I'm Happier With the Myth

[mrdreamjeans]

I’m in love with Texas, the myth, the ideal put out in the movie westerns of a certain age. I like the idea of cowboys and a code of honor, of aw-shucks hospitality, wide-open spaces, stubborn independence and strong character. I like rodeos and riding horseback, wearing a cowboy hat and boots, driving a pick-up, listening to Willie Nelson and George Strait on the radio and gustily singin’ along. I love to two-step...

I celebrate our pioneer history. I’ve read dozens of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey novels. I’m proud to reside in The Lone Star State when I’m not touring, particularly happy to live in Washington County, the birthplace of Texas. I like barbecue, spicy Tex-Mex food and County Fairs. I even like to brag about how Texas has the prettiest women (I’ve judged a beauty pageant or two:) and the most ruggedly handsome men. I love my family and friends who reside in Texas. For most Texans, the myth is their belief, symbolism takes precedence over reality.

The truth is Texas has a corner on lots of mind-boggling negatives: on crazies, inept politicians (at least giving most states a run for their money) and bad decisions. We have a statewide toll road system under construction, bulldozing our farm and ranch land willy-nilly; there’s no affordable mass transit other than buses in the cities; our politicians push tax cuts at the expense of childrens health; our environment/ climate is hot, humid and alarmingly polluted.

We allow Charter schools that siphon off diminished dollars for public education with little oversight and a court system that fills up its prisons with non-violent offenders and kills its prisoners at rate unmatched by any other state. Who out there thinks permitting concealed handguns and cutting tax dollars for law enforcement at the same time isn’t a recipe for disaster? Raise your hand.

I love being from Texas. But I am most happy to be a Texan when I’m living elsewhere ... like Seattle, New York or Europe where many people still think the whole state lives like the Ewings on “Dallas”. Unfortunately, the couple of years leading up to the war in Iraq and the present, have disabused most foreigners of that notion. I’m not ready to give up on Texas. I’m willing to work for her best interests; to be part of a solution to our problems; to effect change in the current political system and elect representatives that value ideas, creativity, statesmanship over partisan, mean-spirited politics. It’s going to take time. I may have to invest my time and energy at a distance at first. But I want the reality and the myth of Texas to meet somewhere in the middle and offer all Texans quality of life.

Texas Monthly magazine is, in my opinion, one of the finest publications in America. It’s a standard-bearer for in-depth articles; I value its editorial point of view, willingness to avoid dumbing down the hot button issues of the day. It exemplifies critical reporting and story-telling at its best. It’s highly entertaining too. In May, the magazine published an excerpt called “Where We Rank”. If you’re a proud Texan, according to these statistics, we’ve got a lot of work to do to get back to the head of the line.

Where we rank within the 50 states (random examples):

50th in percentage of the population with health insurance
50th in the number of high school graduates age 25 and over
50th in percentage of low-income children
50th in consumer credit score
50th in per capita spending on government employee wages and salaries
50th in affordability of homeowners insurance
50th in per capita spending on government administration
50th in affordability of residential electric bill

49th in Tax revenue raised per capita; per capita spending on state arts agencies;
total general expenditures per capita; per capita spending on water quality.

48th in per capita spending on parks and recreation; Mean Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores; Average Spending per child on child protection; percentage of workforce represented by a union.

47th in Amount of welfare and food-stamp benefits paid and percentage of poor who receive Medicaid; 46th in per capita spending on environmental protection, on mental health, on protection of open spaces (so much for the myth wide open spaces) and average hourly wages; 45th in per capita spending on public health; number of secondary teachers with degrees in the subject they teach; home ownership rate; 44th in number of pharmacists and percentage of eligible voters who are registered.

37th in Compliance with the Supreme Court decision declaring that unjustified institutionalization of a disabled person is discrimination. (A key fact given my own family’s battles with the state)

On the other end of the spectrum, Texas is:

15th in murder rate; 12th in obesity; 11th in percentage of low-income students in public schools and violent crime rate; 9th in the rate of infectious diseases per 100,000 people, the unemployment rate and number of alcohol-related deaths. We are 7th in poverty rate, 5th in the total crime rate; 4th in the percentage of children living in poverty; 3rd in percentage of the population that is malnourished. We are 2nd in sales tax dependence; percentage of the population that goes hungry; overall birth rate, teenage birth rate (God forbid you should teach kids about birth control) amount of exposure to ozone pollution, number of hazardous-chemical spills, number of inmates per 100,000 people and number of highway fatalities.

Drum roll please... We are 1st in:

Child population growth
Percentage of uninsured children
Amount of toxic and cancerous manufacturing emissions
Number of clean-water permit violations
Number of Environmental civil rights complaints
Per capita consumption of electricity
Number of job discrimination lawsuits filed
Number of deaths attributed to floods
NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS

You have to ask...Who’s minding the store?

I realize that this is a grim accounting of Texas’ ranking on important issues, but I do still think of my area of the state as a ”little bit of heaven”. (Afterall, we make Bluebell Ice Cream here as our main industry:) It’s going to take time to get my Texas, the Texas I love in myth and in reality, turned around; but I believe we can do it. I know there are thinking, caring folk out there who are willing to do it one vote at a time. After all, you’ve got to like a state which has folks like daltxfurry, woofytexan,eggwards, deebee and gaugetx living here, don’t you? Until then, (spoken in my best John Wayne voice), “I’m goin’ to wrestle me a grizzly and kiss me a handsome man”..well, I made that last part up...so sue me... I bet we’re not last in that....

Comments

[cpj.livejournal.com]

I'll have to agree with your reasons to love Texas. I like the sybolism, the romantic image, the rich history, etc, etc.

But the current reality of Texas leaves a little bit to be desired. If I thought that I could goto Texas and really have it all (great job, a horse, some decent land) I'd give it serious thought.

And for what it's worth, I'd offer to be that grizzly, or the handsome man.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! There ya go Grizzly Man:)!

I'm not sure about the job market. After all, my two careers, newpaper writing and entertaining, aren't known for their top pay in Texas:)

You can have a great horse. (We still have three alive... Pace, age 32; Callie, age 30 and Sandy, age 24.) You can still buy decent land live in an area of rolling hills and wildflowers in the Spring. I'm 90 minutes each way to Houston or Austin. TGRA is still active, particularly in Dallas/Ft Worth and Austin.

I think you'd work as a Texan, honorary or otherwise:) Big Hugs! Thanks for raising my spirits!

[cpj.livejournal.com]

No problem cowboy. I only wish there were more decent guys like you that I could hang up my spurs next to.