Essay on Texas's Political Culture

In the United States, for the last four decades, from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan through the two Bush Presidencies, the Republican Party won the White House by amassing large margins among white voters (Lizza.) The state of Texas has been reliably Republican since the 1970s and there are various elements to Texas political culture that can be narrowed down to three essential ideological trends: economic liberalism, or faith in the free market economy, social conservatism, or favoring traditional values and moralism, and populism, or promoting the rights and worthiness of ordinary people (Texas Political Culture.) As a result, the dominant political mood in Texas favors low taxes, minimal government services, and policies that are

Political culture is complex even in a place like Texas where there is a broad consensus about core values and ideals. Despite numerous constitutions and national flags, the changing fortunes of political parties, and the almost complete transformation of the economy, the state's political culture displays a remarkable continuity. The dominant political culture's particular combination of economic liberalism (faith in the "free market" economy), social conservatism (favoring traditional values and moralism), and populism (promoting the rights and worthiness of ordinary people) has proven quite resilient over many decades and even centuries. These ideological tendencies are expressed in a dominant political culture that tends to favor low taxes, low government services, and pro-business policies, while at the same time reserving a significant respect (at least in the abstract) for popular control of government.

Gail Collins, in her book “As Texas Goes” briefly described Texas history and how the era of independent republic gave rise to: don’t mess with Texas mentality. I found this book insightful, even though I was pissed off at first because I live in Texas and many of these things I didn’t know. Collins gives the whole picture without being disrespectful by showing some of her points. However she does give a very good dose of sarcasm which I found very interesting and somewhat funny. Her sarcasm shows the reality and gave me some information that I didn’t really know before. As a Texas resident, a lot of things were unknown to me. But her discussion about textbooks, gun control and mostly education were fascinating and caught my attention. However the things I knew about Texas, and the way she discussed a lot of them somewhat I agree with her, there are some I just don’t agree neither disagree simply because I don’t know enough about them, lastly there are some I do disagree. And of course I was able to learn more details about each area, facts and figures from this book. Though after reading this book it is depressing to see on some of the things she is accurate and right.

Political culture is a set of values, beliefs, and feelings that are related to the government, politics and the people. According to political scientist Daniel Elazar, Texas’s political culture is a combination of traditionalistic and individualistic elements, Elazar stated, “The traditionalistic aspects of state politics are exemplified by the long history of one-party dominance in state politics, the low level of voter turnout, and social and economic conservatism. The individualistic nature of state politics can be seen in the support for private business, opposition to big government, and faith in individual initiative”. Living in Texas, the regions are very different from the west, east, north and south regions of Texas. Each region

Detra, I can relate with you as I am also not a Texan native or know much about Texas government and its history. When I hear about Texas first thoughts that comes to mind is either their love for their football team, bbq, or women’s big hair do’s. That’s what I related to “everything is bigger in Texas” with, however as I have read it also relates to their pride, their state size and their growing population. I also never understood why Texans are extremely proud people then again as I have been reading and as you have mentioned they have had an interesting history and have shown that they will fight for what they believe in no matter the cost.

Individualistic political culture, according to Daniel Elazar, is Texas strongest political culture. Individualism is belief that the government should maintain a stable society while intervening little to none in the lives of the people. For example, in 1995, Texas legislature legalized concealed handguns for license owners which meant that since the Texas people have the right to carry handguns they do not have to rely and right on law enforcement for protection or if crime is happening. The people can take care of themselves.

The people of Texas are diverse and carry their “big can-do attitudes and accents” (Pearson); making Texas a bigger than life state. The political culture of Texas is impacted by two different subgroups of

It is widely believed that the strongest state level Republican Party is found in the state of Texas. The Republican Party of Texas has control of the senate, the state house of representatives and the state’s education board . Without a doubt, Texas is the strongest Republican state in the nation. Republicans now have majorities in 107 Texas counties that contain nearly two-thirds of the state’s population. Texas own George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States. Things haven’t always been so great for Texas Republicans. For over one hundred years, the Republican Party was not a viable force in Texas politics. We were the second party in a one-party state. During that time, the GOP failed to win a single

Texas has a reputation throughout history of differing views from the federal government in laws and politics pertaining to social, fiscal, and educational issues. On the whole, Texas operates as a largely conservative state. Because of this, policy-making is often right wing. With the institution of a Democratic, liberal president, the State’s dissent from the Federal government has only increased over certain issues. One hot topic of the 2012 Presidential election was immigration. With the major increase in immigration, it is no surprise that the issue was so emphasized. Between 2000 and 2011 there was a 30 percent

In the comparison of Texas to New Mexico, it can be believed that they share very common political views being neighboring states but that quickly diminishes when taking a closer look into their differences between political cultures, the state constitutions, and the branches of their government including legislative, executive, and judicial. The two states also differ in the issues that they face but they share many as well mainly due to their close proximity to the Mexican-American border.

There are two main political parties in the U.S. and Texas, they are the Republican party and the Democratic party. Even though there are other parties such as the Green party and the Libertarian party, the Republican and Democratic parties are the most common, and they are each uniquely different both in what they stand for and who associates with them.

Texas: For many and many that sit down and speak on Texas and its politics see that Republicans run everything to see how everything that the President promotes they reject and are successful. The cost of living, the assistance giving to the needy

Talk to almost any person to ever live in this great land and it will become clear that Texas is most definitely a state of mind, and as Steinbeck points out, it is so much more. The author says, "It is a mystique closely approximating a religion," and while he clearly says this hyperbolically, I think it is very near to the truth. In no other state does one see the same caliber of "patriotism" citizens have for their home as the type that exemplifies Texans. Texas flags can be found just about anywhere and on just about anything from swimming suits to mounted to the beds of pickup trucks. Wearing anything from cowboy hats and boots to the ever more popular Texas themed T-shirts, Texans express their pervasive pride for their state in their

I came to Texas when I was around 9 years old, so I have been here most of my life, but my parents have raised me more on Confucius values; only one or maybe few people take on the leadership role i.e. traditionalism. Now, after learning about Texas government and had read “Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right: What America Can Learn from the Strange Genius of Texas” by Erica Grieder. Texas has a weaker government than I thought yet somehow economically it is very strong. Texas was a heavy agriculture state so government offices and officials were not very important. Now, in the modern era Texas has become more business

When I was a kid, and I moved from the plains of Colorado to the backwoods of North Houston, I asked myself a few questions. What is Texas? What is a Texan? And most importantly, do I get to ride my horses to school? These were all good questions and as I spent more time in Texas, I came to realize these questions were more common than expected. Throughout my time in this state, I came to understand that Texans have their own cultural identity. In fact, I found Texans have a sense of group identify based on their shared history and their cultural distinctiveness. Although the stereotypes point to being Texan as throwing on your cowboy hat, going to the rodeo, and eating everything and anything fried, it is not necessary to do these things to be classified as a Texan. While some of our population participates in ranching and cowboy culture, a true Texan is so much more diverse.