Six months in Texas and counting. It is way past time for reflecting on life in the Texas Hill Country. I plead confusion from a 50 year sojourn in California. Thinking again is difficult. In California, thinking for yourself is considered risky. It is also discouraged and disparaged. So eventually you stop.
You recall Alfred E Newman and tell yourself, ‘What, Me worry?’.
You know that somebody knows best and it sure to hell isn’t you so go along with the program, This works in California where thinking can only get you in trouble. In Texas, not so much. No one is looking out for you. You are on your own. Texans like it that way. In California when you make a mistake there is an army of government employees to save you from yourself. In Texas, you break it, you own it.
In preparation for the move to Texas, I subscribed to ‘Texas Monthly’. I learned that there are at least four distinct regions with different climates, lifestyles and histories. I learned that, in spite of these differences, there is a commonality of Texasness somehow uniting them all. There is even a column by someone calling himself the Texanist who each month answers serious questions about this quality. And yes, apparently there is a quality which bonds alums of UT and A&M, residents of Houston, Lubbock and Dallas and cattlemen and farmers into one happy family. Imagining trying to do that with San Francisco, Fresno and LA or USC and Berkeley. The mere thought wears me out. I get it but I don’t understand it. I respect the Texas spirit which is independent, proud and self-confident. It’s an admirable quality. I just don’t identify as having it or even aspiring to have it. And I , sure as hell, don’t want to pretend. Texans are tolerant of outsiders but not pretenders.
Compared to California, Texas is prickly and real. Not quite harsh or unfriendly. More uncompromising and honest about doing it their way and expecting you to do likewise. No big brother and no nanny state. Texas expects you to be a big boy or girl and take care of your own messes. And if you can’t do that then you deserve what you get.
California works overtime at making life pleasant, at least superficially. Unfortunately you pay for it, through the nose by taxes and regulations and the endless army of bureaucrats who are here to help. (Don’t ask who they are helping.) You don’t notice at first but before long you just accept and even welcome this as the way things have to be. So what if it takes twice as long and limits your options. So what if there is a tax (or fee) attached to every thing you do. Money is like Fritos. If we run out, the government will make more.
Life is easy in California and thinking is hard Before you are aware of the change you buy into the new you. You don’t worry and you go along. You learn not to be troubled by obstacles, unpleasantness and the high cost of everything you do. And you accept that everybody agrees with how wonderful things are and that you had better not think about changing it because everyone will be mad at you. You go along without even being aware that you have given up control of your life.
Our free country and independent way of life may be doomed but there is still some of that old thinking left in Texas. Texas may be traveling the same arc as California as demonstrated by the number of voters Robert Francis (Beto for you all from Rio Linda) got last November but has a long way to go to match California. You are still allowed to make choices. You can choose what charities to support because the taxes don’t include all the ‘free’ stuff the California politicians love to give away. And you know what you are giving up when you send your money to help. You can decide who deserves to be helped- and who doesn’t. You are spared the waste from bureaucrats spending money which is not theirs on things you hate- like the bullet train.
California has committed billions of dollars to building a train between two cities which people are abandoning- San Francisco and Los Angeles. Not only a train to nowhere but also a train from nowhere. It seems obvious to everyone except for politicians and voters that it will never be completed and, if completed that no one will ride yet the farce continues. And that California can’t afford it.
To my dismay, I discover that rail fever is rampant in Texas as well with a campaign to connect Dallas and Houston by way of Berkeley in the hills (Austin, unless the SJW locals have succeeded in renaming the place). No locals seem concerned about this effort and categorically reject any comparison to California. I will defer to their judgment since I have no power to affect this one way or another. Still I will not be surprised when the Texas Rail Authority (or whatever they call themselves) hires Jerry Brown to manage their program. And when they do, I may have to consider another move. He may have destroyed California but surely Texas is too smart for that.
Texas takes itself seriously. California likes to pose. Being Californian is fun. No obligations or costs to participate. Anybody can be a Californian. Being Texan is a commitment. You have to live it. You have to be a grownup. At this point in my Texas residence, I have only a vague inkling what this means. I do know that this Missouri boy never became a Californian in 50 years and I know I will never be a Texan- merely a Texas resident. I’m OK with that- not being a joiner and all. As I see it, hard work and commitment is required to be a Texan. You have to embrace the lifestyle and six months into Texas, I still don’t have a clue what that means and probably don’t want to know. Still, for as long as it lasts I’m ready to give it a try.
