The Traditionalist Political Subculture And The Moralistic Subculture

In the American viewpoint, Texas is seen as the state that enhances their western characteristics alongside with their historic past of events placed in significant monuments. This was to preserve their identity which had long gone through vast disputes in the past regarding to the creation of the state. “Texans were even more determined than most states to recover their past. No other region of the country had experienced such a convoluted history.” (A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory, 205) Texas had gained their independence from Mexico in 1836 and have remained a separate nation for about nearly a decade. The Republic of Texas was then granted their official recognition as a state in 1845 through the annexation of the United States of America.

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.

Although this may be true, the reality may not be so easy. Due to difficulty with agreements on the role of government or a good public policy, they’ve moved on to political cultures in which they affect how Texas lives with sharing attitudes, habits, and other general behavior patterns. These political cultures have been moved into three groups: moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic. Texas has historically two dominant political cultures, individualistic and traditionalistic culture. In short, individualistic cultures are people who have a strong opinion in opposition to a big government, such as having the government stay away from people lives as much as possible, and having their own individual work, such as businesses or farming. Traditionalistic

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.

Texas political culture is one that can be described as a combination of three main ideas: individualistic, traditionalism and moralism. Considering Texas and its overwhelming 254 counties we can see these main ideas undoubtedly. The 254 counties each have their own general set of ideas, attitudes and beliefs. The whole state of Texas is simply not just considered individualistic, traditionalism, or moralism, it is considered all three. Individualistic, traditionalism and moralism are all strong values that coexist in our society and they all affect how we as the people live our lives. A political culture shapes a region’s politics.

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

Texas has always been an individualistic state. Since the Alamo to the decision to leave the Union and stubbornly retain traditions, morals, and ideas to this day. After the Civil War, Texas went under radical reconstruction. This was a military rule in which Texas functioned under a military government that made a constitution that made the government more centralized, provided compulsory school attendance, and guaranteed a full range of rights for former slaves. By far, this constitution was a great stride forward in civil rights and made the government more efficient. However, white Southerners were extremely angered by this because of their racist attitudes and stubbornness. When reconstruction ended, white Texans quickly took back the

These patterns, however, may be weakening as the Republican Party increases its power in the state and urbanization continues.

A political culture is mainly referred to as the shared values and beliefs of the citizens on the topic of political and economic life that reflects the fundamental assumptions about how government should operate and function as a society. Although the people share the framework of values, beliefs, and habits of behavior related to government and politics, the reference as to how the judging is to be viewed is how the relationship is between the government and the people, obligations to the government, limits on government authority, and the rights and responsibility to the people. A political subculture can change over time given that Texas has a political context of big, and the diversity in Texas it is possible for Texas to be able to contain

Texas is considered a very diverse and unique state in many different aspects. It is the second largest state with more than twenty-six million people residing. People all over the state live in a variety of environments, cities, suburbs, rural areas, you name it. Of course though, like in everything else, there are always both positive and negative things. However, despite the fact that Texas have very high poverty rates and it has the second highest income inequality, Texas is a very interesting state and it has a lot of things that are worth learning about. I learned some things about Texas politics that I thought were very interesting. These topics include the State Constitution and the legislature.

States’ rights, the fight for the unborn and their right to life, and resistance to gun legislation, tend to be some of the top issues for conservative Texas voters. The last time a Democrat carried the state of Texas was in 1976, when Jimmy Carter won the Presidential election. During the 2004 presidential election, then President and Republican candidate, George W. Bush, won with 61.09% against 38.30% votes for the Democratic candidate John Kerry. However, in the more recent Presidential elections that were held in 2008 and in 2012, the very popular Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, did not win the majority vote for Texas. Thus, looking at this information, it can be said that the state of Texas tends to lean more towards the Republican side.

Texas does outperform other states in terms of economic growth and population growth. Many people move to Texas because of the jobs and they do taxes right. (Batheja, 2013) Gov. Rick Perry believes Texas’s performance through the recession is due to lack of income tax. He says “You can stop trying to figure out how to pay the state income tax, because we don’t have one.” (Batheja, 2013) The Tax Foundation, a conservative-leaning research group, ranks Texas ninth-best on its State Business Tax Climate Index, largely because of the state’s lack of an income tax. (Batheja, 2013) On the other hand, Texas’s high property taxes remains a crucial complaint among business and homeowners. It’s harder for small business to pay their taxes especially if their business wasn’t very profitable. Small business end up using their own personal savings, mortgages, or borrow money in order to pay their taxes. Having a state tax would benefit small business. Although having no state tax is accepted by many, it puts a dent on cities and towns. Local debt has increased over the past decade, in large part to cover the costs for new schools and public maintenance projects. (Batheja, 2013) The state is pushing projects such as building of highways and roads to cities and counties. (Batheja, 2013) In 2012, more than 500 lawsuits were from school districts arguing that our public education isn’t properly

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 is currently dominated by the Republican culture with a popular belief in conservatism that has lasted for many years. Democratic and Liberal groups are also present in the Texas but play as the minorities. Although demographics through the years show that a change in the dominant party could very well be eminent, Texas remains a red state for the time being. Currently the population is estimated at 24.5 million and is dominantly Anglo with minorities including African American, and Hispanic. In the coming years though, it is estimated to change where as the Hispanic population will surpass become the new majority.