Reply #41: What made Texas this way

[Terry in Austin]

What is it that makes this state that way? The chemicals leeching to the groundwaters there?

Close. I'd say it was all the oil (or in Texan, "awl the awl").

Spindletop gushes, and presto -- instant plutocracy, with all the odious stuff that goes along with it, including inevitable linkups between church and power structure. And given the customary scale of things Texan, that often translates to monumental perversity.

The main thing that's wrong with Texas is the people who think they own the joint -- plus their sons and their sheeples. Other than that, the "Texas national character" -- that pragmatic, affable, don't-bullshit-a-bullshitter kind of 'tude -- is alive and well, and generally spot on. Best examples are Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins and Ann Richards.

Of course, here in the People's Republic of Austin, we're not actually in Texas so much as surrounded by Texas, so we keep a vigilant eye on who crosses the Austin City Limits. ;)