Now that our smarmy secessionist-in-chief Rick Perry has seeped onto the national presidential scene, I’m bracing for a dust-storm of diaries and comments about Texas, my current home state. Please note: I don’t consider myself a Texan. I’m a displaced New Englander living here for a while before moving back to the east coast.
Texas is not without charms, the heat, drought, fire ants, and self-righteous religious fundamentalists notwithstanding. The cost of living is very low, thanks to our governor turning a blind eye to our immense pool of cheap immigrant labor that keeps this “Texas miracle” alive. That plus our fortuitous geology has kept Texas out of the worst of the economic downturns. If you’re part of the middle class or the wealthy, you can do pretty well here. If you’re poor, elderly, or languishing in our prison system as a result of shoddy police work, well, your results may vary.
As illustrated by our poll below, we live where we live for many reasons. Many of us stay where we were raised. Some move for college, military deployment, jobs, or to be with their significant others, and settle far from their ancestral home. Some move from something, some move for something. Some are displaced due to natural disasters, economic setbacks, divorce, or job transfers. Some of us move to be near parents, children, and grandchildren. Some live on the road, with rare trips to their fixed-location “home”. Home is where you are at the moment.
Follow along below the little dust devil for more...
With that in mind, I’d like to suggest a simple rule of engagement on Texas bashing, recognizing that it will be entirely ignored in the coming months.
It’s not helpful to categorize everyone from a state or region with a broad brush. For instance, when there’s any type of natural disaster, we can expect a flood of comments to the effect that:
“[People from that state ]deserve to be hit by that [drought, hurricane, tornado, flood, wildfire] because they’re [a Red state, a bunch of rednecks, arrogant religious fundamentalists, uneducated morons, (insert your despised demographic here) ]”
What you’re saying in essence is:
“Because of where they live, they deserve to [lose their jobs, lose their homes, see their life savings wiped out, lose their livelihood, suffer injury or even death, or have their loved ones suffer these outcomes.]”
If you’ve got any sense of compassion, please think twice before throwing all residents of Texas or any other place under the bus. Trust me: we’ve suffered enough – politically, economically, and agriculturally. (For more on the impacts of our epic Texas drought, check out
Texas Drought Impacts).
There’s a reason why Rick Perry isn’t announcing his run for the White House here in the Lone Star State. We know him all too well, and he’s widely despised. He can’t risk having his pesky constituents show up at an event and heckling him. He’s well aware of our disdain, wearing it almost as a badge of honor, and reminding us that:
“I say that a prophet is generally not loved in their hometown. That’s both Biblical and practical.”
Feel free to heap your loathing on this
false prophet, but remember: we have plenty of good Progressive folks here who will be working day and night to derail his beatification.
12:36 PM PT: Thanks, everyone, for getting this onto the rec list and for your many wonderful comments.