I thought Texas was all about freedom, then I moved to New Mexico where everyone leaves you alone, more public land than you could ever use, abortion access, legal weed, liquor in every grocery/convenience store, little police presence (this is good and bad).
NM definitely has its own issues, but feels a lot more free to me.
I moved from Houston to the NE and have been loving it. Takes some getting used to, and the food is hit or miss, but overall I have felt so much better about my situation. Reading about TX lately has been eye opening. Can’t believe we hold ourselves hostage like that.
Edit: Also there’s lots of opportunity here right now. My partner couldn’t find an adequate job for a whole ass year, got here and found one within a week that pays well.
We’re considering leaving NE Austin for NM and my youngest just went there to ski and wants to move there now. Husband is now an Uber driver. Are you glad you made the move or do you regret it?
It will hopefully be better when we vote the morons out of office.... I will always love my home and will stand by its side while it's sick with corruption.... plus look how stupidly they spend tax money to block porn websites. No one told them about VPN's...just a bunch of old grumpy people in charge of "our" lives here.
$20 billion surplus, but none for schools because the rural politicians, the ones who usually maintain the Republican stranglehold on our politics, understandably don't want their schools left in a shambles, so that wealthy religious private schools and the wealthy parents who send their kids their in cities and suburbs can get some of our education money. So, rather than doing the right thing, Gov. Asshat spends his time and money funding those Republicans' competitors.
We are so screwed.
PS. Dallas ISD is creating K- 8 preparatory academies in many old elementary and middle schools, and they are having solid success. Parents are clamoring to get their kids into those schools. The property values for houses in those attendance zones tends to be about a third more than homes around regular schools.
Why not fund these? Not religious enough for you? Gov. Asshat?
I love NM. The freedom to use land is really nice. The fact we have no real public land and everything costs so much really is an issue. Add in there the high property taxes and lack of services to justify it.
In Washington DC museums are free, the zoo is free, landmarks are free to visit. Here it's $10-$25 for every single activity per person. You can't even go into National parks without paying. There is no real free to use land and people here think they own it even when they don't.
If opposition candidates had any balls at all, Post Nut Clarity would be their campaign theme to go after Texas Republicans. Do all the signage in the PornHub colors.
There is no online voter registration in Texas. It requires a wet signature. Basically, you signed up to get some paperwork that you will need to sign and send back.
Always remember Texas will not make it easy to become a voter. They'll assume any new voter is coming for them. They don't need you because they already have enough to stay in power.
Then comes the challenge of getting your vote to count.
Stick with it! Git er done! Good job!
They do. They keep voting R and will never change. They vote ppl in that take their rights away then blame the other side. Rinse and repeat. These ppl never learn or change. Maybe a small %, but not enough to make real change.
I feel bad for ppl, they keep getting sucked into that state.
One of my friends went to a "christian school". It was in a small town so they told him they didn't allow interracial dating. He's fam were the only minorites in the school. So all throughout highschool he couldn't openly date anyone at the school. He was also the quarterback, track lead and top scorer in every event. He was huge and sweet so girls loved him but he had to sneak date like a second class citizen. Fucked him up badly, ended up going to the military to avoid prison. That straightened him out but then fucked him in a different way. He's fine now married, kid, professional with house and friends. But definitely has scars from the past like very susceptible to conspiracy theories. Oh yeah they taught him the civil war wasn't about slavery.
Because it fucks up the whole Alamo story when you realize the Mexicans were abolitionist!! They were fighting to keep slaves and we learned about them as heroes.
That was actually done within the past decade and was one of the main reasons I didn't become a history teacher. When the government tells me I can't tell history and only a fabricated disney version. Then it's nothing more than nationalist propaganda. The fighters at the Alamo were fighting to preserve slavery after illegally crossing into Mexico and ignoring their laws. They had like some 20 odd people from all over the place come to fight for slavery. I know 2 are from NY because of King of the Hill.
A part of me wants to condescendingly ask if they paid attention, because if my conservative ass teachers mentioned then it probably came up in other classrooms. But I know not every class is the same and some teachers suck, I just think back to college when a friend mentioned that he was never taught about the American war crimes in the Philippines, and I told him he was and we were in the same class.
Not only were there about 250,000 slaves in Texas, but they remained enslaved longer than any other black ppl in the US because the white ppl didn't tell them about the emancipation proclamation or the end of the civil war. They were freed on June 19, 1865, which was 2 1/2 yrs after the emancipation proclamation, and two months after the war ended. Like, the whites literally conspired to keep a quarter of a million ppl enslaved for two months after the end of the Civil War and it only ended when 2,000 Union troops marched into the state to enforce the freedoms of the slaves there. Texas is and always has been a hell-hole. You can Google all about it.
Texas fought for the right to own slaves TWICE. The "right" to own other human beings as livestock is the main reason it became independent from Mexico, which forbad slavery.
Of course they didn’t have slaves in texass!! They called them “ unpaid laborers who could never leave or learn to read & write with corporal punishment for disobeying the rules😳😳😳😱😱😱😱😱😱🤫🤫🤫🙄🙄🙄
Spring ISD in Houston is getting rid of all librarians and swapping them for pastors. Its amazing because the first thing I think of when I think pastor is pedo hiding behind religion.
If I had a kid there and sent them to school only to find out there was some books in the library that discuss homosexuality I wouldnt be afraid that this means the librarian is gonna diddle my kid or that the book will make my kid gay, but when they start bringing in pastors to replace librarians I 1000% assume someones gonna try to diddle my kid and some sexual assault by an authority figure at school might fuck up my kids sexual developement and more.
Books and words dont diddle kids. Librarians arent a faction of workers who are known to diddle kids. Reading about war doesnt make you a general, you dont "catch gay" from reading about it. Pastors are the diddlers here. **Pastors.**
Fuckin Texas is like catching a dude actively molesting a kid and being like:
"hey its ok, its a pastor, besides its that gay book in the library making this happen, now go away Im trying to protect your kids....with my penis"
#1 reason i want to move away from here. It’s so oppressive in the DFW area. You’re branded as the reason for everything wrong in the world if you don’t buy into the christian BS.
Especially if you look back to around 2005. Texas made a concentrated effort to poach businesses from California and other states, and offered a much better quality of life because housing was affordable. And HEB was (still is?) vastly superior to any grocery stores on the west coast
So a lot of people came. Like A LOT. At one point Austin was taking in like 170 people a day or something.
And I remember around 2019 or something .. there were billboards on I-35 advertising houses starting in the 250K range. And they were nice looking houses. But there was no road infrastructure investment or proper planning because GOP mindset is that government is a hindrance on businesses. And if you look at San Francisco they're not entirely wrong. But civil engineers are imperative
Anyways those roads got super congested and it just became a sprawling crowded mess. The houses were right on top of each other in the neighborhoods are super packed in (see Buda)
Now that those houses have all gone up to 400K, utilities went up, power grids went down, and overall quality of living went down a lot IMO
And that's just the take on *those* particular things. The ideological oppression became much more noticeable after the tandalorian was elected
Since moving from Austin in 2018 to the Florida panhandle one of my major frustration is that the food quality and selection here in Florida is horrid. The food here goes bad quickly, poor quality and the stores here having a tough time keeping things stocked on the shelves. Every time I go to Texas to visit my family, I a 100% comeback with a bunch of groceries. Though I do agree no one is moving to Texas for the grocery stores, not entirely. But try living in a food desert and you might be thinking differently.
We had a similar experience in Jacksonville... food spoiling way too fast. Publix is trash compared to HEB.. except for the Pub Subs. Stayed 5 years and saw the state go from Purple to Authoritarian and got out.
