Recent travels have brought me into frequent contact with Texas and Texans. I've always loved the mystique surrounding the Lone Star State. As a boy I watched Westerns religiously and still do today. I've read the history of the Westward expansion and studied the history of raising cattle in America. Texas, of course, plays a significant role in all of those topics. But it is only recently that I have had so much exposure to the real Texas.
I've got to say...I'm impressed.
I like living in Michigan. Don't mis-understand. I like the weather (most of the time) and I love the lush woodlands, the marshes, and the Great Lakes. What strikes me about Texas, though, is the attitude.
I was recently talking to some business associates. I made the suggestion that perhaps we utilize some government resources available to us. The room got quiet and the group squirmed in their seats. Finally someone tactfully spoke up and said "Well, I know what the owner of our company will say. He'll say 'I'll close this shop permanently before I'll let the government run my business.'"
I laughed heartily at that.
I think that very statement encapsulates what endears me to the people of Texas. How much better off we would be if the people of the United States thought (to use JFK's popular phrase) not of what their country could do for them, but of what they could do for their country. And how satisfying to think of a government that empowered its people to lead and not pay politicians to live a life of extravagance. Unfortunately our country is in a state of decline. I believe much of that decline is a direct result of a lack of accountability. It has become our expectation that someone else is responsible for taking care of us. Yet deep in the heart of Texas I find much of the opposite viewpoint.
Take their gun laws for instance. The laws are much less restrictive than what we have in Michigan. In an informal poll I've been taking I have found that at least 75% of those I spoke to carry a fire arm. 75%! Each one believed that it was not only his or her right to bear arms, it was their responsibility. In the minds of those I talked to it is their responsibility to care for themselves and those they love. I have watched videos shot in other states where the elderly were brutally beaten, by standers gawking at the scene, and not a hand raised to help the victim. I somehow cannot see that scene unfolding in a state where most folks carry firearms and aren't afraid to use them.
Our forefathers sought to create a county that was united in the Independence of their respective states. Although in no way anarchists, they sought to limit the strength and over-arching dominance of a national government. Sadly, today we beg for the intervention of the Federal Government. If only we had listened to those who have gone before us. Instead we have recreated the intrusive government entity that they fled from so many years to go. Selfishly I look around and feel hemmed in. Unlike the founding fathers I don't know where else to go. Is there any undiscovered habitat in the world? I'm fiercely proud of our American heritage and I am profoundly disappointed in what we are fast becoming. My heritage is comprised of European immigrants and Native Americans. The need for freedom somehow flows in my blood. The continued growth and dominance of a central government strikes fear in my heart. Yet there is a glimmer of hope. Texas has talked of seceding the union. Hmmmm...there's something to think about.
Really, from the Austin music scene, the Dallas oil refineries, to the cattle ranches that dot the Texas landscape, the state has made a name for itself as being an example of "State's Rights" in the 21st century. Heck, if they do end up seceding from the union, they may find the population grow by one family.
Oh, and by the way, did I mention that Chuck Norris lives somewhere near Houston?
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