
America’s Future Is Texas - peterkshultz
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/americas-future-is-texas
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desdiv
>For more than a century, Texas was under Democratic rule. The state was
always culturally conservative, religious, and militaristic, but a strain of
pragmatism kept it from being fully swept up in racism and right-wing
ideology.

Before the Democratic Party and Republican Party swapped platforms in the 60s
and 70s, the Democrats were the super racist ones.

From
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas#Politics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas#Politics):

>In the 1870s, white Democrats wrested power back in the state legislature
from the biracial coalition at the end of Reconstruction. In the early 20th
century, the legislature passed bills to impose poll taxes, followed by white
primaries; these measures effectively disfranchised most blacks, poor whites
and Mexican Americans. In the 1890s, 100,000 blacks voted in the state; by
1906, only 5,000 could vote. As a result, the Democratic Party dominated Texas
politics from the turn of the century, imposing racial segregation and white
supremacy.

That sure sounds like "fully swept up in racism and right-wing ideology" to
me.

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nilkn
I'm glad someone else picked up on this. That line is completely misinformed
and is in fact almost propaganda.

~~~
akhilcacharya
People like Ralph Yarborough or even Lloyd Bentsen would never be elected
statewide in Texas today.

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ryanmarsh
Dan Patrick as fundamentalist Christian, LOL when I was a little guy I recall
him being referred to by the other men in the party as a skirt chaser, which
of course I had to request an explanation of.

(Source: I grew up in Harris County republican politics)

~~~
smt88
Many fundamentalist Christians seem to have been caught in their hypocrisy,
whether it be embezzling, chasing women, or (seemingly more often) chasing
men.

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dogruck
I recommend Caro's books on LBJ. Numerous stories about blatant corruption in
Texas politics.

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Aloha
This is an incredibly long, but well written piece.

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frozenport
Took almost an hour to read but was worth it. What I don't understand here is
why this kind of disproportionately conservative grid lock, and cultural
baiting is the future of American poltics?

It looked like Texas was unique in the ability for conservatives to hold sway
in what the author leads us to understand is a diverse state.

~~~
wavefunction
Texas is heavily gerrymandered, and even many of the Democrats who do run for
or hold office are relatively conservative compared to some parts of the
country.

~~~
tyingq
It's not just gerrymandering. Voter turnout for minorities, particularly
Hispanics, is very low.

~~~
smt88
This is partially because Republicans have succeeded at passing many voter
suppression laws in Texas. It has some of the country's worst.

A sincere attempt giving all Americans a vote would allow voting by mail,
automatically register anyone with a driver's license, extend early voting,
and make election day a national holiday.

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Simulacra
An exceptionally well written piece on Texas and politics. Fairly reported and
even. Well done.