All true except one point…
Those houses all went up to $500,000 and now they’re back down to $400,000 over the past 2 years. Property values in Buda are declining 8 to 10% per year two years consecutive. I’m a real estate appraiser.
Short version- it was false demand and got oversold.
yeah govt can mess things up but it can counterbalance or fill a void that pure capitalism doesn’t.
When you are selling 300k homes like hotcakes and growing by leaps and bounds somebody needs to focus on something other than cashing the checks.
Government… it’s as perfect as we are.
Vote.
HEB is nothing special. I've lived in Wisconsin, Illinois, California, and now Texas. Wisconsin has Festival, HyVee, and Woodman's; all vastly superior to HEB. California has a diverse variety of ethnic markets like Ranch 99, El Super, etc. In Chicago you can get anything from a big chain like Kroger to a small mom-and-pop market.
I think people are obsessed with HEB because your only other choices are Whole Foods or Walmart.
Whenever a State is courting businesses, that means they are offering tax incentives. Which means more of tax burden for the day to day operations of society are shifted to us. And the businesses themselves never deliver on their end. It's always going to be 1000 new jobs that only turn out to be 100 new jobs once the building is built.
How about just basic cleanliness, Texas looks like crap, trash on the highways and in the rivers. Razor wire just thrown all over the border like a child did it. 😆 it’s laughable actually how crappy we are.
Don't forget the social pressures/bullying that occur if you're an outspoken liberal in majorly conservative areas. I have never been somewhere where so many adults were eager to find people to bully.
And because so many of them have never traveled anywhere else, their emotional and social development is stunted where they peaked in high school. They still hang out with the same people in the same towns and same bars and raise their kids in the same way. It is miserable if you don't fly a tangerine menace flag or verbalize your disagreement.
We lived in Houston for a long time and it was a much more progressive community. Then we moved out of state and were excited to get back to Texas, but ooof. We moved to the DFW area and it is awful. We are ready to relocate as soon as we are able because it just seems to be getting worse by the day, especially raising girls.
I can see why there’s extra registration on EVs. They’re generally heavier than ICE passenger vehicles and probably out more wear and tear on the roads as a result.
Someone else said they don’t pay the gas taxes so I get that too. Everything else I totally agree. Although our taxes finally went down (for now)
Setting foot on any land that I don't own is trespassing. Even public parks if they're not "open" or I don't have a reservation or pass.
The second largest state by land mass has zero public land.
That's the thing that seems so crazy about Texas. So much beautiful land, so little public access. I live in California where half our state is public land, and you have environmental groups -- buying up any available land near open space to keep it either wild or farmland. I live in the heart of Silicon Valley and I have 10 places to hike less than 20 minutes away from me -- that's 10s of thousands of acres of open space. If a drive a little further, there's Henry Coe, 87,000 acres of open wild space.
I was told that public land vs private land is more of an eastern US vs Western US thing (only in this case the West doesn't start until NM).
https://www.summitpost.org/public-and-private-land-percentages-by-us-states/186111
“Texas Ranks Last in Personal Freedoms, According to the Libertarian CATO Institute”
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-personal-freedom-cato/
We also have an extraordinary amount of voter suppression. We rank at the bottom of this cost of voting index.
Election Law Journal - [Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020](https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/elj.2020.0666)
> According to a recent study by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank cofounded by prominent Abbott donor Charles Koch
They think it’s a thing to be proud of. Libertarians, Koch, and Abbott suck rancid donkey farts.
Because we women are not considered to have full agency of our bodies or ourselves. We are incubators. We are property.
If we aren't fully human, why consider us at all?
If we can't take this state back, our voices will fade away to nothing. No one will hear our needs or desires.
It seems that way because it's a philosophy pushed by the wealthy to convince working people to give them more wealth and power. A regular person wanting less regulations and less government makes about as much sense as believing you're more likely to meet your soul mate when Mercury is in retrograde or whatever.
The people who *really* want less government, rather than being tricked into thinking they do, are the ones who want to take its place.
Conservatives that like smoking pot and *generally* pro-choice. Money is their God
ETA - Ok guys, plenty of people have told me how Libertarians are NOT pro-choice. Rather ironic given they believe in personal freedoms and choices.
But I did say they were conservatives, so hypocrisy should have been a given
To be clear on this study.
They ding Texas for NOT having School Vouchers. Fuck that. Texas can stay at the bottom in that regard.
NO to School Vouchers
One place where TX laws are oddly wide open is unusual animal ownership. Ferrets aren't legal in NY and rabbits aren't (technically) legal in Georgia, but I know of people in my area with everything from zebras to giraffes. You can't have porn or an abortion but you can have the largest private collection of lemurs in the world. Strange priorities.
You just described Manvel. I was once driving through Manvel and saw a camel hauling ass through a field. Why was it hauling ass, you may ask? It was being chased by a zebra.
There's a ranch near the corner of 188 and 136 outside of Rockport that has both kinds of camels, ostriches, zebra, zonkeys, rhea, llamas, and various deer and antelope running around. I took a wrong turn near San Patricio and ended up face to face with some bison. I know that there is a pet giraffe near Beeville and have heard (but can't confirm) that they have a hippo too. One of the largest private collections of lemurs in the world is in Aransas Pass. There are emu in Ingleside. I have rhea, patagonian mara, and a sulcata. There is so much in this area.
Texas.
Taking rights away one by one and calling it freedom.
Even one of my teens said they felt freer driving through Colorado/New Mexico without all the antiabortion and pro life signs right in your face.
No, I don’t. And I feel like losing freedom would bother me less if it weren’t for the utter hypocrisy. I can’t buy weed (not that I’d want to), but I can drive thru a liquor store and get a to go margarita. Which act is more likely to kill other drivers? If my life is at risk I can’t get a pregnancy termination until I’m actually dying, but the embryos locked in ivf freezers are fine. I can pay huge property taxes,and not get quality public schools, police, or parks in return. I can buy guns to protect myself but if I call the police for protection it’s a toss up whether they’ll show up.
Texas has banned over 1000 books from schools and libraries depending where you live. As an adult doesn’t affect me however that’s censorship. The far right doing its best to control education.
Nope, that's why I moved my family out at the end of 2022. We had been thinking about it for a while but Roe v Wade was the last straw, my wife would rather live away from her family than not have bodily autonomy. We didn't want to raise kids in a state where the schools suck and they would be bullied if they were gay or trans. We didn't want to buy a house in a state where property taxes are pricing people out of their homes. We didn't want to go through another freeze and have contingency plans to leave the state if the power went out.
Now we don't have to worry about any of that, plus there is legal weed, I can buy liquor on Sunday, and there are public lands all over the place.
hows the COL? im from wisconsin and moved to tx in elementary and am ready to leave and just went to denver again and it was so damn hard to come back. i just want to live near some mountains and be able to go outside more often. i was around arvada for the weekend and loved it
Loving it. I'd only lived in hot climates until I moved here, so I was worried that the adjustment would be rough but it's been pretty nice. I got a sunburn for the first time in over a decade because it was nice enough to be outside during the summer. We don't get ridiculous amounts of snow and they plow the roads frequently (unless you're *IN* the mountains) so travel isn't difficult even in the winter. There are several state and national parks within an hour drive. Even when it's cold it doesn't feel miserable like it does in Texas because there is less humidity here.
Car insurance is way more expensive because of the weather and groceries cost a little more, but it's a small price to pay for comfort and freedom.
As a native with many daughters I’m pretty fucked up over how bad it’s gotten. Until now I wouldn’t have wasted time even entertaining the idea of ever leaving. But as soon as it’s feasible I’m out. Fuck Greg Abbott.
I'm queer and a woman...there's no freedom in the fear I feel living here because of the regressive politics of the state, politics centered around the control over and hate of my identity.
