Re: Legalization of Casinos in Texas

The legalization and implementation of casinos in Texas is not a bad idea as proposed by Jamilia’s Blog for a number of reasons. The main reason discussed in the article was money and economic stimulation through tax revenues generated by the hypothetical casinos. Apparently over 3 billion dollars is the amount of revenue generated by neighboring states’ casinos, which could be used to help fund schools, infrastructure and other social programs. Although this would be a great plan to generate tax revenue, I do not think having casinos in Texas would be the best option. If you stand back and look at the negative effects that casinos have on the population in the area, you might reconsider this proposal. Some negative effects include prostitution, robbery, drug dealing, and debt to name a few.  Gambling addiction is also a potential harmful effect that is not mentioned in this article that possesses the greatest threat to an area with a casino. At least with casinos in other states there is less of an incentive to go because of the distance/travel time. The distance also helps keep the other negative effects like prostitution to be more prominent other states with casinos because of the social environment that is produced by gambling. Although it does stimulate other states economies I do not think the good outweigh the bad when it comes to casinos in Texas. 

Gubernatorial Term Limit

In the great state of Texas we have a plural executive branch including the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner of Land, Railroad Commission, State Board of Education, Secretary of State and other appointed agency directors. This plural executive distributes power among the elected and appointed officials, and work independently from each other. The governor is the position I am going to focus a majority of my attention for the remainder of the article to discuss a topic that needs revision in our Constitution.

                The governor’s term in office was extended in 1972 from two to four years, which coincides with the length of the President of the United States. Unlike the President, the Texas Governor does not have a limit on the number of terms that he or she can be in office. This current state of term limits, or lack-thereof, should be corrected in the constitution to make constraints on the number of terms the governor can hold. The current state of the Texas Executive branch demonstrates the potential problems of the unlimited terms held by the governor. Rick Perry is the longest serving governor in Texas history with 13 years in office, which is a long amount of time to make executive decisions in my opinion. In the more current years he has made risky moves in his position of power that have been unpopular with residents in Texas (Presidential Campaign Ad). I am not opposed to Perry’s policies or decisions; however my opinion is small in a vast majority of diverse political views with a rapidly changing demographic in our state.

                A limit on the amount of terms held by governors that match the same duration of the United States President will be beneficial to the constituents of Texas. The limit allows a popular governor to last up to eight years which creates a substantial amount of time to implement policies, but not create a continuous incumbent figure.  

Re: Just Looking at the Voting Numbers

Political apathy is a major issue in Texas that needs to be addressed in order for the government to properly represent the ideologies of the people that inhibit our state. With a growing population and a changing demographical make-up of Texas there is a wide variety of political influences that are brought into our state as well. According to the Texas Secretary of State Website, in the 2012 Presidential election there was a turnout of 43.73 percent of the Texan voting age population compared to the national number of 58.2 percent. With such a low voter turnout this should raise concern for every individual participant in government which includes everyone that is eligible to vote. Unfortunately this is not the case and hundreds of thousands of political opinions are not voiced causing the small minority of voters to control the decision making in our government.

I agree that many people are apathetic and uninformed when dealing with political votes and governmental issues. I am amazed at the number of people that say Texas will always be a red state and they will not cast their opposite vote because it will not make a difference. If people were to voice their opinions in the form of a vote, especially with the overwhelmingly changing demographic in Texas, there may be a change that represents the population. Change does need to occur but it is a very difficult and rigorous process that needs a major event to evoke to cause a difference in our political environment.  

Texas Illegal Immigration Laws

Illegal immigration has been an issue in the state of Texas and the other states that share a border with Mexico. Texas shares 1,969 miles of border with Mexico with 23 legal points of entry into our state, both privately and publicly owned. In 2011 the Texas legislature passed over 85 bills dealing with the issue of illegal immigration. Compare that with the handful of bills passed this year as of May. What happened to the Texas legislature in the past two years that made a significant impact on the issue of illegal immigration?

It appears that after the 2012 election the GOP received a wake-up call nationwide that they failed to attract the Hispanic vote (Romney received 27 percent of the Hispanic vote nationally). In addition to the nationwide attention, many Texas Legislative members who regularly filed controversial immigration bills did not return to the House or Senate. With the growing Hispanic population in Texas alone the Republicans have toned down the anti-illegal immigration reform in order to remain incumbents and maintain popularity with their constituents.

