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Sponsor |  Romag | Oct 22, 2007 3:45pm | Does anything know anything about the Texas Constitution? The current one was accepted in 1876. It's got 400 amendments and over 80000 words (versus the U.S. Constitution with about 7000.)
The guiding principal behind the Texas 1876 constitution is to basically limit the power of the governor because of a carpetbagger named E. J. Davis.
There has been attempts in the past to try to rewrite it and reform it. However, it may negatively affect the lawmakers whose job it is to write such a document, by giving them less power, therefore nobody has really tried too hard.
The constitution in it's current form has no real checks and balances, the Texas legislature can make all the amendments it wants without any interference from the states weak executive branch. Not to mention that the Texas congress only meets once every two years, and already has more on it's plate than it can handle already.
This is all well and good because Texas has a great economy, loads of corporate residents, and is generally a decent place to live.
Unfortunately, the weak state government means local governments for better or worse can generally go wild with their laws due to a lack of universal state laws in certain areas.
Texas is a red state:
The true ideal of the Republican party, is not to oppress gay people and women, it is to limit big government, to basically neuter the federal government and leave the power in the hands of the states. Texas has the next best thing, a slow acting, low powered state goverment, that bows to every whim of the national government, with local governments ranging from laid back to oppressive, depending on how many tax dollars fund them.
Problems in Texas a good government be able to handle:
Education- If you've been to a public school in a low income area, you know.
Pollution- If Texas were a country we would claim the number 7 spot in the world as an emitter of green house gases.
Crime and the justice system- Would you walk around Dallas or Houston at night?
Lack of basic infrastructure in some places- two words: flood control.
I kind of think that Texas ought to lose the 80,000 word document and consolidate the most important features of it into a slimmer package, and maybe bring back the checks and balances system that allows our federal government to be so ineffective.
What do other Texans think? |
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Sponsor | | kitakami | Oct 24, 2007 8:35pm | | I think the situation is ideal. Local governments respond much more quickly to the expressed will of the electorate. |
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Sponsor | | Journey | Oct 25, 2007 7:52pm | Isn't there something in the Texas agreement with the US when it became a state that it reserves the right to succession? Or is that just an Urban Legend?
I grew up in a small, rural community in Texas outside of Abilene. I never saw much of the local government and the only memory I have of the State government playing a part in my life was the no pass no play law.
I do know that politics in Texas is like football. A religion.
I don't live in Texas anymore. But I'm a Texan for life. Whenever someone asks where I'm from, the first thing out of my mouth is, "I'm originally from Texas but now...." that probably doesn't give me much room for an opinion on it any longer but I think the only way to change any of it, is to get someone in Austin, who actually believes what every Texan knows, that Texans, more than any other state in the Union, don't need a nanny. |
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Sponsor | | Vortexfugue | Oct 25, 2007 9:00pm | 3. Isn't there something in the Texas agreement with the US when it became a state that it reserves the right to succession? Or is that just an Urban Legend?
The original agreement was that Texas could divide into five states if it wished, but not secede. See here: "A U.S. Supreme Court decision rendered in 1869 seems to obviate these persistent claims to sovereignty. Commenting on its 5-3 decision on Texas v. White, Chief Justice Salmon Chase stated that the Union is "composed of indestructable states," and established on behalf of the high court of the land that secession is illegal." |
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Sponsor | | kitakami | Apr 28, 7:49am | texaspolicecentral.com/texflg.html [texaspolicecentral.com/texflg.html]
(i) No flag or pennant other than the United States flag should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the state flag's right, that is, the observer's left. When the state and United States flags are displayed at the same time, they should be flown on flagpoles of the same height, and the flags should be of approximately equal size. The United States flag should be displayed to the United States flag's right, that is, the observer's left. However, when it is necessary for the state and United States flags to be flown from the same flagpole, the state flag should be displayed underneath the United States flag. When the state flag is displayed on a separate flagpole from the United States flag, the state flag should be hoisted after the United States flag is hoisted and lowered before the United States flag is lowered. |
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