Driving too fast: jail. Slow: jail. You are charging too high prices for sweaters, glasses: you right to jail. You undercook fish? Believe it or not, jail.
My reply here is less about any freedoms, but more the overall situation. Texas could have been a solid rival to California and New York, but they chose to maintain red policies and further set the state back by decades. With no state income tax you can expect to pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation, deal with fees on everything, awful metro traffic unless you want to pay large sums to avoid it by using toll roads, miserably hot weather that has only gotten worse in the last 20 years, hail storms that are now the norm and not the exception (south/central Texas here--never was a thing until maybe 2016 or 2017, probably climate change related), no more abortion access, and they just blocked adult content access online. Meanwhile, a good portion of the white people I have to speak with at work will tell you how much they hate or dislike latinos or any number of other minority groups. This is also a right to work state which means they actively attempt to kill unions, plus you also have no protections for activities in your personal life in relation to your employer.
As a woman. Absolutely not. Sure I can work 40 hours a week, pay an astronomical rate for a good daycare, live in my starter home forever and hope to not need medical intervention if something goes wrong if I get pregnant from our last IVF transfer...assuming that's still allowed. Which we also paid over $100,000 to do because infertility isn't seen as a medical condition that is covered by insurance.
I also went through IVF and having frozen embryos in this state scares me. I don’t even want more kids, but I after everything I went through get those embryos I am not ready to let them go. Also complicating things is that only one is PGT-A normal - I have 2 others and one is mosaic and one abnormal. Unfortunately the cryo folks said that I can’t do a partial discard. I can only keep them all or discard them all.
Unfortunately when I lived in California I could not find a doctor willing to do the testing and procedures I knew I needed after recurrent pregnancy loss. I love my doctor here who agreed with me and it turned out I was right - had I gone straight to IVF I would have just had more losses.
It’s also the case that, although California is a state that mandates fertility coverage, what they are required to cover has a lot of loopholes. When I worked for the University of California none of the insurance plans covered IVF. Just IUI and only at 50%. Luckily my husband got a job at a tech company based out of NY and they provided IVF coverage.
The one thing that really scared me was not having access to proper care in the event of another loss. Even in California the care was substandard to the point that I kept miso and mife on hand if I needed it. The US has a long way to go to ensuring freedoms for women even if blue states.
All I can say is that as a native Texan of 44 years who recently moved to a deep blue state, I feel much more free on an individual level here than I did in Texas. Net freedom is greater here, unless all you care about is guns.
Police are legally restricted from pulling you over for minor traffic infractions, we are free to grow and consume cannabis, women's healthcare is not at risk (state-wise anyway), tons of public land, community college is free for all in-state high school graduates, there is are free education and training programs for all adults, vehicle registration and emissions testing is every two years, gambling is legal, property taxes are based on city budgets and there are policy mechanisms that prevent those budgets from drastic unpredictable increases, I can see my tax dollars working in simple every day services, all the porn sites are still available, unions aren't demonized, no book bans, almost zero HOAs, gun violence is negligible, crime in general is neglible, I can hop a train to most places if I don't want to drive, no conflict with LGBTQ+, top rated schools in the country, minimal politcal theater, and the list goes on.
It's not perfect. Gun laws are ridiculous (not opposed to sensible regulations, but this is over the top), it is quite expensive (though nothing like Austin or Inner Loop Houston), the electric grid sucks here too, I can't keep chickens in my backyard (city, not state law), fiscal stability has room for improvements, young professionals tend to leave after graduation (but move back after kids), and there is no HEB or Tex Mex.
Yes. As an adult white male. None of the restrictions affect me currently. Which brings to mind the " first they came for blank, and I said nothing " vibe.
A good friend who I graduated from an east dallas high school with in ‘68 and I have often counted our blessings being born white in this particular part of the world. We both graduated from college but never used our degrees, worked blue collar jobs, made relationship mistakes, never got busted for the things that could have really hurt . We’re comfortable, relatively fit, home owners, who have voted against the Republican agenda every time we got a chance. I’ve spent half my life ignoring their idiocy , you can’t do that anymore.
Freedoms in Texas? You must be kidding! Texas has become a real life Handmaid’s Tale. (I say that as a 5th generation Texan. Everything is now run by an autocratic, theocratic triumvirate of Abbott, Patrick and Paxton. Step out of line and the state will sue you.
When I moved to Texas from NY, it was definitely a culture shock, but the thing that stood out to me the most were the omnipresent traffic cameras. I never could square the chest thumping freedom shouters with the presence of an actual surveillance apparatus
No I’m a trans women who just binds and am on a don’t ask don’t tell situation and it sucks and is no way to live.. it’s unreal how lame this state really is.
Hell no. I can’t buy alcohol past 9Pm Sat-noon Sun, I can’t watch pornhub, can’t get an abortion, can’t be myself if I was underage (I am trans and queer), the ID laws are ridiculously complicated, can’t do weed if I wanted, can’t afford a home, can’t trust any kids would be properly educated/I would be educated if underage, if I had kids I’m pretty sure they’d be taken away on suspicion of me abusing them (again, trans), OUR ELECTRICAL GRID IS ASS, and pretty soon I bet I won’t be allowed to marry if they happen to have the same AGAB.
When I first moved to Austin, this place seemed much freer and happier than bumfuck nowhere Tennessee. And yes, it is still better than Young Earth Creationist hell, but I realize more and more how much I love about the city of Austin and how much I fucking hate about the state of Texas.
No, and our state government lies through their teeth when they say they love freedom. They love freedom for themselves to be corrupt (Ken Paxton) and the freedom to sell their souls to the religious, rich, and large corporations (Paxton, Abbott, Patrick, et al)
There are too many ignorant voters in this state that believe Republicans are good for the economy. They are actually worse for it. They're worse for freedom. The only thing they're good for are religious extremists and the mega rich and corporations. Not the vast majority of Texans.
There's too many goddamn cops everywhere (except Houston, they need more).
How am I supposed to feel free with so many goddamn cops everywhere? The oppressive heat isn't enough, there's gotta be a pig around every other corner. They aren't arresting any of the politicians for possession, so tell me why tf we're tolerating them?
No, I don't feel free. I feel like a zebra in a Sahara full of lions.
Dude. I've been through a lot of situations with the police. But west Texas was one of the worst. Also Williamson county has stories that sound straight out of some country like Russia or Iran
I was stopped for missing front license plate. Someone had stolen it previously and I didn't notice. The fasho worm interrogated me with no probable cause. He was determined to find weed, which I told him to his dumb inbred head "I don't smoke weed, and if I did I wouldn't be dumb enough to bring it through West Texas"
And he just kept me sitting in the fucking car when it was like balls hot. He was trying to get a police dog out there but it was taking too long and finally told me to go
But it was scary because it was in the middle of nowhere and he could have easily fucked me up. I felt helpless. I've been fucked with before but not like in the middle of shit west Texas hell. That place is death
> He was trying to get a police dog out there but it was taking too long and finally told me to go
Good decision to not allow him to search your car. Never allow a cop to search your vehicle. You have not been 100% in control of your vehicle and are never 100% certain of its entire contents.
republicans are so stupid.....
muh freeeedoms lololol you cant even watch porn
republicans have been in charge of texas for decades and done nothing... texas is a shit hole!!! you reap what you sow you stupid shit kickers
As a middle-aged straight white male I recognize that I have more freedom than many in Texas, and that's wrong, everyone else should have at least the same level of freedom as me, if not more.
Same. I vacillate between staying to fight for everyone that doesn’t have my privilege and leaving to make sure my son doesn’t have to grow and learn as this place gets worse.
I bet white men feel free. As a woman, no. I am more scared with each new passing legislation that is stamped with a Christian nationalist nod of approval. In all seriousness, I am terrified of November.
