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A part of the reason is also the highly toxic state leadership. - anti-LBGTQ+ - anti-abortion - anti-immigration - misappropriating state funds for partisan

• exmicrosoldier 2y ago
  Regular power issues are also state government incompetence.
  • hi-v-rocknroll 2y ago
    ERCOT was shit during the 2021 snowpocalypse when my refrigerator and indoor air temperature both equalized to 47 F (8 C). Fast forward to 2024, they've improved considerably with enormous wind and solar deployments. Although near ATX downtown: my UPSes cycled on and off 5x today during heavy rain for no apparent reason other than inadequate protection of power lines or switchgear. What hasn't improved is the absurd level of deregulation that can result in surprise bills when local spot power prices go insane.
• hi-v-rocknroll 2y ago
  Just say it: There is a higher-than-average concentration of American-made ideology that's mostly ignorant with some downplayed hate: Christian white supremacy nationalism clinging to false beliefs like "America is a Christian country" and "Families require a man and a woman where the man is in-charge". The Oklahoma City bombing to the immediate north in OK was 100% home-grown terrorism.
  • Log_out_ 2y ago
    Working institutions and Christian culture, correlation does imply causation?
    • donkeybeer 2y ago
      I think you know very well the difference between Christian culture, which is fine, vs claiming or wanting to turn your country into a Christian theocracy. I find it rather interesting that the person above was talking about theocratic sentiments and you instead read it as simply Christian culture expression. Not even that you disagree that theocratic sentimemt exists, but that such is equivalent to sinply wanting Christian culture.
      • hi-v-rocknroll 2y ago
        Evangelical Christianity just happens to be the most common patina of the flavor of absurdity. There's nothing wrong with all kinds of Christianity. Episcopalians, on average, tend to be downright cool beans. The adherents of Manifest Destiny and Monroe Doctrine probably had similar attitudes to people who weren't white and their kind of Christian. The challenge over time is ameliorating and confronting the intergenerational hate and trauma that echos into the future and healing all peoples so they can live together in peace.
  • xeornet 2y ago
    Christian nationalism and traditional values are home grown terrorism? Yes… they’re definitely the extremists here.
    • donkeybeer 2y ago
      Family values are fine. I don't know why you think religious nationalism is fine unless you want your country to become like a Christian version of Afghanistan or similar. Not many people are fans of theocracies.
      • 2y ago
• StillBored 2y ago
  Adding to this, its an ugly mix. The state tax system heavily penalizes anyone who can't pretend to be a farmer, so you will have people with 'hobby' farms that are valued 3x+ outside of the urban areas who are playing 1/2 or less in taxes than someone with a modest home in the suburbs. Then these areas are then heavily subsidized with schooling, roads, electric and internet services. Which is a feedback loop where those counties won't raise taxes because then they get less funding transfers. Until the recent reset of the tax exemptions its was quite likely most people in the state would have been paying the same or less taxes in California. The state hates public parks, so the per capita acreage is such that the parks are both way over utilized and nearly impossible to use due to the overwhelming demand for camping/etc on the weekends. Then one combines the many state inflicted problems with Austin's issues. Like the fact that there is a very strong anti growth lobby the ties everything up in courts. For example that the main interstate highway going through town has been functionality obsolete for 30+ years and any attempts to fix it are stymied at every turn. Then Austin will convert decades old overcapacity four lane roads into two lanes with a rarely utilized bike lane. Or while Austin is unusual that it actually has a lot of in town public land (BCP/etc) the vast majority is closed to the public and any appropriated money is used to fence it off and post no trespassing signs, rather than providing recreational or nature oriented opportunities. And again the anti growth people formed a coalition with the green heads to slice the western part of the city up into sections requiring people who live in those areas to drive miles and miles out of their way to get around the preserves which combine with the lake to form long barriers to direct traffic flow. Which goes to the general incompetence/fear the city has about road construction, light timing, light rail construction, etc. Leaving bonded projects never being started because they either spend all the money on smaller included projects and never getting to the main one, or waiting a decade+ to break ground and discovering that the project is now 2x-8x the original estimates. The air quality is some of the worst in the country for $REASONS. I could go on, but its a _long_ list of issues.
• Newlaptop 2y ago
  Don't believe the hyperbole from the social media outrage machine. 1 in 3 Texans is either an immigrant themselves or the child of an immigrant. The border issues and illegal immigration are concerning to some in the state, but critically 1) Austin is far from the border and mostly unaffected and 2) there is little to no anti-immigration sentiment for legal immigrants even in the other parts of the state. Austin itself is very LGBT friendly, and even at the state level, the only partisan debates seem to be around trans youth. Your last point actually highlights Texas' surprisingly progressive education system. Rather than funding being local-only as in many parts of America, Texas has a strong state-level Robinhood system of taking money from wealthy zipcodes to fund schools in less affluent areas, so that all schools receive more balanced funding. Additionally on the education front, admissions to the state's flagship schools is guaranteed for students in the top 10% of their high school. This policy is a clever hack around explicit affirmative action policies being banned (and was put in place when those were deemed unconstitutional) because it guarantees admission to students who attended lower-performing schools, often from disadvantaged communities. There's plenty to complain about for the Texas state government, but realistically for most people the issues are more hypothetical than practical. It's not like California doesn't have it's share of governmental incompetence and dysfunction as well.
  • yareal 2y ago
    The Texas state government just pardoned a guy who drove a car into a blm protest. And it's regularly limiting access to women's healthcare and lgbtq healthcare. It doesn't matter if Austin is lgbtq friendly if the state itself isn't.
    • ptsneves 2y ago
      This! I can’t accept forgiving murder. I don’t know Texas much but it now is a place where a racist kills a person and gets out of jail forgiven. From a moral point of view I don’t know how the governor and its constituents can look themselves in the mirror. Murder is murder.
      • deleted 2y ago
• xeornet 2y ago
  Sorry but a difference of opinion does not mean it’s toxic. The government is representing its voters - you’re essentially calling the majority of Texans toxic.
  • giraffe_lady 2y ago
    Well, so be it then. If the texas you got is the one you wanted this is accurate.
    • xeornet 2y ago
      Is the California you have the one you want?
      • giraffe_lady 2y ago
        Never been can't say.
  • azemetre 2y ago
    Removing rights should never be considered a “difference of opinion,” what a completely asinine response to a state government that has literally taken away bodily autonomy against Americans.
• euroderf 2y ago
  It seems like every "red" state has a "blue" city where the misfits & malcontents (or, did I mean refugees) can flee too. In Texas it's Austin. In Indiana it's Bloomington.
  • odyssey7 2y ago
    In Wisconsin it’s Madison. etc.
  • giraffe_lady 2y ago
    It is usually the town with the main state university. Sometimes a notable private school instead depending on particulars of the local history.