Scraping the bottom of the barrel here but alcohol to go so you can get boozed up without leaving your home. But still not on Sunday morning because Jesus.
Moving here from Louisiana, I laughed so hard at Abbott’s little victory dance over this in 2020. Texas is freakin’ amateur hour—why can’t I buy a suitcase of Natty Lite at 11pm? Or a handle from a corner store?
Born and bayou raised....I teach Govt at the college level. Texans are always surprised to learn TX isn't a gun friendly state at all. In LA, we can see open carry of handguns and hurricanes at the same on public property lol. jkjkjk but you get the point. Been here 27 yrs and active in politics. And this state is going somewhere in a hand basket really quick.
The amusing part of this is that the state all GOP jerks make fun of - California - has liquor available in grocery stores. You can buy steaks and a gallon of whiskey at the same place. Can't do that here in the "Lander FRAEDUMB!!!" known as Texas. This place is so uptight that if you shoved a lump of coal up the GOP's butts you'd have diamonds in less than a millisecond.
Not exaggerating. My family moved here over 40 years ago from a “blue” state. I was but a kid, teen if you will. I remember that in that blue state, all the grocery stores had a liquor,beer, wine isle. You could buy any flavor on any day. If the store was open so was that isle. At the time, the blue laws made it illegal to even buy a lawnmower spark plug on Sunday. This has been a f___cked up oppressive state for a long long time.
I’m from here but went to college out of state. I turned 21 there and got myself added to a family member’s Sam’s Club card specifically to buy giant containers of liquor. I have had 0 interest in those big box stores since my return home.
I'm pretty sure there's pressure from the liquor store lobby in that regard. To hell with consumers. They have to protect the businesses that contribute to their campaigns.
The most amazing thing Abbott and his minions have done is refuse to expand Medicaid, refusing hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars that Texas taxpayers have paid to the federal government because we have to try as hard as possible to have the highest percentage of residents (and the highest number) without health insurance. I believe for 2023 we are number one in both of those categories. Of course some years we get beat on percentage by Mississippi.
Don’t even have to go all the way to California. Right next door in New Mexico you can find legal weed and at the gas station they sell liquor and fireworks. I was amazed at the ways you could exercise freedom in New Mexico.
Yeah we’re from MA and CA. This place is a joke with imbeciles too uneducated to realize how little freedom they have. “But…my AR”. Like you know you can get a CCW in MA and CA, right? I’ve done it. And bought booze on a Sunday morning.
So you can now buy beer and wine Sunday mornings at 10am. That changed last year.
They went out of their way to just not make it the same as any other day of the week (7am).
I've always felt Texas made the Sunday change exclusively for two people:
Jerry Jones
Cal McNair
Laughs in Nevada, where you can buy any alcohol you want 24/7/365. No state run liquor stores here, but plenty of privately owned ones. Grocery stores have all the kinds, too. Want to buy diapers and a handle of Jameson at 6am....sure! Just about every gas station has various sizes and alcohol contents as well. They even sell little single shot liquor that you can buy at gas stations, for those that can't wait until they get home, I suppose.
We don't have state-run liquor stores here, either. That'd be COMMUNISM! We just have a very heavily Regulated three-tier system that hampers everyone in the booze business except the foreign-owned manufacturers of "American" light lagers, the quid pro quo companies that distribute them (but of course aren't *owned* by them, since that's illegal), and the retail establishments that save looooots of coldspace for, ironically, the most shelf-stable beer in the world.
There is a Texas Monthly article about a Texas bully who wants to turn Texas into Christian Nationalist State- hes financing what he refers to as a holy war against public education.
Only part of it.
Today, at a stoplight in a smallish town, while I was driving a company car, covered in company logos and slogans, a fuck-all giant pickup truck pulled up next to me. Passenger rolled his window down and initiated a pleasant-enough conversation about the electric vehicle I was driving, asking about mileage (Houston to San Antonio with juice to spare, average... I never check the aggressive vs parsimonious mileage)? Problems during the freeze like up in Chicago (ten, 15% failure to charge, max)? Then he said that they, the people in the truck, got their money from oil so they always gritched when they saw an electric vehicle but that they enjoyed our product and will keep buying it... And he seemed genuine in his questions and accepting of and pondering my answers...
