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Lived here 27 years (including public school) and never heard of or seen this Texas pledge.
Must just be in some isolated school districts or something.
It's a law from 2003. My kids say the Texas Pledge, but I have noticed when they state both pledges at after-school events with parents present, the parents are silent when the Texas pledge is said. We just don't know it. The only adults to say it are teachers. It's silly, but harmless. Those pledges don't really mean anything since people are compelled to say them.
yea texas is such a bad place but everyone wants to move here to find a job and apparent low cost of living.
The contradictions of the media. Most national media reflects the biases of the costal tastes; NYC and coastal CA. They view Texas as bastion of everything they stand for some odd reason meanwhile most people think practically and move to Texas and realize the media is full of bull.
1. No state income tax! HUGE BONUS but only if your working ie not retired.
2. Relative low cost of living. Food, gas, car registration etc. Home prices are affordable in areas not "sought after" like N. Dallas, Austin etc.
3. FREEDOM. You are not, for the most part, overregulated on everything you do. Example: open carry just passed. Try doing that in CA or NY.
CONS:
1. WEATHER WEATHER WEATHER. It frankly sucks. Floods, hail (my car was destroyed 3 weeks ago), hurricanes in SE Texas (no power for over two weeks). Ice storms in DFW shut down the city. Hot, humid and downright cold in the winter. You like rain? It feels like it hasn't stopped raining in the last two years. 2015 was the wettest year in the history of Texas since they started keeping track of such things in the early 1800s. Once a pattern settles in, it can literally take years to get rid of. It's not like you endure a bad system and then go back to a good baseline. The entire baseline weather here changes, sometimes for years. Before Noah's flood, they had years of drought here.
My wife was almost hit by lightning two years ago. It did hit our house and did almost $7000 in damage to electronics. The weather in Texas is in one word .....violent. I read that out of all the states, Texas has more declared natural disasters than any other state in the country. Think about that for a minute before you decide to move here. By the way, my family and I have been in our tornado shelter four times over the last 2 1/2 months when the sirens went off. The Rowlett tornado a few months ago missed my worksite by less than 10 miles. And our employee had her house utterly destroyed by it.
2. Property taxes are terrible!
Property owners take it in the shorts to make up for no state income tax. If you plan on retiring in Texas, good luck. Consider buying something very inexpensive or rent. My house worth 325,000 has an annual property rate of $8200 per year. And it just went up another $400 for 2016. My property tax payment is more than some people's rent. And property tax never goes away… And we live in a very middle-class home. Nothing special.
3. Scenery, there are no mountains in Texas, there are a few small hills in and around the Austin area. Other than that it's flat as a pancake. If you are even remotely interested in seeing large hills or mountains, forget about it. Texas is about as bland as a state comes. OK at least it's not as bad as Oklahoma.
Why do we still live here? Basically my wife and I started a business here and it became exceedingly hard to separate ourselves from that business. However the business is now sold and we are looking very very hard at other areas in the country. I just cannot see us enduring another 30 years of this weather.
1. No state income tax! HUGE BONUS but only if your working ie not retired.
2. Relative low cost of living. Food, gas, car registration etc. Home prices are affordable in areas not "sought after" like N. Dallas, Austin etc.
3. FREEDOM. You are not, for the most part, overregulated on everything you do. Example: open carry just passed. Try doing that in CA or NY.
CONS:
1. WEATHER WEATHER WEATHER. It frankly sucks. Floods, hail (my car was destroyed 3 weeks ago), hurricanes in SE Texas (no power for over two weeks). Ice storms in DFW shut down the city. Hot, humid and downright cold in the winter. You like rain? It feels like it hasn't stopped raining in the last two years. 2015 was the wettest year in the history of Texas since they started keeping track of such things in the early 1800s. Once a pattern settles in, it can literally take years to get rid of. It's not like you endure a bad system and then go back to a good baseline. The entire baseline weather here changes, sometimes for years. Before Noah's flood, they had years of drought here.
My wife was almost hit by lightning two years ago. It did hit our house and did almost $7000 in damage to electronics. The weather in Texas is in one word .....violent. I read that out of all the states, Texas has more declared natural disasters than any other state in the country. Think about that for a minute before you decide to move here. By the way, my family and I have been in our tornado shelter four times over the last 2 1/2 months when the sirens went off. The Rowlett tornado a few months ago missed my worksite by less than 10 miles. And our employee had her house utterly destroyed by it.
2. Property taxes are terrible!
Property owners take it in the shorts to make up for no state income tax. If you plan on retiring in Texas, good luck. Consider buying something very inexpensive or rent. My house worth 325,000 has an annual property rate of $8200 per year. And it just went up another $400 for 2016. My property tax payment is more than some people's rent. And property tax never goes away… And we live in a very middle-class home. Nothing special.
3. Scenery, there are no mountains in Texas, there are a few small hills in and around the Austin area. Other than that it's flat as a pancake. If you are even remotely interested in seeing large hills or mountains, forget about it. Texas is about as bland as a state comes. OK at least it's not as bad as Oklahoma.
Why do we still live here? Basically my wife and I started a business here and it became exceedingly hard to separate ourselves from that business. However the business is now sold and we are looking very very hard at other areas in the country. I just cannot see us enduring another 30 years of this weather.
There are mountains in Far West Texas.I am just pointing that out but I enjoyed reading your information about living in Texas.Granted, our mountains are a lot shorter than say Colorado or even New Mexico but they are mountains lol.Good post.