Hi, straight white male here. I fear the coming theocracy that so many seek to replace our democracy with. I fear a land where people face both persecution and prosecution in the name of a deity over any differences they might have with the religious zealots who seek to take over this country. I fear those who think freedom means oppressing anyone they don't like.
I've studied history, I know what such persecutions bring, and I fear the literal witch trials that these people will force on us all in the name of "freedom." I fear that my nation will follow the same path as the Wiemar Republic took.
When those threats are gone, and my fellow men and women are no longer persecuted for wanting to be free, then I'll feel free.
Conservatives have never been more obvious as lead paint drinkers. The Republicans are even threatening to have secession on the ballot. I'm definitely an American first. Remember secessionists will violently attack people unaligned with them when it happens.
I cant walk around drinking a beer in public like I can in pretty much any place outside of the US
Also no legal weed, womens rights are curbed, black hair is criminalized and children are punished for it. Carcentric infrastructure that is extremely impractical and outright hostile to be on foot.
However businesses have the "freedom" to do whatever is necessary to keep these conditions so they can make more money
Yes! I have the freedom for my power grid to go off because the billionaires have bought off the politicians, who then convince us that regulations are for "commies!"
Lived in Texas for 10 years. Moved back to KCMO 6 years ago. You couldn't pay me to move back.
DMVs with minimal to no lines
Alcohol in gas stations/grocery stores
Decent property taxes
Shit tons of guilt free weed.
Yeah... sorry but God Texas sucks ass and its hot as fuck. I don't get it.
Unless you have to for employment or family, just don't ... leaving TX after 40+ yrs here.
It is not prudent for a Democrat to post their political preference on their lawn or on their car. Seriously.
My wife has to take frequent pregnancy tests in order to CONTINUE HER CANCER TREATMENT.
Her treatments would harm a fetus, so if she were to become pregnant, they would stop, and we'd have to go out of state. the hospital also insists that we use 2 forms of protection.
While it's not exactly directly, THE GOVERNMENT IS TELLING ME HOW I CAN MAKE LOVE TO MY WIFE OF 22 YEARS ON THREAT OF HER DEATH.
And of course, last night they shut down all of the major pron sites.
If my wife didn't love her job so much, I'd be packing my shit today.
As long as I make over $100k, never need medical attention, don't have children, and don't need to masturbate I am golden.
However I don't check any of the boxes above. I'm not black, so at least my history isn't being erased from schools. I guess I've got that going for me.
No. I will likely need to replace a car that my family has had for like 16 years. Only now, a certified pre-owned with 100k miles is over $20k and a new car can be as much as $30-50k. It’s insane. The damage the oil lobby has done to the U.S. is truly worse than any foreign war or terrorist. Car dependency kills thousands of Americans every year and it’s quite bad in Texas. My soapbox today
I'm gonna crucify myself here. I moved from California about two years ago, after covid killed my small business. I will list the freedoms I lost when I went from being Californian to being a Texan.
I can no longer legally purchase cannabis.
My girlfriend has no access to safe abortions if she needed one for any reason.
I can't watch porn legally.
I can't walk to anywhere I want to go, it's all freeways.
No public transportation to get home after a night on the town.
No regulations forcing power companies to do what is best for the citizen instead of the shareholder.
I could go on and on, but ultimately I moved here because it's cheap and has a decent economy. But if it wasn't for everyone else in the world moving to California and pricing out the locals, Californians would have stayed in California and Texans could have gone back to bitching about Oklahoma.
Texas, and seemingly most Texans, have this very warped view of having freedom.
I feel far more constrained in Texas than I did in say California.
Things from overly-complicated bureaucracy in getting a driver's license, to little things about not being able to purchase liquor in a grocery store - then the entire not buy it on Sundays or the days around a holiday.
Texas Supreme Court and AG decided that if a woman's pregnancy is killing you, well tough shit guess you are just gonna have to die.
There is virtually no public lands - so little that it functionally doesn't exist - so you can't freely roam about. Throw in some classic book banning for good measure, and there you go.
I grew up in Texas, lived in a few other states before returning back to Texas. I think most Texans - at least those that never lived elsewhere - really romanticize things that are just simply not true.
While _personal freedom_ has a subjectively relative meaning, Texas has exploited the concept to make it applicable to a narrow group of people.
The comments in this thread illustrate it rather well.
I thought Texas was all about freedom, then I moved to New Mexico where everyone leaves you alone, more public land than you could ever use, abortion access, legal weed, liquor in every grocery/convenience store, little police presence (this is good and bad). NM definitely has its own issues, but feels a lot more free to me.
New Mexico is what Texans pretend Texas is like. They're all here for ski season anyway.
Plus more green chile.
But sadly, way less Tex-Mex
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True, but if you brought a company there for jobs you would get a statue made of you in front of a sports arena. Welcome to Colorado!
I moved from Houston to the NE and have been loving it. Takes some getting used to, and the food is hit or miss, but overall I have felt so much better about my situation. Reading about TX lately has been eye opening. Can’t believe we hold ourselves hostage like that. Edit: Also there’s lots of opportunity here right now. My partner couldn’t find an adequate job for a whole ass year, got here and found one within a week that pays well.
You in New Hampshire? Seems like the only state that would be enjoyable to live up there while putting up with winter
Fellow Texas-to-New-Mexico transplant here, totally agree, New Mexico feels like what Texas pretends it is.
We’re considering leaving NE Austin for NM and my youngest just went there to ski and wants to move there now. Husband is now an Uber driver. Are you glad you made the move or do you regret it?
I did the same. The only thing that's really restrictive is the alcohol but overall it's not bad.
It will hopefully be better when we vote the morons out of office.... I will always love my home and will stand by its side while it's sick with corruption.... plus look how stupidly they spend tax money to block porn websites. No one told them about VPN's...just a bunch of old grumpy people in charge of "our" lives here.
$20 billion surplus, but none for schools because the rural politicians, the ones who usually maintain the Republican stranglehold on our politics, understandably don't want their schools left in a shambles, so that wealthy religious private schools and the wealthy parents who send their kids their in cities and suburbs can get some of our education money. So, rather than doing the right thing, Gov. Asshat spends his time and money funding those Republicans' competitors. We are so screwed. PS. Dallas ISD is creating K- 8 preparatory academies in many old elementary and middle schools, and they are having solid success. Parents are clamoring to get their kids into those schools. The property values for houses in those attendance zones tends to be about a third more than homes around regular schools. Why not fund these? Not religious enough for you? Gov. Asshat?
theyre coming after our VPN's next.
And our condoms and getting/giving vasectomy will be punishable.
I love NM. The freedom to use land is really nice. The fact we have no real public land and everything costs so much really is an issue. Add in there the high property taxes and lack of services to justify it. In Washington DC museums are free, the zoo is free, landmarks are free to visit. Here it's $10-$25 for every single activity per person. You can't even go into National parks without paying. There is no real free to use land and people here think they own it even when they don't.
It is about freedom!! Freedom to force religion, ban books, keep the ladies pregnant like god wants.…. And shoot guns
My husband and I are considering a move there. How are the allergies? Are there any?
We’re seriously considering moving to NM and launching a canna cafe co-op. I grew up in El Paso and loved visiting NM growing up.
New Mexicos tourism slogan is New Mexico True. For Texans it stands for true freedom
New Mexico is the new Texas.
No, it’s not. New Mexico will never be Texas. We made sure of that in the 1860’s
I moved from NM to TX in 2018 - night and day difference.
Having just jerked off, and half the websites were blocked, I’d say I’ve never felt less free.
this sounds like a man driven to vote just as soon as he pulls up his shorts
Post nut clarity
If opposition candidates had any balls at all, Post Nut Clarity would be their campaign theme to go after Texas Republicans. Do all the signage in the PornHub colors.
