to vote. His views on Gun Control, Abortion, the Death Penalty, Immigration, and the Future Marijuana Policy do not reflect the growing change in Texas social culture. The two areas that this article focuses on are Dallas and Harris Counties, home to Dallas and Houston. Two of the largest cities in Texas( and America) who's population usually are more liberal and traditionally vote Democrat in both State and Federal Elections and how they both seem to be disconnected from the everyday running of the state. The article focuses on the situation that may also dissuade your common Texan from taking part in the voting process as well. The two issues that stick out to me the most are redistricting, also known as Gerrymandering and the Power of Money. These two thing have had a powerful impact on the State's voting process. Republicans have worked very hard in the last fifteen years alone to drive as many Democrats from State Office position as possible through the legal process and have been able to accomplish that goal with little to no resistance. The power of money speaks for itself. It has become ever so hard to compete in the political process if you do not have a lot of it or come from it. Republican seem to draw most of their constitutes from single issue topics, where most Democrats are trying to focus on multiple issues at once and the Republican base takes advantage of it. I hope that the trend continues and spreads out to the suburbs and rural areas of Texas and more Texans come out to vote so we do not find ourselves in our current situation in the the future.