LOL!
Posted on 08/27/2011 9:04:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
I’m tempted to respond, but being called stupid by someone in Minnesota is like being called fat by Michael Moore. We’re doing just fine down here, and while comedians might occasionally run for office in Texas, we’re not stupid enough to actually elect them.
I mentioned to someone last night that I voted for Perry twice for governor (because I had no other choice), and they turned around and asked me if I'd voted for Kinky.
Made me wonder if someone's kid hadn't accessed their FR account.
Let's go in chronological order.
I happen to have worked with a couple of Texans, and they always struck me as very ...proud of being Texan, in the same way that people who went to Harvard always manage to work *that* into the conversation.
A little of it can be endearing; but there comes a point when it can get tiresome.
With the co-workers, whenever I tried pushing back about Texas -- they took it as a grave insult, as though I had accused them of bank robbery. Every other state I've made fun of -- Delaware or Maryland in the East Coast, Iowa in the Midwest, New Mexico or Colorado in the Southwst -- the people took it in good faith, ribbed me back, and we went on as usual.
Why is it the Texans I've run into are *so* proud of, and *so* quick to take offense about it?
The Scots blood? Not offense, it's a take off from this thread (see post #43).
Windflier, a private FReepmail coming to you.
Cheers!
This being FRee Republic, you probably recall George Soros and his Secretary of State project; and the rumors of boxes of ballots (heavily in favor of the Dem, of course) "found" in campaign workers' cars. Shades of Gregoire in Washington State.
Cheers!
Please do.
But remember the things held in common.
I fear the kind of mindless populism which says "Perry was governor of a big state. Anything good about that state is directly due to him." Remember that a lot of the new jobs in Texas migrated from other states; which makes him look good: but in the end that is a zero-sum game. In order to solve the recession/depression we need brand-new jobs.
Secondly -- I find the spin for Perry about Gardisil (it wasn't mandatory, but it was so it could be Medicaid eligible), about the Trans-Texas Corridor (all tolls collected by a FOREIGN COMPANY), about globalism (addressing La Raza as though among friends, his comments with the President of Mexico), etc., to be an insult to any thinking person's intelligence.
Hence the low-IQ crack.
Look, if your candidate has flaws, consider them in the broad context and explain how they are correctable or whatever, or show how the accusation is flawed. This is for the Presidency, and through the Supreme Court, much of the future of the country. It is FAR too important of sectarian cheerleading based on parochial loyalties: which is why for example I couldn't support T-Paw despite his sterling tax-cutter credentials.
But a disproportionate share of the Perry backers seemingly expect everyone to join in fealty to him just because he's "a good ole boy." We had that under George Bush '43 and he paved the way for Obama and nearly destroyed the GOP brand through profligate spending. And McCain got the nod in 2008 because "it was his turn."
The GOP must move past this if it is to survive as a national party; perhaps even if the country itself is to survive.
Cheers!
Why is it the Texans I've run into are *so* proud of, and *so* quick to take offense about it?
Well, it takes all types to make a culture, and there are certainly a few Texans who would let your good-natured ribbing slide. Here's my take on why most wouldn't...
Texas and her people have a uniqueness unlike that of most other US states today. Remember, that for a short time in its history, it was its own country. The people who put this state on the map fought their own war of independence against Mexico. They were a hardened lot, because it's a hard land. Something about the geography and the history of these people made them fiercely proud of their heritage and each other. An attitude of beating the odds, and overcoming adversity prevailed. In time, the people of Texas thrived, and made it their business to be the best at everything they did. They became quite successful in a multitude of different endeavors, and that success strengthened an already extant abundance of state pride.
It's only in recent times that other Americans have come to see the Texas stereotype as a fable or a myth. Not long ago in our history, that stereotype was very real. It still is in many ways.
I've learned a great deal about this place in the six years I've been here. One of the very first things I noticed after moving here, is that Texas actually has it's own distinct culture, separate from the rest of the US. I've never experienced that in any other state. At least not to the degree that I've experienced it here. I'm not even saying that other states don't have their own unique cultures, but I sense that they've allowed themselves to be overtaken and diluted by the influences of new arrivals. Certainly, that's happening here as well, but not nearly to the degree that it's happened elsewhere. Texans just seem to be resistant to the concept of 'melting' into the great undifferentiated mass that is modern America.
I saw an interesting statistic about two years after moving here. In a nutshell, Texans are the 'stickiest' of all Americans - that is, a greater percentage of native Texans either never leave Texas, or return home after living elsewhere in the US, than residents of any other US state.
That's a very telling indicator about this place. From all that I've seen and absorbed in my time here, I think Texans have every right to be as proud as they are.
Oh man,
You just pushed the Red Button!
Understood about the hardscrabble pride in one's accomplishments; and, scriptural injunctions about pride notwithstanding, I see how a hard-bitten confidence from having survived can stick with you.
What I see is the transferrence of that confidence to a sectarian *arrogance* -- in the words of a character in a Dorothy Sayers novel, "a self-confidence so supreme that it will not even trouble to justify itself" : only not on an individual basis, but applied to everyone from the state.
It is this attitude which I seem to be picking up from some of the Perry supporters.
(Thanks for a prompt and thorough and non-flaming reply to such an apparently touchy subject. I am answered.)
Cheers!
You need to come down here and hang out with us Texans for a while. A little time spent with some down home Texas hospitality will cure you of all those misconceptions, guaranteed.
Come in the spring, and you'll be hooked for life.
Maybe the legendary blonde Mrs. Whiskers should remind you to take your meds and get to bed before you make any more dumb statements.
(Posted the next morning.)
Cheers!
mark
Governor Palin would root out corruption in Washington; Governor Perry would enable it...JMO.
LOL!
That, and the p*ssy-whipped state of Republicans that they won't challenge anything.
NO cheers, unfortunately.
...this is coming from a guy whose State elected Al Frankin to the US Senate? A State that actually had to make a law to make it illegal to tease skunks (I suppose because Minnesotans couldn't figure that out themselves- or enjoyed the results).
About the skunks?
I can beat that. A couple years back the legislature tried to put a section into an omnibus spending bill a section which would have paid for chiropractic for farm animals.
They're just Scandahoovians (land of 10,000 lakes and even more hot blondes) when all is said and done.
Cheers!
(Keep plucking those chickens!)
In Texas it's legal for a chicken to have sex with you, but it's illegal to reciprocate.
Cheers!
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