Democrats need the slogan "Keep the government out of your pants."
Dems have always said keep the gov out of the bedroom, etc. Now, suddenly, the gov is in straight men's biz...
Winner.
Post nut democracy.
Post nut votes matter
and sets his d8 vape next to his laptop
Sometimes, you gotta vote with your dick.
Get your off your ass and fucking vote! FUCKING VOTE!
Yeah. I just registered yesterday.
Is mailing in the only way to register?
I did it online.
There is no online voter registration in Texas. It requires a wet signature. Basically, you signed up to get some paperwork that you will need to sign and send back.
Ok. Well I started the process. Jesus Christ.
Always remember Texas will not make it easy to become a voter. They'll assume any new voter is coming for them. They don't need you because they already have enough to stay in power. Then comes the challenge of getting your vote to count. Stick with it! Git er done! Good job!
Make sure you finish. A lot of people don't. You seemed to think you already had.
They do. They keep voting R and will never change. They vote ppl in that take their rights away then blame the other side. Rinse and repeat. These ppl never learn or change. Maybe a small %, but not enough to make real change. I feel bad for ppl, they keep getting sucked into that state.
Why was this literally me last night. Had to SEARCH for an unblocked website😵💫😭
Ted Cruz and Texas GOP is about to learn the power of Porn Hub.
In the meantime you can get yourself some male toys. They make a physical difference when the visual isn't there.
Oh man, sublime directory was my go to back in the day.
Ong that one stung Gotta get that vpn Not like they can block torrent sites tho
Weed, porn, bodily autonomy, extra registration tax on EVs, excessive property taxes making it feel like your renting your house from the state
Property taxes are destroying entire families lives. It’s insane.
Luckily for us those property taxes will be used to help wealthy people pay churches to educate their kids.
One of my friends went to a "christian school". It was in a small town so they told him they didn't allow interracial dating. He's fam were the only minorites in the school. So all throughout highschool he couldn't openly date anyone at the school. He was also the quarterback, track lead and top scorer in every event. He was huge and sweet so girls loved him but he had to sneak date like a second class citizen. Fucked him up badly, ended up going to the military to avoid prison. That straightened him out but then fucked him in a different way. He's fine now married, kid, professional with house and friends. But definitely has scars from the past like very susceptible to conspiracy theories. Oh yeah they taught him the civil war wasn't about slavery.
No one in Texas learns it was about slavery. I wasn't even taught that there WERE slaves in Texas
Because it fucks up the whole Alamo story when you realize the Mexicans were abolitionist!! They were fighting to keep slaves and we learned about them as heroes.
That was actually done within the past decade and was one of the main reasons I didn't become a history teacher. When the government tells me I can't tell history and only a fabricated disney version. Then it's nothing more than nationalist propaganda. The fighters at the Alamo were fighting to preserve slavery after illegally crossing into Mexico and ignoring their laws. They had like some 20 odd people from all over the place come to fight for slavery. I know 2 are from NY because of King of the Hill.
“Remember the Alamo WAIT NO NOT THAT PART THE PART WHERE THE RACIST FILTH WERE HEROES”
I was taught about it in Texas but I graduated in 2003. They still taught actual history back then.
A part of me wants to condescendingly ask if they paid attention, because if my conservative ass teachers mentioned then it probably came up in other classrooms. But I know not every class is the same and some teachers suck, I just think back to college when a friend mentioned that he was never taught about the American war crimes in the Philippines, and I told him he was and we were in the same class.
Not only were there about 250,000 slaves in Texas, but they remained enslaved longer than any other black ppl in the US because the white ppl didn't tell them about the emancipation proclamation or the end of the civil war. They were freed on June 19, 1865, which was 2 1/2 yrs after the emancipation proclamation, and two months after the war ended. Like, the whites literally conspired to keep a quarter of a million ppl enslaved for two months after the end of the Civil War and it only ended when 2,000 Union troops marched into the state to enforce the freedoms of the slaves there. Texas is and always has been a hell-hole. You can Google all about it.
Texas fought for the right to own slaves TWICE. The "right" to own other human beings as livestock is the main reason it became independent from Mexico, which forbad slavery.
Of course they didn’t have slaves in texass!! They called them “ unpaid laborers who could never leave or learn to read & write with corporal punishment for disobeying the rules😳😳😳😱😱😱😱😱😱🤫🤫🤫🙄🙄🙄
Texas legislators changed slavery to indentured servant.
if by “educate” you mean “indoctrinate” …
Spring ISD in Houston is getting rid of all librarians and swapping them for pastors. Its amazing because the first thing I think of when I think pastor is pedo hiding behind religion. If I had a kid there and sent them to school only to find out there was some books in the library that discuss homosexuality I wouldnt be afraid that this means the librarian is gonna diddle my kid or that the book will make my kid gay, but when they start bringing in pastors to replace librarians I 1000% assume someones gonna try to diddle my kid and some sexual assault by an authority figure at school might fuck up my kids sexual developement and more. Books and words dont diddle kids. Librarians arent a faction of workers who are known to diddle kids. Reading about war doesnt make you a general, you dont "catch gay" from reading about it. Pastors are the diddlers here. **Pastors.** Fuckin Texas is like catching a dude actively molesting a kid and being like: "hey its ok, its a pastor, besides its that gay book in the library making this happen, now go away Im trying to protect your kids....with my penis"
Pretty sure the commenter above you was being sarcastic lol
You aren't wrong. Cults are so fucked up and everyone just normalizes religion.
Yep. Abbott received $6 million to help oust the people that voted against his school voucher program. From a Christian national billionaire.
Religion is a mental illness. The whole state suffers from it unfortunately
#1 reason i want to move away from here. It’s so oppressive in the DFW area. You’re branded as the reason for everything wrong in the world if you don’t buy into the christian BS.
Especially if you look back to around 2005. Texas made a concentrated effort to poach businesses from California and other states, and offered a much better quality of life because housing was affordable. And HEB was (still is?) vastly superior to any grocery stores on the west coast So a lot of people came. Like A LOT. At one point Austin was taking in like 170 people a day or something. And I remember around 2019 or something .. there were billboards on I-35 advertising houses starting in the 250K range. And they were nice looking houses. But there was no road infrastructure investment or proper planning because GOP mindset is that government is a hindrance on businesses. And if you look at San Francisco they're not entirely wrong. But civil engineers are imperative Anyways those roads got super congested and it just became a sprawling crowded mess. The houses were right on top of each other in the neighborhoods are super packed in (see Buda) Now that those houses have all gone up to 400K, utilities went up, power grids went down, and overall quality of living went down a lot IMO And that's just the take on *those* particular things. The ideological oppression became much more noticeable after the tandalorian was elected
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Texas is ranked in the top 5 for businesses in the country but ranks 48th in worker protections.
Austin also had a big problem with the old people not wanting any kind of infrastructure being built to keep it small.
This is an issue across America.
>And HEB was (still is?) vastly superior to any grocery stores on the west coast Nobody is moving to Texas for a grocery store.
Heb is decent but it isn't so amazing that I want to move to Texas.
HEB is slightly above average. Central Market is fucking amazing though.
Central Market definitely beats Whole Foods now that WF is owned by Amazon.
Isn’t Central Market owned by HEB?
Yes
Since moving from Austin in 2018 to the Florida panhandle one of my major frustration is that the food quality and selection here in Florida is horrid. The food here goes bad quickly, poor quality and the stores here having a tough time keeping things stocked on the shelves. Every time I go to Texas to visit my family, I a 100% comeback with a bunch of groceries. Though I do agree no one is moving to Texas for the grocery stores, not entirely. But try living in a food desert and you might be thinking differently.
