[ramijames]

I'm an experienced product designer with 25+ years of experience. I've been doing a job search across the US.

I have three kids, two girls.

I will never take them to a place like Texas. It is anathema to my core values as a person and as a parent.

I'm shocked that a place like Texas became a draw for tech companies at all.

[Aloha]

I live in Texas.

The values exposed by our state government officials are often at odds with Texans generally - its particularly true for Urban Texans - but even with rural Texans there is a sizable disconnect (see the latest battle about school vouchers).

Don't get me wrong, a great many Texans believe in a certain 'good fences make good neighbors' kind of conservatism - even urban ones who are pretty socially liberal believe some flavor of this - its the overriding cultural value of the state.

The reasons government does not well reflect average Texans is because of some complex political factors - identity politics, single issue voters (abortion and guns) anti-partisanship, low voter turnout, and no citizens ballot initiatives. A majority of Texans are pro-weed legalization, pro-medicare expansion, and pro-choice.

In fact because of low voter turnout and anti-partisanship - the political destiny of the state is largely determined by the 10-12% of voters who show up to vote in the Republican primary - which unfortunately for us are the most extreme ~10% of the voter base. If 80% of Texans voted in every election, the state would be much more purple ideologically and politically - because thats the reality on the ground.

Will this change? I think so, I think when it does it'll change relatively rapidly - I just dont know when it's going to change.

[trilbyglens]

What you are describing is a dynamic that has existed in Texas since the oil boom. I'm also from Texas, and this sort of dominance by a small group of old white men exists at all political levels of scale. It's a place run by "good ole boys" and always has been. Maybe it will change but the circles of power and influence here are very small and very closed to outsiders. It's not a culture that values democracy very highly at all.

And to the point the op made about not wanting to bring his girls here, what the majority believe is irrelevant as the laws are made by the small cabal of religious right-wing authoritarians.

[Aloha]

I believe the runway for that is running out, for a couple of reasons. But I want to preface this with something, while rural Texas will remain Ruby Red no matter for the time being, but suburban voters - in particular suburban women, are needed to keep the party in control of statewide offices - without them, the math doesn't work.

Republicans continuing focus on restricting abortion rights - while Texans are culturally on the conservative side, the outright ban, followed by continuing inflexibility (more like unwavering support to the hard right evangelical base) on the issue, is damaging the party in the suburban areas it must carry to carry statewide office.

The Paxton impeachment trial fundamentally exposed the good ol' boy network in Austin - laid it bare to voters across the state. While this network pre-dates RPT control of the lege - I believe on some level it deprives the Republican Party of whatever moral authority it could (and did) claim - also, no matter how the Senate voted, if you watched the trial in depth, Paxton came off with at least a whiff of corruption about him - I believe this also damages the party among suburban voters.

Trump is another factor, and he's generally repellant to college educated suburban voters, particularly college educated suburban voters - also Trump on the ballot (and there is basically zero change he will not be) will juice Democratic turnout.

The final nail in the coffin is demographic change - this one to me is not quite as clear as some pundits think - but the youth are generally more liberal socially than their parents are - and further left economically no matter their social alignment - this also bodes to a sea change coming - and is part of what is driving the political realignment we're seeing - I just dont know the particulars yet, or how its going to shake out - but the realignment that is coming is on the scale of what happened when FDR or Reagan appeared on the scene - an upending of what came before. This event won't really finish until Trump dies - he's the only glue holding together a really.. unstable coalition of voters, until then, we wait.

In the end, I want to implore all Texans to vote and participate in politics, run for office, vote like your life depended on it, implore those around you to vote - not just at the general, but in the primaries too - the politics in the state are shit because not enough voters pick the candidates - which leads to shitty candidates, and then not enough people show up to vote in the general, which leads to those shitty candidates making it into office.

Texas is a great place, culturally, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest and most vibrant in the nation. We can make this a better place - change the status quo - no, better doesn't mean some 'progressive' paradise - but it need not be like this, we can have better and frankly we deserve better from our state government than this.

[j4yav]

As an observer from afar it seems like the US is sorting itself into different places with different core values, so presumably whichever group finds your values anathema to theirs likes it there.