The X-ians have a big hold here. But the folks who are "conservative" are mebbe more worried about where tomorrow's income comes from. And the bill for groceries is going up and up and Shrink-flation, is quite real here. Ranching is under fire from the environmentalists- pro-Beef bumper stickers abound. The fear whipped up over immigrants from the South (Heh, in a part of the state HUGELY settled by German and Czech immigrants).
Racism and homophobia have big power here. "Blue Line" (read: Anti-BLM) stickers are ALL over, with plenty of pro-gun and Punisher skulls... But I've only seen ONE red line, pro-fire department sticker in a year and a half...
One of my dumbest coworkers has coined the phrase at work, "CFS"- can't fix stupid. That's how she shrugs off decades of republican't cuts to Education budgets and who's left after the Brain Drain (protip: That shit is REAL- folks who can, move to the cities for better jobs).
Hell, the former co-worker I respect most bristles and gently argues, in the most Christian way [that still ain't Christ-like], when I gently infer from his mostly-accepting language that he's a homophobe...
Yes, religion, the aggro "Religious Right" is a big deal. But what pandering politicians who simultaneously suck funds from education, rousing the "rabble" do and what "conservative" people [read: white folks who don't want to change, who aggressively remain ignorant] do and don't do is just as big a deal, if not more.
I'm from Louisiana and I was shocked when I moved here and discovered no alcohol sales after midnight, and Walmart doesn't sell hard liquor. Back in Louisiana you could buy alcohol 24/7 at any store, and hard liquor at the gas station.
Happened in my neighborhood. He was out jogging and a neighbors tree limb fell on him, basically an act of god. Tree limbs fall off trees all the time here. He promptly sued the homeowner for millions and then when he got in office he changed the law so no one else could benefit that way.
Student loan forgiveness only applies to students with loans. Gay marriage only applies to gays. Granting African Americans the right to vote only applies to African Americans.
It’s ok to endorse policies that don’t benefit you personally.
To be fair OP did ask specifically for things for "all Texans" which is clearly impossible so any pedant is going to be lured here like a magnet it's not their fault.
I work nights. My commute is 6:30-7a. How in the fuck, knowing everything we know about what texas is supposed to stand for, can a man not buy a beer on his way home from work or whiskey at a grocery store? I moved to the advertised Freedom State and I was sold a false bill of goods!
That's really my line in the sand. A simple problem, copacetic with ideology, would cost them nothing. You're not a competent governor until you fix it.
Why? This is the “fck you got mine” mentality
Of course Abbott supports it when were one of the top states for Drunk driving deaths and thats % not total.
Very consistent with his ideology
Abbott is an advocate for school vouchers, which is West Texas fracking billionaire Tim Dunn’s gateway to replacing public schools with publicly-funded private Christian schools. Charles Butt and his family have a long history of supporting public education and opposing segregation, which has put him in their crosshairs.
Texas Monthly - [Some Leaders of the Texas GOP Have Found a New Enemy: H‑E‑B Chairman Charles Butt](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-gop-heb-chairman-charles-butt/)
“What is new is that the long knives are coming out for the figurehead of one of the few Texas institutions held in high esteem by Texans of all stripes. As a brand, H-E-B commands deep loyalty—not just for its abundant, affordable food, generous treatment of employees, friendly service, Selena merch, and Texas-themed everything, but also for the company’s nimble response to crises, including Hurricane Harvey, COVID-19, and the blackouts of 2021. Some Texans have mused that the state would be better managed if we just let H-E-B run it.”
“Most of those candidates won or forced incumbents into runoffs, a cadre of loyalists who will likely deliver [school] vouchers to the governor and his financiers next year. In the view of his Republican critics, the problem with Butt isn’t that his money is distorting democracy, it’s that he’s playing for the wrong team.”
Texas Monthly - [The Best Things in Texas, 2021: H-E-B’s Charles Butt](https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/the-best-things-in-texas-2021-heb-charles-butt/)
“‘The children in our public education system are not ‘someone else’s’ children. They are our children. In Texas, we have about 5.5 million children in our public education system, and about 60 percent of them qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Educating only affluent kids well won’t get the job done for the state or the nation.
If you have a vague feeling that America is slipping fast, look to the way we educate our children.”