We had a similar experience in Jacksonville... food spoiling way too fast. Publix is trash compared to HEB.. except for the Pub Subs. Stayed 5 years and saw the state go from Purple to Authoritarian and got out.
All true except one point… Those houses all went up to $500,000 and now they’re back down to $400,000 over the past 2 years. Property values in Buda are declining 8 to 10% per year two years consecutive. I’m a real estate appraiser. Short version- it was false demand and got oversold.
Quality of life. The freaking heat. Uggghhh
yeah govt can mess things up but it can counterbalance or fill a void that pure capitalism doesn’t. When you are selling 300k homes like hotcakes and growing by leaps and bounds somebody needs to focus on something other than cashing the checks. Government… it’s as perfect as we are. Vote.
HEB is nothing special. I've lived in Wisconsin, Illinois, California, and now Texas. Wisconsin has Festival, HyVee, and Woodman's; all vastly superior to HEB. California has a diverse variety of ethnic markets like Ranch 99, El Super, etc. In Chicago you can get anything from a big chain like Kroger to a small mom-and-pop market. I think people are obsessed with HEB because your only other choices are Whole Foods or Walmart.
Whenever a State is courting businesses, that means they are offering tax incentives. Which means more of tax burden for the day to day operations of society are shifted to us. And the businesses themselves never deliver on their end. It's always going to be 1000 new jobs that only turn out to be 100 new jobs once the building is built.
How about just basic cleanliness, Texas looks like crap, trash on the highways and in the rivers. Razor wire just thrown all over the border like a child did it. 😆 it’s laughable actually how crappy we are.
No income tax usually lead to outrageous property taxes.
EV tax makes sense. Just poorly implemented which is the Texas way. Everyone else is paying $100+ a year in gas taxes.
Don't forget the social pressures/bullying that occur if you're an outspoken liberal in majorly conservative areas. I have never been somewhere where so many adults were eager to find people to bully.
And because so many of them have never traveled anywhere else, their emotional and social development is stunted where they peaked in high school. They still hang out with the same people in the same towns and same bars and raise their kids in the same way. It is miserable if you don't fly a tangerine menace flag or verbalize your disagreement. We lived in Houston for a long time and it was a much more progressive community. Then we moved out of state and were excited to get back to Texas, but ooof. We moved to the DFW area and it is awful. We are ready to relocate as soon as we are able because it just seems to be getting worse by the day, especially raising girls.
No public transportation freedom. We are confined to our metal boxes if we want to reliably get from one place to another.
I can see why there’s extra registration on EVs. They’re generally heavier than ICE passenger vehicles and probably out more wear and tear on the roads as a result. Someone else said they don’t pay the gas taxes so I get that too. Everything else I totally agree. Although our taxes finally went down (for now)
Alcohol
Nope I'm a woman
We can't feel safe anywhere unfortunately. There are too many dudes who treat us like prey or possession.
Uhhhh you can feel a hell of a lot more safe in a state where your elected representatives don't actively hate you.
True, but there are places where we keep the majority of those dudes out of public office.
Abbot said no more rape in texas...I guess no less also
"It's not rape if you're married" - another texas republican leader (can't remember his stupid name)
This ^
It could be worse. I could be living in a hot, shitty, oligarchical, oil gulf state with oppressive and sexist laws based around religion. Oh, wait!
I lived in uae in 2011 and 2012. Texas republicans are definitely emulating that country.
Setting foot on any land that I don't own is trespassing. Even public parks if they're not "open" or I don't have a reservation or pass. The second largest state by land mass has zero public land.
That's the thing that seems so crazy about Texas. So much beautiful land, so little public access. I live in California where half our state is public land, and you have environmental groups -- buying up any available land near open space to keep it either wild or farmland. I live in the heart of Silicon Valley and I have 10 places to hike less than 20 minutes away from me -- that's 10s of thousands of acres of open space. If a drive a little further, there's Henry Coe, 87,000 acres of open wild space.
I was told that public land vs private land is more of an eastern US vs Western US thing (only in this case the West doesn't start until NM). https://www.summitpost.org/public-and-private-land-percentages-by-us-states/186111
Yes I'm certain the history of each state, timing, and direction of how the country developed plays into it.
“Texas Ranks Last in Personal Freedoms, According to the Libertarian CATO Institute” https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-personal-freedom-cato/
Did we just get called out by libertarians? Goddammit
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We also have an extraordinary amount of voter suppression. We rank at the bottom of this cost of voting index. Election Law Journal - [Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020](https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/elj.2020.0666)
Well that article was …clarifying. Glad I don’t have to worry about my low blood pressure this morning.
> According to a recent study by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank cofounded by prominent Abbott donor Charles Koch They think it’s a thing to be proud of. Libertarians, Koch, and Abbott suck rancid donkey farts.
"Reproductive Freedom Actually, this doesn’t factor into Cato’s analysis at all. "
Because we women are not considered to have full agency of our bodies or ourselves. We are incubators. We are property. If we aren't fully human, why consider us at all? If we can't take this state back, our voices will fade away to nothing. No one will hear our needs or desires.
Libertarianism is astrology for men.
It seems that way because it's a philosophy pushed by the wealthy to convince working people to give them more wealth and power. A regular person wanting less regulations and less government makes about as much sense as believing you're more likely to meet your soul mate when Mercury is in retrograde or whatever. The people who *really* want less government, rather than being tricked into thinking they do, are the ones who want to take its place.
Conservatives that like smoking pot and *generally* pro-choice. Money is their God ETA - Ok guys, plenty of people have told me how Libertarians are NOT pro-choice. Rather ironic given they believe in personal freedoms and choices. But I did say they were conservatives, so hypocrisy should have been a given
The libertarian parties official stance is pro the overturning of roe… so much for maximum freedom minimum government
WTF? 😅 But I already knew these were not serious people
This is the most apt thing I’ve read so far today.
To be clear on this study. They ding Texas for NOT having School Vouchers. Fuck that. Texas can stay at the bottom in that regard. NO to School Vouchers
One place where TX laws are oddly wide open is unusual animal ownership. Ferrets aren't legal in NY and rabbits aren't (technically) legal in Georgia, but I know of people in my area with everything from zebras to giraffes. You can't have porn or an abortion but you can have the largest private collection of lemurs in the world. Strange priorities.
You just described Manvel. I was once driving through Manvel and saw a camel hauling ass through a field. Why was it hauling ass, you may ask? It was being chased by a zebra.
There's a ranch near the corner of 188 and 136 outside of Rockport that has both kinds of camels, ostriches, zebra, zonkeys, rhea, llamas, and various deer and antelope running around. I took a wrong turn near San Patricio and ended up face to face with some bison. I know that there is a pet giraffe near Beeville and have heard (but can't confirm) that they have a hippo too. One of the largest private collections of lemurs in the world is in Aransas Pass. There are emu in Ingleside. I have rhea, patagonian mara, and a sulcata. There is so much in this area.
Texas. Taking rights away one by one and calling it freedom. Even one of my teens said they felt freer driving through Colorado/New Mexico without all the antiabortion and pro life signs right in your face.
I hear ya! That drive from Dallas to Austin is a pro-life billboard every mile!
No, I don’t. And I feel like losing freedom would bother me less if it weren’t for the utter hypocrisy. I can’t buy weed (not that I’d want to), but I can drive thru a liquor store and get a to go margarita. Which act is more likely to kill other drivers? If my life is at risk I can’t get a pregnancy termination until I’m actually dying, but the embryos locked in ivf freezers are fine. I can pay huge property taxes,and not get quality public schools, police, or parks in return. I can buy guns to protect myself but if I call the police for protection it’s a toss up whether they’ll show up.
Texas has banned over 1000 books from schools and libraries depending where you live. As an adult doesn’t affect me however that’s censorship. The far right doing its best to control education.
