Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
As if we needed any more reasons to thank God for Texas, this very day has produced two new ones:
By the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, a statement:
The piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally. The second amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president.
By the attorney general of Texas, Greg Abbott, an invitation:
Keep your guns. Come to Texas.
Here in Texas, you will have the liberty and the opportunity to achieve your dreams. On top of that, we have no income tax, yet still manage to have a multi-billion dollar budget surplus.
We have right to work laws and a reasonable regulatory environment. Texas has created more than 275,000 jobs in the last year alone! And we’ll fight like hell to protect your rights.
You’ll also get to keep more of what you earn and use some of that extra money to buy more ammo.
On a day when Republicans in 49 states are sounding overwhelmingly apologetic and defensive, thank God for the two leading Republicans in the fiftieth.
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Comments:
Nov '11
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
I object very strongly to Governor Perry's remarks. If all the gun owners move to Texas, what becomes of the rest of the country? Limit the invitation to New Yorkers and Californians, OK?
TheSophist
As Milton Friedman said:
That's funny, that quote fits nicely with something I was thinking through on a completely separate topic. I might have to steal it.
Jan '13
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
If only Texas had Colorado skiing....
Jun '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
A day's drive or an hour by plane will put you in Santa Fe. The snow base at 10,000 feet varies between 36 inches and 10 feet.
Jan '11
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
Um, we'll give you the hoplophobes from our cities, like Austin? :D
By the way, under Texas law, every able-bodied resident (with exceptions, of course) between the ages of 18 and 60 is a member of the "reserve militia" of the Texas State Guard, a branch of the Texas Military Forces, and is subject to being called up by the Governor. Granted, the TSG is more like a group of Red Cross volunteers with uniforms, but it doesn't have to be....
May '11
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
I will have you know that not all New Yorkers have voted to screw up our state. I believe Texans have gotten lazy in their conservatism. George Bush Sr. and Jr. came from there. Sheila Jackson Lee! My parents, in their 80s, and democrats, are more conservative than the most on Ricochet. We have one big handicap...NYC. Their votes overwhelm the state.
There are also a boatload of what Rush calls "low information voters". I am so disgusted with people I know didn't vote, posting numerous pro-gun post on Facebook.
Sarah Palin was the only hope I could see in the last election but she was rejected by our own party. I am waiting for a conservative/3rd party now.
May '11
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
Gouger, Texas also had Ann Richards as governor.
But we did a wholesale replacement of the Supreme Court and we've been recovering since.
Jan '11
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
As much as I'd like to praise Texas as a conservative, I have to say that governor moonbeam Jerry Brown had a very good response to reporters asking him about Texas beating California economically. He said that while Texas had a lower unemployment rate, the percentage of people working at or below the poverty level was much higher in Texas. I investigated this and saw that he's right. There's some employment cannibalism that conservatives don't address as well as I'd wish.
But on the other hand, in so many ways, including gun ownership, Texas just simply beats out California.
Oct '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
The cost of living in California is much higher - over 40% higher.
After adjusted for COL, the average Texan makes more than the average Californian, as of 2009.
I'm not finding any stats for 2012 yet, but between 2006 and 2010, Texas per capita income increased by over 12%, California per capita income increased by less than 9%.
Jan '11
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
I don't have a problem with any of those stats, and they don't answer my objection. You can still have a vast percentage of people living below poverty levels and have the average higher, if those at the other end make a lot more than most people, which is true in the overall economy of America.
Further, of course you'd expect that to 2010... California experienced an enormous loss of income because of the collapse of the housing market. None of these stats answer the objection about the cannibalization of jobs from one state to another.
jhimmi
The cost of living in California is much higher - over 40% higher.
After adjusted for COL, the average Texan makes more than the average Californian, as of 2009.
I'm not finding any stats for 2012 yet, but between 2006 and 2010, Texas per capita income increased by over 12%, California per capita income increased by less than 9%. · 0 minutes ago
Oct '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
"When I die, I may not go to heaven.
I don't know if they let cowboys in.