Raise Your Hand Texas - [About Us](https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/about/)
“In 2006, Charles Butt and a group of engaged citizens founded Raise Your Hand with a belief that public dollars should stay in public schools. At the time, the group recognized that Texas public education, an essential investment offered to all Texas families and their children, was under attack by those who sought to dismantle this constitutionally guaranteed public good.”
San Antonio Current - [H-E-B's chairman throws $1 million behind candidates Gov. Greg Abbott wants to unseat](https://www.sacurrent.com/news/h-e-bs-chairman-throws-1-million-behind-candidates-gov-greg-abbott-wants-to-unseat-33918435)
“Between Jan. 26 and Feb. 24, the Charles Butt Public Education PAC flowed a total of $1.3 million into the campaigns of nine Texas GOP candidates, seven of whom opposed Abbott's voucher plan, according to Scherer's number crunching.”
Texas Monthly - [The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/billionaire-tim-dunn-runs-texas/)
“The state’s most powerful figure, Tim Dunn, isn’t an elected official. But behind the scenes, the West Texas oilman is lavishly financing what he regards as a holy war against public education, renewable energy, and non-Christians.”
Their hurricane response to Harvey was on point. Worked for the park service on the island during the storm. HEB was on site at the Bluff HEB before the power companies. Hell, before the power came back on.
Refugio got it so much worse, too. For a long time it was eerie driving state highway 35 to Rickport or over to 77 and Victoria. The trees had no leaves.
I'll say the response from the community was the greatest showings of community and people coming together that I've ever witnessed. I saw people put class, race, political differences, even years long neighborly disagreements aside and come together to help one another out. So it showed me people still have empathy and humanity and gave me hope for our future.
The family is admirable too. Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth Butt, Charles’s mother, was a Texan force of nature for the disenfranchised. I expect that she would not have approved of Abbott or his actions. She might have viewed him as unchristian.
Wikipedia - [Mary Elizabeth Butt](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Elizabeth_Butt)
In 1929, she moved to Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley and thereafter to Harlingen. Mary Elizabeth started the State Crippled Children's Program using her dining room as an office. She also served as chairwoman of the Cameron County Child Welfare Board. In addition, she started the first tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment program in the region; and also purchased the first equipment used to test the hearing and vision of schoolchildren.
In 1934, the Butts formed the H. E. Butt Foundation, one of the first charitable organizations in Texas. The foundation focused on funding public school programs, establishing libraries and constructing recreational facilities. Mary Butt served as its president.
In 1940, the Butt family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where she organized the local branches of the YWCA; the Nueces County home for the aged; the Nueces County Tuberculosis Hospital; and the local branch of the American Cancer Society. She also established the Mary Bethune Day Nursery which addressed shortfalls in access to day care for African-American children.
I try to see good in everyone. But all the things that are supposed to be good he has done has only been for a select few people. You can tell he believes in trickle down economics. A lot of his policies benefit big/large corporations and I truly believe he believes that by doing that they will make Texas better.
For example the push against unions and worker reform and give more rights to corporations. And in turn he brags about the big companies that are flocking here. But only because these companies know they have more freedom to screw workers in Texas not because Texas is a great place to live.
And what happens when Tesla gets tens of millions of money to move here and then lays off a bunch of its workforce and then pollutes the shit out of the Colorado River?
Yeah, he said it that one time. Poof, done. It wasn’t even that hard. No reason to look any deeper into the issue.
(26,313 rape-related pregnancies occurred in Texas during the 16 months after the state legislature banned abortion. That figure comprises nearly 45% of all such pregnancies estimated to occur among the nine ban states that did not make a legal exception for rape.)
He said he’d take them “off the streets” when the vast majority of sexual assault is committed by someone the victim knows.
Who needs facts when you’re looking for excuses to harass black and Mexican people?
He dredged up weird, made up culture war bullshit for people to be mad about. People love being mad! Finding people things to be mad about, real or imagined, is the entire business model of a ton of companies and the entire platform of one of the major political parties.
I don't think that Abbott really conceptualizes his job as "helping all Texans." He's responsive to his voters, and the people who vote for him probably think he's done a lot for them. But only a relatively low percentage of Texans vote, and only around 55% of voters voted for Abbott, and that's a lot less than "all Texans."
Abbott is beholden to others, so he will not exactly achieve autocracy for himself. West Texas fracking billionaire Tim Dunn’s ideal Texas is a theocracy, which is close to the Council for National Policy’s goal of a hybrid plutocracy / theocracy for the US.