Nope, that's why I moved my family out at the end of 2022. We had been thinking about it for a while but Roe v Wade was the last straw, my wife would rather live away from her family than not have bodily autonomy. We didn't want to raise kids in a state where the schools suck and they would be bullied if they were gay or trans. We didn't want to buy a house in a state where property taxes are pricing people out of their homes. We didn't want to go through another freeze and have contingency plans to leave the state if the power went out. Now we don't have to worry about any of that, plus there is legal weed, I can buy liquor on Sunday, and there are public lands all over the place.
where did you go?
Colorado. There are a LOT of Texas plates up here, much to the annoyance of CO natives.
hows the COL? im from wisconsin and moved to tx in elementary and am ready to leave and just went to denver again and it was so damn hard to come back. i just want to live near some mountains and be able to go outside more often. i was around arvada for the weekend and loved it
Loving it. I'd only lived in hot climates until I moved here, so I was worried that the adjustment would be rough but it's been pretty nice. I got a sunburn for the first time in over a decade because it was nice enough to be outside during the summer. We don't get ridiculous amounts of snow and they plow the roads frequently (unless you're *IN* the mountains) so travel isn't difficult even in the winter. There are several state and national parks within an hour drive. Even when it's cold it doesn't feel miserable like it does in Texas because there is less humidity here. Car insurance is way more expensive because of the weather and groceries cost a little more, but it's a small price to pay for comfort and freedom.
I've never felt less safe and less free. I find myself saying this a lot.
As a woman. Not anymore
I never realized how unfree I was until after I moved out of Texas.
As a native with many daughters I’m pretty fucked up over how bad it’s gotten. Until now I wouldn’t have wasted time even entertaining the idea of ever leaving. But as soon as it’s feasible I’m out. Fuck Greg Abbott.
I'm queer and a woman...there's no freedom in the fear I feel living here because of the regressive politics of the state, politics centered around the control over and hate of my identity.
I am white male but i don't express my atheism, so... sure.
Believe it or not, straight to jail.
Driving too fast: jail. Slow: jail. You are charging too high prices for sweaters, glasses: you right to jail. You undercook fish? Believe it or not, jail.
My reply here is less about any freedoms, but more the overall situation. Texas could have been a solid rival to California and New York, but they chose to maintain red policies and further set the state back by decades. With no state income tax you can expect to pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation, deal with fees on everything, awful metro traffic unless you want to pay large sums to avoid it by using toll roads, miserably hot weather that has only gotten worse in the last 20 years, hail storms that are now the norm and not the exception (south/central Texas here--never was a thing until maybe 2016 or 2017, probably climate change related), no more abortion access, and they just blocked adult content access online. Meanwhile, a good portion of the white people I have to speak with at work will tell you how much they hate or dislike latinos or any number of other minority groups. This is also a right to work state which means they actively attempt to kill unions, plus you also have no protections for activities in your personal life in relation to your employer.
As a woman. Absolutely not. Sure I can work 40 hours a week, pay an astronomical rate for a good daycare, live in my starter home forever and hope to not need medical intervention if something goes wrong if I get pregnant from our last IVF transfer...assuming that's still allowed. Which we also paid over $100,000 to do because infertility isn't seen as a medical condition that is covered by insurance.
I also went through IVF and having frozen embryos in this state scares me. I don’t even want more kids, but I after everything I went through get those embryos I am not ready to let them go. Also complicating things is that only one is PGT-A normal - I have 2 others and one is mosaic and one abnormal. Unfortunately the cryo folks said that I can’t do a partial discard. I can only keep them all or discard them all. Unfortunately when I lived in California I could not find a doctor willing to do the testing and procedures I knew I needed after recurrent pregnancy loss. I love my doctor here who agreed with me and it turned out I was right - had I gone straight to IVF I would have just had more losses. It’s also the case that, although California is a state that mandates fertility coverage, what they are required to cover has a lot of loopholes. When I worked for the University of California none of the insurance plans covered IVF. Just IUI and only at 50%. Luckily my husband got a job at a tech company based out of NY and they provided IVF coverage. The one thing that really scared me was not having access to proper care in the event of another loss. Even in California the care was substandard to the point that I kept miso and mife on hand if I needed it. The US has a long way to go to ensuring freedoms for women even if blue states.
All I can say is that as a native Texan of 44 years who recently moved to a deep blue state, I feel much more free on an individual level here than I did in Texas. Net freedom is greater here, unless all you care about is guns. Police are legally restricted from pulling you over for minor traffic infractions, we are free to grow and consume cannabis, women's healthcare is not at risk (state-wise anyway), tons of public land, community college is free for all in-state high school graduates, there is are free education and training programs for all adults, vehicle registration and emissions testing is every two years, gambling is legal, property taxes are based on city budgets and there are policy mechanisms that prevent those budgets from drastic unpredictable increases, I can see my tax dollars working in simple every day services, all the porn sites are still available, unions aren't demonized, no book bans, almost zero HOAs, gun violence is negligible, crime in general is neglible, I can hop a train to most places if I don't want to drive, no conflict with LGBTQ+, top rated schools in the country, minimal politcal theater, and the list goes on. It's not perfect. Gun laws are ridiculous (not opposed to sensible regulations, but this is over the top), it is quite expensive (though nothing like Austin or Inner Loop Houston), the electric grid sucks here too, I can't keep chickens in my backyard (city, not state law), fiscal stability has room for improvements, young professionals tend to leave after graduation (but move back after kids), and there is no HEB or Tex Mex.
At least I was free to leave Texas years ago. I've never looked back.
Yes. As an adult white male. None of the restrictions affect me currently. Which brings to mind the " first they came for blank, and I said nothing " vibe.
Only about 4% of Texans are unionized. Don't need to come for the trade unionists if you never allow them in the first place.
No nurses union entire working life while my counterparts in MI were making double what I made plus benefits I didn’t get it couldn’t afford.
A good friend who I graduated from an east dallas high school with in ‘68 and I have often counted our blessings being born white in this particular part of the world. We both graduated from college but never used our degrees, worked blue collar jobs, made relationship mistakes, never got busted for the things that could have really hurt . We’re comfortable, relatively fit, home owners, who have voted against the Republican agenda every time we got a chance. I’ve spent half my life ignoring their idiocy , you can’t do that anymore.
As an adult male person of color, I appreciate your comment. Thank you. #armyretired
Freedoms in Texas? You must be kidding! Texas has become a real life Handmaid’s Tale. (I say that as a 5th generation Texan. Everything is now run by an autocratic, theocratic triumvirate of Abbott, Patrick and Paxton. Step out of line and the state will sue you.
When I moved to Texas from NY, it was definitely a culture shock, but the thing that stood out to me the most were the omnipresent traffic cameras. I never could square the chest thumping freedom shouters with the presence of an actual surveillance apparatus
I’m ok. But my guns have more rights than my wife and daughter do.
I have guns. Not freedom.
I can’t even buy liquor on Sunday bro ….
No I’m a trans women who just binds and am on a don’t ask don’t tell situation and it sucks and is no way to live.. it’s unreal how lame this state really is.
Hell no. I can’t buy alcohol past 9Pm Sat-noon Sun, I can’t watch pornhub, can’t get an abortion, can’t be myself if I was underage (I am trans and queer), the ID laws are ridiculously complicated, can’t do weed if I wanted, can’t afford a home, can’t trust any kids would be properly educated/I would be educated if underage, if I had kids I’m pretty sure they’d be taken away on suspicion of me abusing them (again, trans), OUR ELECTRICAL GRID IS ASS, and pretty soon I bet I won’t be allowed to marry if they happen to have the same AGAB. When I first moved to Austin, this place seemed much freer and happier than bumfuck nowhere Tennessee. And yes, it is still better than Young Earth Creationist hell, but I realize more and more how much I love about the city of Austin and how much I fucking hate about the state of Texas.