[jemmyw]

As an outside observer who is a little closer to it I think that's not really the dynamic. The states that are deeply conservative have a significant minority who are not conservative. The spread of conservative and liberal views also seems much much wider than you'd think - i.e. many conservative republican voters I've met seem to have little interest in LGBT issues at all or are supportive. They're fiscally conservative. And many people who are otherwise liberal do want to see less immigration.

[rapatel0]

Austin is not super conservative. It's actually pretty liberal.

Source: I live in austin

[tester756]

>It is anathema to my core values as a person and as a parent.

What does it mean? (Im not from US)

[TOMDM]

They likely believe that the more conservative political atmosphere in Texas is an unsuitable place to raise children, especially young girls.

[tester756]

I don't understand

How things can differ so hard that you decide that place is unsuitable to raise children?

[TOMDM]

In the US, states are afforded a lot of leeway to differ legally from each other.

The rights and restrictions you see in one state can differ wildly from the next. This allows for drastically different cultures to pop up.

There is still a lot of shared US culture despite this.

[Murfalo]

Isn't Austin a very left-leaning city? Though, to be fair, the people I know in Austin are deeply conservative Texas natives who hate the new atmosphere...

Edit: I'm missing the point, they said Texas, not Austin.

[mondocat]

They're all left-leaning cities, but the Gerrymandering is strong in Austin, which divides it into four Congressional districts: the 10th, 21st, 25th and 35th.

[eszed]

Just a guess:

Texas Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Court-Approved Abortion https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/us/texas-abortion-court-k...

[broken-kebab]

Why? I'm not American at all, but have a friend who moved there for a job (with wife, and a daughter), and he seems to be doing fine with everything except climate

[JoeAltmaier]

Until his daughter marries and has children. If something goes wrong, they'll let her daughter die before they give medical aid. If she goes somewhere else to get medical aid, they'll jail her on her return.

That's the concern.

[chkaloon]

This is exactly it. Doesn't matter how liberal or "hip" Austin is. It's the state-level that's bad.

I have two daughters child-bearing age, and I live in Wisconsin. Same issue. Thankfully one has moved to Oregon. The other is still here. She is on birth control, but is taking a risk as there is a family history of difficult pregnancies.

[broken-kebab]

You're talking about abortion then? My friend is a Catholic, so I'm not sure he approves abortions anyway. Also, are you sure your statement is not exaggerated? IANAL, but superficial googling shows that preserving life, and bodily functions impairment is under exemptions.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/24/texas-abortion-law-a...

But in any case, this looks like a very activist thing. In general economy always beats this kind of argument. Objectively, there are no cases where workforce migration happened to an abortion-approving areas with less opportunities.

[belltaco]

The 'exemptions' are playing out like this in a case:

https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-ban-supreme-court-...

Earlier:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pregnant-texas-woman-says-...

Imagine being someone going through that, and then having to deal with this nonsense.

[JoeAltmaier]

There it is, the conservative game, recast everything as their hot-button issue and claim you're their enemy and all wrong.

No, I meant health care. And I meant, jailed for seeking it.

Be as superficial as you like, if it helps you sleep at night. Some of us have real concerns at the extremism sweeping the country.

[hollerith]

>Some of us have real concerns at the extremism sweeping the country.

The country under discussion has always had a large population opposed to abortion. Gradual changes to the Supreme Court have given that population more influence.

[JoeAltmaier]

Redefined 'abortion' to mean something particular to a dogma. To score their imaginary points with their imaginary being. And to control women.

[hollerith]

What does he not like about the climate? Is it too cold in winter?

[nunez]

Why? I find living in Texas (Houston) to be quite lovely, despite disagreeing with the politics.

[belltaco]

It's nice until it starts affecting you.

https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-ban-supreme-court-...

Better not get into that mess to begin with, if possible.

[nunez]

Yeah but that's true regardless of where you live.

[pavlov]

There have always been reactionary and libertarian streaks in Silicon Valley. Charismatic figures like Larry Ellison, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk embody different configurations along these dimensions.

[JohnFen]

Texas actively scares me. I hate it when I have to go there.

[gafage]

And there must be people who feel exactly the opposite.

As long as there are options then we can all be happy. I guess.

[rewmie]

> As long as there are options then we can all be happy. I guess.

Oppressing others is really not about options. It's one thing to live your life according to your own beliefs and principles, but it's an entirely different thing to feel entitled to selectively impose them onto everyone around you.