Is Texas really as conservative/narrow-minded as people say it is? (Howe: job market, new construction)

[ReppingDFW]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

PLEASE don't judge Texas by Rick Perry. Of all the things he's done to Texas (and they are legion, mostly in service of Rick Perry), that would be the worst.

Well, he has been elected multiple times by a majority of Texas voters. If he chooses to run in 2014, he will be elected again.

[Sunderpig2]

Originally Posted by savanite

The massive migration to Texas indicates it is what Americans aspire to and where they aspire to be.

The "massive" migration is mostly from south of the border. Texans largely welcome illegal aliens with open arms. The state is working backwards towards 1835, and will eventually revert back to being Mexican-run, even if technically still part of the US. There's nothing there to aspire to, or be inspired by, unless you're from south of the border. Only they benefit from all of this...

[savanite]

Originally Posted by Sunderpig

The "massive" migration is mostly from south of the border. Texans largely welcome illegal aliens with open arms. The state is working backwards towards 1835, and will eventually revert back to being Mexican-run, even if technically still part of the US. There's nothing there to aspire to, or be inspired by, unless you're from south of the border. Only they benefit from all of this...

Well, the portion that is from north of the border establishes Texas as the center of gravity of the US.

When people decide to move, they go to where they aspire to... Texas.

Well, the place that Americans aspire to is the place that Mexicans aspire to, and for the same reasons. Why should a Mexican migrant want to go to a backward and declining part of the US? Obviously he wants to go to the best part of North America.

Actually the portion from south of the border is the modern equivalent to the masses of immigrants that filled the Northeast US in the early 20th century. But the Northeast is no longer the center of the US. Now, the center of the US and the focus of international migration is Texas.

[PanTerra]

Some of my best friends are liberals.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by ReppingDFW

Well, he has been elected multiple times by a majority of Texas voters. If he chooses to run in 2014, he will be elected again.

Just like the majority of Americans voted Bush in '04, and we all know this ENTIRE country isn't Conservative Republican.

[hazergore1198]

Conservative doesn't mean narrow minded, necessarily. There are plenty of very narrow minded liberals. Don't make judgement calls on entire groups of people. Over the years I've gone from a moderate conservative to a hardcore socialist liberal to now a social liberal/economic conservative, and I've spent my time in every crowd. I've learned that most people are narrow minded, regardless of their political persuasions. Although one thing I've noticed is that liberals tend to react to those who disagree with them with much more vitriol and hatred than conservatives do. I have a good gay friend who is also a Republican who says he takes far more flak from the liberal gay community for being Republican than from the Republican community for being gay (actually he has almost NEVER been criticized for being gay by Republicans). I find I can talk to my conservative friends quite comfortably about my socially liberal views, and they are always nice to me in discussing it. I've even convinced one of my conservative friends that marijuana needs to be legalized, and they in turn joined LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) . My liberal friends? I cannot even discuss my economically conservative views with them without them becoming very angry and emotional, so we don't even discuss politics anymore.
Nobody these days wants to actually understand other people. They just assume that anyone who disagrees with them is an idiot, a behavior that I find alarming.

[ReppingDFW]

Originally Posted by JJG

Just like the majority of Americans voted Bush in '04, and we all know this ENTIRE country isn't Conservative Republican.

Look at the political party power in the Texas Legislature if you're unconvinced. You can't say with a straight face that Texas is anything but a very conservative state,

[JJG]

Originally Posted by ReppingDFW

Look at the political party power in the Texas Legislature if you're unconvinced. You can't say with a straight face that Texas is anything but a very conservative state,

Very conservative is an overstatement. Yes, there are several people in this state who will vote Romney over Obama this November, but this is NOT Mississippi. This is NOT Utah. This isn't Wyoming or Alabama, or Oklahoma, or Idaho. There's more diversity in thought in this state than some people want to acknowledge.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by ReppingDFW

Well, he has been elected multiple times by a majority of Texas voters. If he chooses to run in 2014, he will be elected again.

I can't believe there's no one capable of mounting a potentially successful challenge to Perry in the Republican primary; and at some point it's also implausible that a moderate "blue dog" Democrat with a good amount of personality and Texas street cred would be unelectable in a race against Perry.

When I was a teenager in Lubbock, the mom of one of my friends made an ironically astute statement when she said, "Oh. there's plenty of liberals in Texas -- they just can't manage to elect anyone." That was when Sissy Farenthold was running for the governor slot in the Democratic primary and the winner of the Democratic primary was invariably the winner of the general election (and when governors were still serving two year terms). Actually, though, my friend's mom wasn't quite accurate about this, as Texas had elected a strongly progressive senator in Ralph Yarborough a few years before that -- he did only serve a single term in the US Senate, however). I think the bottom line is that there actually are many left-leaning, progressive and social liberal types in Texas, but they fail to prevail at the polls in statewide elections because they are still a minority of the overall Texas electorate. They can win some local offices in urban locations and some places in the state legislature as well as in some US congressional districts, again in various urban-based districts. They generally have been unable to prevail in elections for statewide office, US Senate races, and in state legislative districts outside the most liberal urban areas.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by savanite

Well, the place that Americans aspire to is the place that Mexicans aspire to, and for the same reasons. Why should a Mexican migrant want to go to a backward and declining part of the US? Obviously he wants to go to the best part of North America.

Thats actually factually inaccurate. California (since I can tell thats the state you're referring to) attracts many, many more international immigrants than Texas does both from Latin America, Asia, and Europe. The only area of the globe that Texas beats out California is Africa.

To put it in perspective, the Houston area gained 7,800 legal immigrants from Mexico in 2011, the Dallas/Fort Worth area gained 7,600 legal immigrants from Mexico. Los Angeles/Orange County/Riverside area gained 22,000. San Diego gained 7,000 and the Bay Area gained 5,400.