absolutely this. republicans thrive on decline! republican policies bring economic decline which brings
outmigration of young people and professionals, which strengthens the republican hold on government which brings even more conservative policies which brings greater decline, etc.
People are like "why would these supposedly pro business Republicans be cutting funding for public universities that are huge economic growth engines" and like look at how the richest states vote and how the poorest states vote. If you were a Republican would you want your state to become wealthier?
I think it's becuase a big part of the Texas boom is natural resources based. Look at places like ND, WY, etc. That have had economic booms based on ntl resources, which are different from the service based booms in AZ and GA. TX is kinda a hybrid of the two I'd argue.
It's weird to consider this now but it is actually true that the Texas Republicans used to be reasonably good at investing in higher education and drawing high-capital businesses (through friendly tax structures, light hand regulations, etc)
always have to remind myself that the Texas Democrats the Texas GOP replaced were, among many other things not all of which were bad, comically corrupt
Well, see, that's how they did all the bipartisanship they used to do. Sorted it all out over drinks and cigars and stacks of hundred dollar bills at the Cloak Room
Well they weren’t especially well funded until roughly 2010 when the super hard right west Texas billionaires (2 of them lol) threw in for them and went hard. They had to do better for most of my life because they usually had a slim majority but they didn’t have the money and a powerful machine then
They used to have to cater to business interests generally , to get enough ppl to donate but now they just have to please mostly these two billionaires
Or at least one of them. Factions are getting ugly lol they’re eating themselves.
But they are grabbing and consolidating all power still.
They have permissive zoning, and there's lots of space to just build another suburb. That gets you a lot of growth in a world where the major barrier is housing.
And to what corporatisation/privatisation does to fomerly state/municipal services - water, power, post office, telephone, highway building (depending on jurisdiction)
They state as much in their state level policy platforms. The Texas GOP stated they oppose teaching young people critical thinking skills because they might start to get mouthy and realize they’re being lied to.
That one is less of a win because it's mostly state funded. What you want is a lot of folks so old or poor or badly paid that they get a lot of social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and earned income credits from the feds. Plus military bases
Also (an Australian here), American govts run down public services, leading to people thinking that government-run services are by definition crap and inefficient, leading to more cuts to public services. It's a self-fulfilling belief that "small govt" Republicans capitalise on.
It's what Republicans did in WV, which caused it to do a complete 180 politically. They pinned the collapse of the coal industry on Obama(and not the gas boom), instead of cultivating new industry. and that was it. Reddest state in the country with the absolute worst quality of life
Dobbs v. Jackson has suddenly hardened the geography of decline. There are states to which I would never move, no matter the inducement. The proliferation of hate laws
in the various states, the assault on our accepted civil, constitutional rights, accelerated by minoritarian radicals will only make these internal boundaries harder, less threatened by a free people; the die-hards and desperate will remain.
Meanwhile, Biden's policies are causing a boom in private investments in red states especially because of the lower wages and fewer regulations there, and governors are touting their own horn while calling Biden the worst president ever still. And their voters believe it.
