{"id":808,"date":"2012-11-13T11:25:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-13T11:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2012\/11\/13\/texas-gop-suffers-personality-disorder"},"modified":"2012-11-13T11:25:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T11:25:00","slug":"texas-gop-suffers-personality-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=808","title":{"rendered":"Texas GOP suffers personality disorder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You\u2019ve heard the mantra from Republicans for many years, that local control of public policy provides the best form of government.<\/p>\n

Texas Republicans say it all the time. I\u2019ve heard \u2018em say it. Many times. Keep \u201cbig gub\u2019mint\u201d out of people\u2019s lives, they say. <\/p>\n

And yet \u2026<\/p>\n

When it comes to red-light cameras, Texas legislators \u2013 again, led by Republicans who dominate the Legislature \u2013 keep trotting this notion out that the state ought to outlaw cities\u2019 right to deploy red-light cameras to help the police stop lawbreakers from endangering themselves and, more importantly, other motorists and\/or pedestrians.<\/p>\n

My good buddy Enrique Rangel, writing for the Amarillo Globe-News, details in a story published Monday some of the ideas that the Legislature might consider when it convenes in January. One of those bright notions is a law banning red-light cameras statewide. <\/p>\n

http:\/\/amarillo.com\/news\/local-news\/2012-11-11\/pre-filing-period-opens-daunting-issues-loom<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s wrong with these people? Do they believe in local control or don\u2019t they?<\/p>\n

Amarillo installed red-light cameras at several intersections around the about five years ago. They have been nabbing law-breakers by taking pictures of vehicle license plates as they run through red lights. The city sends a citation to the owner of the vehicle and orders him\/her to pay the fine \u2026 or else. What\u2019s the drawback? Well, the registered vehicle owner might not be the one breaking the law; it might be a relative or a friend behind the wheel. Still, if that\u2019s the case, then the driver of the vehicle, if not its owner, and the owner need to figure out a way to get the pay fine paid.<\/p>\n

The money collected goes to several places: the vendor who leases the cameras to the city, the state and, most importantly, to the city, which must, under state law, use the money for traffic safety improvements. You know, it\u2019s frivolous stuff, like hiring more patrol officers and improving traffic signalization.<\/p>\n

Several cities have instituted the camera-aided enforcement because their leaders have determined they have a specific need. Amarillo made that determination and acted. The state, which once banned cities from taking this action, now just might consider taking it all back.<\/p>\n

I ask once more: Are legislators, particularly those who oppose Big Brother intruding into communities\u2019 well-being, going to let cities and towns act in their own best interests, or are they going to let paternalistic impulses strip communities of local control everyone \u2013 especially Republicans who run things in Austin \u2013 insist on protecting?<\/p>\n

Well?<\/p>\n\n

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You\u2019ve heard the mantra from Republicans for many years, that local control of public policy provides the best form of government. Texas Republicans say it all the time. I\u2019ve heard \u2018em say it. Many times. Keep \u201cbig gub\u2019mint\u201d out of people\u2019s lives, they say. And yet \u2026 When it comes to red-light cameras, Texas legislators … Continue reading Texas GOP suffers personality disorder<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}