[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.