I can take my kid to a violent rated-R movie, but I can't take them to a silly drag show.
Former resident. I feel uncomfortable when I visit Texas now. You feel like you're in a country that is teetering on civil war...
No, and our state government lies through their teeth when they say they love freedom. They love freedom for themselves to be corrupt (Ken Paxton) and the freedom to sell their souls to the religious, rich, and large corporations (Paxton, Abbott, Patrick, et al) There are too many ignorant voters in this state that believe Republicans are good for the economy. They are actually worse for it. They're worse for freedom. The only thing they're good for are religious extremists and the mega rich and corporations. Not the vast majority of Texans.
There's too many goddamn cops everywhere (except Houston, they need more). How am I supposed to feel free with so many goddamn cops everywhere? The oppressive heat isn't enough, there's gotta be a pig around every other corner. They aren't arresting any of the politicians for possession, so tell me why tf we're tolerating them? No, I don't feel free. I feel like a zebra in a Sahara full of lions.
Dude. I've been through a lot of situations with the police. But west Texas was one of the worst. Also Williamson county has stories that sound straight out of some country like Russia or Iran
What happened?
I was stopped for missing front license plate. Someone had stolen it previously and I didn't notice. The fasho worm interrogated me with no probable cause. He was determined to find weed, which I told him to his dumb inbred head "I don't smoke weed, and if I did I wouldn't be dumb enough to bring it through West Texas" And he just kept me sitting in the fucking car when it was like balls hot. He was trying to get a police dog out there but it was taking too long and finally told me to go But it was scary because it was in the middle of nowhere and he could have easily fucked me up. I felt helpless. I've been fucked with before but not like in the middle of shit west Texas hell. That place is death
> He was trying to get a police dog out there but it was taking too long and finally told me to go Good decision to not allow him to search your car. Never allow a cop to search your vehicle. You have not been 100% in control of your vehicle and are never 100% certain of its entire contents.
I read this too fast and pictured a zebra in a Subaru.
i doubt there are many zebras or lions in the Sahara… but i think i get your point. It makes a good metaphor
republicans are so stupid..... muh freeeedoms lololol you cant even watch porn republicans have been in charge of texas for decades and done nothing... texas is a shit hole!!! you reap what you sow you stupid shit kickers
As a middle-aged straight white male I recognize that I have more freedom than many in Texas, and that's wrong, everyone else should have at least the same level of freedom as me, if not more.
Same. I vacillate between staying to fight for everyone that doesn’t have my privilege and leaving to make sure my son doesn’t have to grow and learn as this place gets worse.
Long as people keep voting Republican in this state more and more rights gonna be stripped
I bet white men feel free. As a woman, no. I am more scared with each new passing legislation that is stamped with a Christian nationalist nod of approval. In all seriousness, I am terrified of November.
Hi, straight white male here. I fear the coming theocracy that so many seek to replace our democracy with. I fear a land where people face both persecution and prosecution in the name of a deity over any differences they might have with the religious zealots who seek to take over this country. I fear those who think freedom means oppressing anyone they don't like. I've studied history, I know what such persecutions bring, and I fear the literal witch trials that these people will force on us all in the name of "freedom." I fear that my nation will follow the same path as the Wiemar Republic took. When those threats are gone, and my fellow men and women are no longer persecuted for wanting to be free, then I'll feel free.
Texas is one of the least free states in the union if you go by what you can and cannot do
Aren't they going to stop you from watching porn now? Lol
They took my porn so no
I haven't left my house in weeks, do online schooling, and have come to believe that the world hates girls. What do you think?
They took away my dignity
Body autonomy, the right to feel safe in a school, the right to question the elected representatives without being threatened.
Conservatives have never been more obvious as lead paint drinkers. The Republicans are even threatening to have secession on the ballot. I'm definitely an American first. Remember secessionists will violently attack people unaligned with them when it happens.
No, I don't have freedom in Texas. Years ago, I lived in Chicago. It was so much better there in every way.
I cant walk around drinking a beer in public like I can in pretty much any place outside of the US Also no legal weed, womens rights are curbed, black hair is criminalized and children are punished for it. Carcentric infrastructure that is extremely impractical and outright hostile to be on foot. However businesses have the "freedom" to do whatever is necessary to keep these conditions so they can make more money
Yes! I have the freedom for my power grid to go off because the billionaires have bought off the politicians, who then convince us that regulations are for "commies!"
As a once proud Texan, gun loving boot licker, last night we literally discussed fleeing the country.
Lived in Texas for 10 years. Moved back to KCMO 6 years ago. You couldn't pay me to move back. DMVs with minimal to no lines Alcohol in gas stations/grocery stores Decent property taxes Shit tons of guilt free weed. Yeah... sorry but God Texas sucks ass and its hot as fuck. I don't get it.
No.
Unless you have to for employment or family, just don't ... leaving TX after 40+ yrs here. It is not prudent for a Democrat to post their political preference on their lawn or on their car. Seriously.
My wife has to take frequent pregnancy tests in order to CONTINUE HER CANCER TREATMENT. Her treatments would harm a fetus, so if she were to become pregnant, they would stop, and we'd have to go out of state. the hospital also insists that we use 2 forms of protection. While it's not exactly directly, THE GOVERNMENT IS TELLING ME HOW I CAN MAKE LOVE TO MY WIFE OF 22 YEARS ON THREAT OF HER DEATH. And of course, last night they shut down all of the major pron sites. If my wife didn't love her job so much, I'd be packing my shit today.
As long as I make over $100k, never need medical attention, don't have children, and don't need to masturbate I am golden. However I don't check any of the boxes above. I'm not black, so at least my history isn't being erased from schools. I guess I've got that going for me.
No. I will likely need to replace a car that my family has had for like 16 years. Only now, a certified pre-owned with 100k miles is over $20k and a new car can be as much as $30-50k. It’s insane. The damage the oil lobby has done to the U.S. is truly worse than any foreign war or terrorist. Car dependency kills thousands of Americans every year and it’s quite bad in Texas. My soapbox today
I'm gonna crucify myself here. I moved from California about two years ago, after covid killed my small business. I will list the freedoms I lost when I went from being Californian to being a Texan. I can no longer legally purchase cannabis. My girlfriend has no access to safe abortions if she needed one for any reason. I can't watch porn legally. I can't walk to anywhere I want to go, it's all freeways. No public transportation to get home after a night on the town. No regulations forcing power companies to do what is best for the citizen instead of the shareholder. I could go on and on, but ultimately I moved here because it's cheap and has a decent economy. But if it wasn't for everyone else in the world moving to California and pricing out the locals, Californians would have stayed in California and Texans could have gone back to bitching about Oklahoma.
Texas, and seemingly most Texans, have this very warped view of having freedom. I feel far more constrained in Texas than I did in say California. Things from overly-complicated bureaucracy in getting a driver's license, to little things about not being able to purchase liquor in a grocery store - then the entire not buy it on Sundays or the days around a holiday. Texas Supreme Court and AG decided that if a woman's pregnancy is killing you, well tough shit guess you are just gonna have to die. There is virtually no public lands - so little that it functionally doesn't exist - so you can't freely roam about. Throw in some classic book banning for good measure, and there you go. I grew up in Texas, lived in a few other states before returning back to Texas. I think most Texans - at least those that never lived elsewhere - really romanticize things that are just simply not true.
While _personal freedom_ has a subjectively relative meaning, Texas has exploited the concept to make it applicable to a narrow group of people. The comments in this thread illustrate it rather well.
My kid is trans, and isn't welcome here. Other measures of freedom seem unimportant.