Artwork by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
They say everything is bigger in Texas—the hats, the cars, the buildings, the population, the reputation—even the problems. This is the state that produced the larger-than-life personalities Willie Nelson, Matthew McConaughey, Larry McMurtry, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Buddy Holly—to name only a few. Texans have a lot to be proud of, but lately, they’ve gotten an unusually large amount of grief from a number of sources—most notably their own state government.
Times have been tough for Texas. Hurricane Nicholas is currently pounding their Gulf Coast. Last February, an unexpectedly harsh winter storm battered the state, causing widespread power shortages that left nearly four and a half million citizens without power for days. Water pipes burst in the extreme cold, adding to the chaos. The Texas power grid had been run—and mismanaged—by ERCOT, a private company whose ineptitude had led to over 100 deaths during the storm; the power grid had been handed over to them by the Texas statehouse a few years earlier.
And just week, the United States Supreme Court refused to block a newly minted and draconian Texas law that, among other measures, prohibits most abortions and even provides a “bounty” for citizens willing to sue any parties assisting a woman actively seeking to end her pregnancy. The law prohibits any abortion taking place after six weeks (before many women even know they’re pregnant), and because 85 to 90% of abortions take place after that period, the law in effect makes abortions in Texas illegal.
According to the New York Times (The New York Times, 9/01/2021), the Texas law deputizes citizens to sue anyone, even an Uber driver, connected with the abortion. Doctors, medical staff, counselors, family members, and friends would all be liable under the new law. Plaintiffs would not need to have any connection with parties to the abortion, live in Texas, or suffer injury from it, but would be entitled to collect $10,000 and legal fees should they win in court. A bounty
In their shocking failure to act on the bill, the Supreme Court majority incurred the wrath of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who stated that those justices who voted not to act were “burying their heads in the sand.” She wasn’t alone in these sentiments.
Numerous calls to boycott Texas businesses have popped up all over the country. The city of Portland, Oregon has threatened to cut all economic ties with Texas, a move that could result in a $35 million loss for the state. A number of high-powered Hollywood actors have refused to work in the state. Calls for musicians and entertainers to cancel all concert dates and boycott Texas venues have been widespread and strident.
This comes on the heels of two other new Texas laws. I guess troubles are bigger in Texas, too. As of September 1st, any Texas citizen eighteen and over, licensed or not, can legally carry a handgun in the Lone Star State. And if that weren’t enough, the legislature, after a prolonged battle with Democrats, enacted SB 1, a bill that significantly curtails voting access and tightens restrictions mail-in-voting and early voting. These regressive and draconian laws have been passed by the Republican State Senate and supported by Governor Greg Abbot.
These extremist policies do not seem to reflect the will of the good people of Texas. In an August 2021 University of Texas Public Opinion Poll (taken weeks before the abortion, handgun, and voting rights bills), over 53% of Texans found the Republican Party (and its policies) unfavorable—37% found it extremely unfavorable, a highly unusual result for a typically highly conservative state (UT Public Opinion Poll 8/2021).
Yet, even in the wake of condemnation by the American public, the business and medical communities, Texas Republicans soldier on with their racist, regressive, and misogynistic platforms. Even though women—especially poor women (and anyone who may try to assist them), business owners, tourist destinations, and medical professionals will suffer, Abbott and his cohorts do not care. They are guarding their right flanks, hoping these new laws will please the ultra-conservative right and thereby safeguard their campaigns from challenges in the primaries by far-right Trumpist Republicans.
Yet for every woman denied a right to choose, every innocent bystander shot by a yahoo with a legally procured handgun, and every voter of color denied the right to cast her ballot, will be another Texan hurt by the fallout from this far right legislation.
Patricia Arquette already dropped out of a movie scheduled to film in Texas. #BoycottTexas has encouraged citizens to boycott Texas businesses like 7-11, Dell, Michael’s, Frito-Lay, and American Airlines. An effective boycott could result in work slowdowns, layoffs, and dismissals in an economy already reeling from the after-effects of the COVID epidemic.
Most Texans do not want these laws. They do not want to be boycotted, shunned, and ridiculed. They don’t want to lose money. But because they are—in effect—ruled by a government that does not represent anyone except themselves, they will suffer. Texans (along with many other Americans) have been duped into voting a ruthless, selfish, and predatory group of politicians into positions of public trust—positions they have repeatedly violated to please their voters who nearly always compose only a minority of their constituencies.
The good people of Texas and other Republican-controlled states deserve better. They deserve to be represented. They deserve to be served. They deserve to be protected. Instead, Texas (with the assistance of zealots who have found their way onto the Supreme Court) has stripped its citizens of their constitutional rights, endangered their lives by enabling anyone to openly carry a pistol, and have made it increasingly more difficult for its citizens to exercise another constitutionally protected right—the right to vote.
Personally, I don’t want to make Texans suffer any further hardships, but if the only way to make their representatives take notice is to take our business elsewhere, so be it. And once the good people of Texas have the opportunity (curtailed though it may be) to exercise their rights to replace these stooges with compassionate and courageous leaders through the vote, they should do it.
A recent poll showed actor Matthew McConaughey handily defeating Governor Greg Abbott in a hypothetical Texas gubernatorial race. Granted, McConaughey has no experience in public service or politics, but he has demonstrated his regard for the people of Texas—and people everywhere—through his generous philanthropic foundations and collection of humanitarian awards.
The good people of Texas could do worse.
So, all right, all right, all right. Vote.