Republicans prove Texas is the most conservative one-party state in America

The Republicans have just made it clear: Texas is the most conservative state in the union.

And it will remain a bastion for conservatism popularized by the culture wars of the past 15 years and former President Donald Trump, unless overwhelmed Democrats challenge control of the state or become a more effective opposition party.

More than any legislature in Texas history, the Democrats have been overrun by Republicans who passed almost any bill they wanted.

That was after three college breaks, including a 38-day sojourn where over 50 Democrats camped in Washington, DC, trying to stop a controversial electoral law.

That bill, and almost everything on the GOP red meat counter, was or is being signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who now has bragging rights over Republican and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

With the legislature and all state office controlled by Republicans, along with an electorate that approves of their priorities, Texas is under one-party rule.

Democratic Representatives Cheryl Cole, D-Austin, Rhetta Bowers, D-Rowlett, Victoria Neave, D-Dallas, and Re. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, listens to the press conference on the first day of the special session on July 8, 2021. (Bob Daemmrich / CapitolPressPhoto)(Bob Daemmrich / Bob Daemmrich / CapitolPressPhoto)

If that wasn’t clear in the past, the nation now knows.

“You won the crown,” said longtime Republican advisor and lobbyist Bill Miller. “Texas is arguably the most conservative large state in America.”

Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, said the one-way street known as Texas Politics has exasperated many residents. He said one-party rule stifled the debate and gave the activist wing of the Republican Party an overwhelming influence.

“If you have the dominance of a single party and the results show up in public policy, it will have a negative impact on the general mood, especially if that agenda for that party is being pushed by a decidedly non-mainstream wing of the party. “Said Henson.

The Texas Politics Project recently released a poll showing that most Texans feel that the state is going in the wrong direction.

Still, GOP voters who believe Trump’s election was stolen have received justification from Abbott and her Texan lawmakers.

The rest of the state, which includes swaths of apathetic voters, is following or can do little to stop the onslaught.

The other reality: Most voting Texans approve of the direction Abbott and Republicans are taking in the state, despite recent polls.

Texas State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, left, speaks to House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Orange, right, while the House moves on to debate the SB1 Voting Act on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021, in Austin, Texas, prepared. (AP Photo / Eric Gay)(Eric Gay)

There is a lot of resistance in the media, along with Democrats and progressives, over the events in Austin this year. In the past, such an outcry has resulted in Democratic election victories. In 2018, the Democrats captured 12 Republican seats and won two Congressional races, including the defeat of Democrat Colin Allred to Republican incumbent Pete Sessions in Congressional District 32 of Dallas County.

But Republicans have bounced back in 2020, and they don’t seem to be concerned about next year’s midterm elections. The national climate almost guarantees that Republicans will win big in 2022, unless the people of the Lone Star State really want a political revolution.

The question for now: How do you like your red meat?

Before the second session, the regular session produced the “Heartbeat” law, which Abbott passed and put into effect. It’s the most restrictive law in the country, banning abortions after six weeks, before most abortions take place. The bill, which critics say violates the U.S. Constitution, has a vigilante component. Any citizen can sue in court and receive damages from anyone they suspect may have helped someone perform a now illegal abortion.

This law creates the conditions for the end of legal abortions in much of America if the trend started by Texas is picked up by other states.

But the end of a second special legislature brought with it a cascade of conservative laws, much of which was aimed at appeasing Republican voters who have an insatiable appetite for laws that restrict the use of drug abortions, that include gun culture, that restrict postal voting, prohibit the teaching of critical racial theory and fund the construction of a wall along the southern border.

There were also small but noteworthy new laws, including requiring that professional sports teams under state treaties play the national anthem before sporting events. Some Democrats supported this GOP-led law, a nod to the Texans’ sentiment regarding patriotism.

The Republicans aren’t finished either. An upcoming special session allowing lawmakers to redraw the state’s legislative and congressional lines could produce more conservative red meat, including legislation compelling transgender athletes to compete in sports under the sex they were born with was assigned. More electoral laws, perhaps an examination of the 2020 Texas results, are possible.

Republican leaders take turns reveling in their accomplishments.

“The Texas Senate has completed one of the best weeks for Republican legislation in Texas, and perhaps for American history,” said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in a statement Thursday. “These are conservative cornerstones that will hold Texas, Texas … We still have work to do on the Fair Sports for Women and Girls Act … readjust it.”

The 2021 legislature is an expanded lesson on what we already know. Elections are important.

As disappointing as the 2020 election was for the Democrats hoping to take the House of Texas for the first time since 2002, this year’s legislature was far worse.

Longtime Senator Royce West, D-Dallas calls it the worst meeting he has ever seen.

But he doesn’t blame Republicans for reacting to their voters.

He said he wanted Democrats to remember the pain and disappointment of the meetings and use that as a motivation to flip the seats in the state house in 2022.

“We have to make sure we register voters and get them to vote,” West said. “We need to use some of the tough lessons we have learned in these legislatures to build coalitions and win the ballot box.”

It is a beginning.

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