Once you've lived in Texas for a while, you start to understand the government mostly has a "let them eat cake" attitude towards the population. This applies at

Once you've lived in Texas for a while, you start to understand the government mostly has a "let them eat cake" attitude towards the population. This applies at all levels, but particularly at the state level. There really is no reason for the energy industry to bother winterizing. They don't really loose much by just idling capacity for a few days, especially if they don't have to worry about the cold weather preparations. The government is not going to require any industry to do something it does not want to unless it is filled up with their buddies that can get rich in the process through government subsidized programs. I'm sure this is going to be followed up with "but you could vote in politicians that cared!". There have been some definite attempts at voter disenfrachisement in recent history, although the most prominent one has failed. Texas is a representative democracy. It's representative of the districts, not the populace. The districts do not want politicians who are going to prioritize such things. The general population may in fact want it, but that isn't how our government is structured. So when you say "vote in other politicans", what you really mean is "replace the state government entirely". I doubt that is going to happen.