1. No state income tax! HUGE BONUS but only if your working ie not retired.
2. Relative low cost of living. Food, gas, car registration etc. Home prices are affordable in areas not "sought after" like N. Dallas, Austin etc.
3. FREEDOM. You are not, for the most part, overregulated on everything you do. Example: open carry just passed. Try doing that in CA or NY.
CONS:
1. WEATHER WEATHER WEATHER. It frankly sucks. Floods, hail (my car was destroyed 3 weeks ago), hurricanes in SE Texas (no power for over two weeks). Ice storms in DFW shut down the city. Hot, humid and downright cold in the winter. You like rain? It feels like it hasn't stopped raining in the last two years. 2015 was the wettest year in the history of Texas since they started keeping track of such things in the early 1800s. Once a pattern settles in, it can literally take years to get rid of. It's not like you endure a bad system and then go back to a good baseline. The entire baseline weather here changes, sometimes for years. Before Noah's flood, they had years of drought here.
My wife was almost hit by lightning two years ago. It did hit our house and did almost $7000 in damage to electronics. The weather in Texas is in one word .....violent. I read that out of all the states, Texas has more declared natural disasters than any other state in the country. Think about that for a minute before you decide to move here. By the way, my family and I have been in our tornado shelter four times over the last 2 1/2 months when the sirens went off. The Rowlett tornado a few months ago missed my worksite by less than 10 miles. And our employee had her house utterly destroyed by it.
2. Property taxes are terrible!
Property owners take it in the shorts to make up for no state income tax. If you plan on retiring in Texas, good luck. Consider buying something very inexpensive or rent. My house worth 325,000 has an annual property rate of $8200 per year. And it just went up another $400 for 2016. My property tax payment is more than some people's rent. And property tax never goes away… And we live in a very middle-class home. Nothing special.
3. Scenery, there are no mountains in Texas, there are a few small hills in and around the Austin area. Other than that it's flat as a pancake. If you are even remotely interested in seeing large hills or mountains, forget about it. Texas is about as bland as a state comes. OK at least it's not as bad as Oklahoma.
Why do we still live here? Basically my wife and I started a business here and it became exceedingly hard to separate ourselves from that business. However the business is now sold and we are looking very very hard at other areas in the country. I just cannot see us enduring another 30 years of this weather.
So let me get this straight, You've lived in Texas for 19 years and don't realize that Texas has over 2,000 mountains? Not small or big hills but actual mountains in the western part of the state. Even then East Texas is full of rolling hills and piney woods far from being a flat pancake terrain. Also the Hill Country is far from flat and has more then a "few" small hills in HILL COUNTRY.
Maybe you should have used those 19 years you lived here to hmmmmmmm ya know venture outside of your area a little more. Sounds like you reside in North Texas near the Oklahoma border.
For me, I've always been turned off by the bragging nature of Texas. When I moved here, I was shocked to hear that there is an actual "Texas Pledge" that is almost identical to the National pledge of allegiance, and it gets said every day at school. It's just silly. And the Texas flag is on everything. In California, and most states, residents have only a vague idea of what their flag looks like, and most don't have state pledges. I mean what will my kids do if Texas declares independence and they've been pledging allegiance to TX AND to the U.S.?
I like living Texas quite a bit now, but I never like bragging or arrogance and wish TX would be a little more humble.
Texans do have a certain arrogance about them(as do I) but I think when you come from states and cities with a very larger then life reputation you tend to be a bit braggadocios and arrogant about where you come from. Texas is probably the most polarizing state in America, so polarizing regions tend to be like that. New Yorkers are prideful about they're city and will let anyone know how great NYC is. New Orleans natives are the same way, along with people from Detroit and Chicago. Californians are like that as well, they just do it in a more laid back manner(unless they're in Austin lol). And sorry Texans will never be that humble, but atleast Texans are on they're best behavior and not pushy when they represent the state outside of the state. New Yorkers here in Atlanta are some of the pushiest transplants I've ran across, lol.
Californians are like that as well, they just do it in a more laid back manner(unless they're in Austin lol).
Californians act laid back when touting their state. It's sort of a smarmy smirky "yeah sure, buddy" kind of attitude when I tell Californians that Texas is a really good developed state.
That is a big struggle for any southerner trying to make it on the coasts. There will always be a prejudgment by them until they hear you recant all the things they find deplorable about the south. Once you show them that you're actually like them (liberal, lax morals, less religious) then you will fit in. It's made worse for Texans because we take most of the brunt of any distaste of the South by being the loudest and proudest of the bunch.
Here in LA I've had the usual run ins with co-workers about Texas and the south in general. Their preconceived notions are all off and they only respect Austin. Only people that I've met that give any credence to the other cities in Texas (such as Dallas and Houston) are African Americans, who actually care little about visiting the hipster kingdom of Austin.
So yes, there is the initial cautious approach coastal folk have of southerners in general but Texans most of all. They think they have to feel you out, vet you to see you're not an Alex Jones type or a Yosemite Sam. Once you've proven to them (or cleverly hidden your true views) that you're not proud to be Texan then you're in. You also have to be amazed at everything coastal cities offer. I mean just think it's the latest and greatest thing. You have to act as though they don't have any of things they enjoy in coastal cities back home. They won't believe you if you say they do or think it's somehow out of spite.
See this is my problem and why I will never move to California. I don't owe anyone any sort of explanation of my belief system. What I owe them is to treat people like I want to be treated. Period. If that's not enough for them, then that's their problem, not mine.
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