Texas is a big state, with lots of people who call it home and lots of politicians elected to leadership positions.
Thus, it stands to reason that Texas would be home to an inordinate number of assorted fruitcakes, goofballs, nut jobs and, dare I say it, dangerous zealots.
State Sen. Bob Hall recently joined the High Plains Blogger nut job “honor roll,” with statements criticizing the vaccines available to inoculate us against the COVID-19 killer virus.
He is far from alone. My goodness, we have loons making national headlines daily with their preposterous statements.
Sadly, almost all of ’em are Republicans. Ye gads, man!
U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler is my unofficial captain of the goofball squad. He is a “birther” who continues to question whether Barack Obama was qualified to seek and to serve as president of the U.S. Former Texas GOP chair Allen West is a close second in the running. He once called Democrats “communists.” Then we have Sen. Ted Cruz, the lunatic who continually inserts his foot in his mouth while proclaiming his intention to block every single initiative that comes from President Biden or Democrats in Congress.
I’ll stop with those three. The state’s roster of nut cases is too voluminous to continue. You’ll get my drift.
We love living in Texas. My wife and I established a good life here when we ventured from Oregon in 1984. Our sons have acclimated themselves well (I believe) to Texas culture; indeed, they both came of age here.
We have watched the state make a dramatic transition from a mostly Democratic state to a solidly Republican one during our time here. I don’t begrudge the rise of the GOP per se. What I do begrudge is the surrender of mainstream conservatism to the goofiness that prevails in so many quarters here.
I always presumed Texas pols were smarter than to be snookered by the cult leader who seized control of the GOP in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
Silly me. What in the world was I thinking?