Texas Times, They Are A Changin'

There may be some good news coming due to the coming demographic changes in Texas. Soon Texas should have a Hispanic majority, and Hispanics trend toward voting Democrat. Even though Republicans won every statewide office this last time, if they really mess up the budget much more, it could create a perfect storm.

Right now, the "spending cuts" they are talking about are just shifting a lot of the costs onto municipalities, school districts, and the general public. So a lot of the talk about saving money is probably going to be just smoke and mirrors. But the various players in this upcoming fiscal nightmare will surely want to spin it as a victory for cutting spending. The question coming up is whether voters will believe this pile of garbage.

Maybe Texas will get so "fed up" (to use Rick Perry's latest catch phrase), and sometime in the next decade, the voters will elect Sen. Keith Olbermann and Sen. Rachel Maddow? Then again, maybe that's a little too much wishful thinking. First of all, they would have to move here, and second of all, Texas is still pretty conservative in the rural areas. But there is some precedent for liberal Texas leaders: look at Ralph Yarborough, Jim Hightower, and Ann Richards, among others.