Well, it happened again.  I was reading an article unrelated to Texas.  The author of the article, trying to make a point about small government and local control pointed to Texas as an example of a place where those perspectives are held in high regard.  Rugged individualism and all that.

Now, I’ve only lived here for three years and I live in Houston, which in a lot of ways is not particularly stereotypically Texan, so my perspective on Texas might be a little skewed.  In short, what I’ve seen since I’ve been here is people talking about small government and local control while simultaneously acting quite differently.  Here are a couple examples:

1. Just a few months ago when a neighborhood decided – with city approval – to paint the crosswalks in one particular intersection with Pride Rainbow colors, the Governor of Texas stepped in and forced their removal.  Does this sound like like small government and local control to you?
2. Did you know that in 2022, the State of Texas made it illegal for “municipality” with a population of 250,000 or more people to reduce their police budget. Does this sound like like small government and local control to you?
3. And right now, in his political ads, the current Governor is proposing state-wide regulation of how local governments can raise property taxes. Does this sound like like small government and local control to you?

So, next time you hear a stereotypical depiction of Texas, or for that matter, a stereotypical depiction of just about anywhere, pause, take a deep breath and remember Brandolini’s law:

The amount of energy needed to refute disinformation is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.