If they don't, just a-let me go to Texas.
'Cuz Texas is as close as I've been." ~ Tanya Tucker
Download here.
Nov '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
My own situation (med school applicant) makes their residency requirements particularly onerous.
Dec '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
Remember the last time a bunch of gun toting Americans moved to Texas? They had a revolution and became an independant country.
Jan '11
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
Sooper, I'm not sure I understand the objection on employment cannibalism. You mean Texas taking jobs away from California?Also, what's wrong with poor people working, exactly?
Dec '12
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
I'm quite relieved to see these statements from Texas politicians. I have been increasingly discouraged recently regarding the direction of basic human liberty in America. I swore an oath to God that I would support and defend the Constitution against all enemies. I spent over 20 years doing just that all over the world. Lately, I have been unable to shake the thought that I might have to continue that defense here at home. I'm encouraged to live in a state where I might actually have allies in the halls of power. Still, even if politicians in Texas grow wobbly in the face of national pressure...Molon Labe!
May '11
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
One of the things about visiting so many countries with the military is that you see that these third world places might be poor, but they are much freer of regulation. We are not the free country that we pretend we are. I'd still rather live here if only for the reliable plumbing, but it's shocking how much of our liberty we've lost, even just in my lifetime.
Oct '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
SooperMexican: ...those stats...don't answer my objection. You can still have a vast percentage of people living below poverty levels and have the average higher, if those at the other end make a lot more than most people..
Further, of course you'd expect that to 2010... California experienced an enormous loss of income because of the collapse of the housing market. None of these stats answer the objection about the cannibalization of jobs from one state to another.
jhimmi
After adjusted for COL, the average Texan makes more than the average Californian, as of 2009.
Texas per capita income increased by over 12%, California per capita income increased by less than 9%. · 0 minutes ago
2 hours ago
Poverty levels are not usually adjusted for regional cost of living differences, for this and other reasons they are of limited value.
Property values crashing in California should have lowered cost of living, but still way above Texas.
You think per capita income is more evenly distributed in CA than TX? Seriously?
Larger increases in per capita in Texas indicate between 2009-2011 indicate the 'cannibalization' is having the opposite effect Moonbeam is implying.
Jul '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
I'll be moving to Alaska this year and becoming a resident there. With the military but I want residency for tax purposes. The guns laws seem to my liking and I can put my Finnish Nagant to good use against bears. I'm a native Ohioan and it has one of the most robust gun communities around, but I can't stand paying state income tax. How do Texas and Alaska compare to any who have lived in both?
Dec '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
If you're really conservative, when you move to Texas, make it Austin. We could use a little balance in that Massachusetts county stuck smack-dab in the middle of Texas.
Oh, and if you want a gun, you probably should buy it before your move. We seem to have a shortage here.
Dec '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
SooperMexican: As much as I'd like to praise Texas as a conservative, I have to say that governor moonbeam Jerry Brown had a very good response to reporters asking him about Texas beating California economically. He said that while Texas had a lower unemployment rate, the percentage of people working at or below the poverty level was much higher in Texas. I investigated this and saw that he's right. There's some employment cannibalism that conservatives don't address as well as I'd wish.
But on the other hand, in so many ways, including gun ownership, Texas just simply beats out California. · 9 hours ago
Many, many people have moved from California to Texas. Some that I've met are very low-skilled.
Generally speaking, if the minimum wage is lower, more people will be employed. And also generally speaking those minimum wage jobs are short term, while people acquire skills and experience, allowing them to find better paying jobs. Further, since the low wage jobs remain filled by short term employees, the transience involved is not visible to polls where very specific questions aren't asked. Oh, and they never are.
May '10
Re: Keep Your Guns. Move to Texas
I can't comment on that statistic. But I can tell you that, as a Texan, that Ben Affleck commercial about hunger in America makes me laugh. I have interacted with the poorest of Houston and San Antonio, and the only ones not in charge of their own fates are the sick and the elderly.
Poverty is in the eye of the beholder. Compared to California, a Texan can get twice the home for half the price.