British Lawmaker Lauds Texas, Texans
Daniel Hannan, a journalist and member of the European Parliament, is no fan of big government. Speaking in Dallas today at a National Center for Policy Analysis luncheon, Hannan (pictured) likened President Obama’s policies, including on health care, to failed European ones. Then he proceeded to give a major shout-out to the Lone Star State. “Texas is the distillation of all I admire most about the U.S.,” he said. “It’s the most independent-minded of all the states, yet the purest manifestation of the virtues that built” America. Hannan, who became an Internet superstar for his crisp denunciation of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, went on to laud the “freedom, enterprise and boundless optimism” found in Texas. He also complimented the “sturdy, independent citizens [here] who look to themselves for solutions, rather than to the government.” That may have been true in 1909, I couldn’t help thinking, but who knows if it’s the case today?
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2 comments
You know what else was true about 1909? No interstate highway system, an exceedingly weak educational system, no emergency disaster systems, only a rudimentary fire fighting and civil service, no social security, no unemployment, no medicare, no medicaid.
You know what’s true about Texas and many other red states? They’re net consumers of federal funds. Not contributors.
I’m not sure that it’s wise to depend on individuals and the private sector to do many necessary – but monumentally unprofitable – tasks. Even if it is, the low-tax states are only paying lip service to the notion of small government. So please, let’s cut back on the posts about the good old days…
Right in general, dead wrong about Texas, Bub. We receive 94 cents back for every dollar we send to Washington. We’re a donor state (if only barely; California gets 79 cents back).
Your overall point holds water, though: These red state teabaggers, by and large, live in poor states that would be Third World countries if the likes of Massachusetts and California didn’t subsidize them.