Illegal immigration bills need to continue to flow through the legislature for a number of reasons. The first I will address has to do with overall public safety. Our borders need a generous upgrade in order to keep the citizens that inhabit those areas safe. With increasing gang violence that is spilling over from Mexico onto our side of the border it is no longer safe to be within 50-100 miles from the border. I understand that a good number of people that illegally migrate into our country are looking for work and a better place to live, but there are also citizens from other countries that are in similar if not worse conditions that become American citizens the legal route. As of 6 days ago, the unemployment rate in Texas sits at 6.5% and 7.6% nationwide. Jobs that could be available to hard working American citizens are being taken by people that are in our country illegally.

There are plenty of issues in our state (and country) that our government needs to focus their attention on, illegal immigration laws need to be at the top of that list. 

Bipartisan Redistricting Deals Takes a Blow in Texas Senate

In 2011 the Texas Legislature drew congressional district maps that were considered to favor the Republican Party and also discriminate against minority groups, by federal courts. Although the new maps were drawn up because of a large influx of the minority populations they failed to allocate proper districts that had a majority of the new immigrant population of Texas. The author of this article reported that a special Senate committee on redistricting voted to approve the maps of congressional and legislative districts that were drawn up by Rick Perry and Greg Abbott. Minority groups threatened to sue if the Legislature adopts these recently Senate-approved maps, but there is still a vote left in the House. There have been speculations that the House might have to make a political deal to resolve the dispute over the redistricting issue that has waged on since 2011.

When the maps were drawn up in 2011 there were obvious signs of gerrymandering that took place in order to spread out the minority votes into multiple districts. With the hard pressing minority groups taking political action against the wrongful redistricting appropriations, there could be a major change in the upcoming elections. The author appears to be indifferent about the topic issue, but rather gives factual evidence that describes the current situation in the Texas Legislature. The information provided is relevant, and will affect all citizens of Texas with potentially drastic changes in the next few years. In my personal opinion this decision could potentially turn Texas into a battle ground swing state in the next decade of politics.

Why I'm Glad Texas Gov. Rick Perry isn't Seeking Another Term...

The editorial article that I decided to evaluate discusses the most recent decisions by Rick Perry to not run in the gubernatorial race in the 2014 election. Also stated in the article is the indecision about a presidential campaign, although it appears that in the not so distant future we will be hearing about his final decision. The author states “He has been governor since George W. Bush decided to run for the White House. That’s a long time — too long a time in fact.” This statement clearly voices his current opinions on the current governor of Texas, and by other media sources I deem to hold true for a large portion of his constituents. He then critiques Perry’s pressing efforts to pass restrictive abortion laws as a form of personal convictions, and the national spotlight that is being placed on the ongoing debate in the Texas ledge. 

In the concluding portion of the article the author gives plausible reasoning to Perry’s decision to not run for governor in his pursuit of the White House. I do agree with the author that if Perry does decide to run, he needs to focus all of his efforts on the campaign without the demanding governor position “weighing him down”. While most people count Perry out of the upcoming presidential election, both the author and I agree that he has learned from his past mistakes and should not be taken lightly because he will be a solid contender for the GOP. This article was taken from Dallas News with the intention to seek out an audience of both democrats and republicans due to the upcoming political changes that will affect every citizen in our state, and potentially the nation. The author, Jim Mitchell, is a columnist for Dallas News in the opinion section with many editorials focusing on political action in Texas and the nation.  

Attorney General Abbott Kicks Off Gubernatorial Run

Attorney General Greg Abbott launched his gubernatorial campaign on this past Sunday in downtown San Antonio. He is currently in the race for the governor of Texas along with Republican Tom Pauken, with speculations that Democrat Sen. Wendy Davis might join the race as well. Wendy Davis received nation-wide popularity among the democratic community after her 12-plus-hour filibuster in the Texas Legislature’s first special session over the controversial abortion restrictions. This next gubernatorial election could potentially be a turning point on the political stage if there is an increase in the booming Hispanic population that register and show up to the voting booths to show democratic support. This topic will be in the headlines as the race progresses, especially if new contenders decide to run. The future political state of Texas will definitely be affected by the decision which could produce major changes in legislation.

Here is the link to the article: http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/texas/ag-abbott-set-to-formally-begin-gubernatorial-run/nYqFJ/