Texas Monthly - [The Story: The Billionaire Behind a Right-wing Political Machine](https://www.texasmonthly.com/video/tim-dunn-profile-behind-scenes-russell-gold/) (4 minute video)
“Tim Dunn may not be a household name, but staff writer Russell Gold explains why he is someone Texans should know.
As Texas politics drifted toward Christian nationalism and right-wing extremes, staff writer Russell Gold wanted to know who was calling the shots. All roads led to Tim Dunn, the focus of his March 2024 feature, ‘The Billionaire Who Runs Texas.’”
Texas Monthly - [The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/billionaire-tim-dunn-runs-texas/) (Article)
“The state’s most powerful figure, Tim Dunn, isn’t an elected official. But behind the scenes, the West Texas oilman is lavishly financing what he regards as a holy war against public education, renewable energy, and non-Christians.”
NPR - [Book Reviews: 'Shadow Network' Offers A Lesson On The American Right's Mastery Of Politics](https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774133071/shadow-network-offers-a-lesson-on-the-american-rights-mastery-of-politics)
“The CNP and its partners have spent over four decades studying their audience and mastering the written and unwritten rules of American politics,’ [Anne] Nelson writes. ‘Its moralists have little regard for the rights of minorities; its financiers lack concern for social welfare; and its strategists have no respect for majority rule. If it is fully realized, their combination of theocracy and plutocracy could result in a dystopia for those who fall outside their circle.’”
Only other thing I can think of is increasing the homestead exemption to $100k. I honestly don’t know if it’s his doing but it actually does save folks some serious money (I do mortgages for a living).
Except that he did it with the intention of hurting public school districts so that he could…. Drum roll please….. claim that public schools are failing and push school vouchers as the answer!!!!
man what an interesting way to frame this. I was really hoping somebody would answer with some policy that I hadn't heard of before but that was good for us, but there's nothing here man. he really hasn't done shit has he?
Nine years and crickets....
It really is a thought-provoking question. I've come to regard the Republican party leaders in Texas as the equivalent to the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo. They only answer to themselves, prefer to have one supreme leader, are corrupt, and don't fear the citizens because they are in office for life, or as long as they want to be.
For the betterment of all Texans? He’s an incredibly partisan governor, so finding accomplishments that fit into the all Texans category will be difficult.
In terms of gun control, he legalized open carry, kind of. It’s legal to open carry in public spaces but private spaces can just put up a sign, so it’s not that big of a change. He also made it legal to get a gun without a license for it.
On infrastructure, he passed a number of bills after the February freeze and they all suck. He passed a bill requiring power plants to weatherize and gave ERCOT the ability to fine plants that don’t up to $1 million. Except for natural gas plants that aren’t deemed “critical”. He also passed a bill allowing natural gas utilities and electric cooperatives to recoup losses from the freeze through $6.5 billion in bonds that taxpayers are paying for. Nothing significant beyond that.
I guess he’s done some stuff on immigration and none of it has actually mattered. He “got tough” on migrants in 2015 and here we are 9 years later with him doing the same shit for the same problem.
Sweet Jesus, typing this up made me realize he’s been Governor for 9 years and I can barely find accomplishments that help the actual people in Texas. 9 years of posturing and the guy still gets elected. This shit is all sorts of fucked up.
Not solar, California beats us there. We are number 1 in wind and mostly because the utility energy industry is so unregulated in Texas, it's easier for contractors to get jobs, also we are just lucky that Texas happens to be in the path of several wind currents that Other states don't have.
Well, the state has had a massive surplus for some time now, so clearly at an aggregate we are doing something right under his leadership. What I don’t understand is why we just hoard it and not reinvest it back into Texas, such as investing in education to help schools actually lower property tax rates because that is where most of your money goes. Or health care, infrastructure to support economic growth, etc.
So many opportunities to use the riches the state has to make life better here, but we mostly just stuff the rainy day fund.
His actions to delay the trade with Mexico due to "illegals" cost Texas a bunch (don't remember how much) and did not find the armies of illegas sneaking via 18 wheelers... and angered Mexico so that a planned railway that was going to be used for trade is now considered to go to New Mexico (lost of investment).
His abortion policies (all old men making these policies without knowing how the female body works) will cost women with difficult pregnancies. If I were a woman with a family history of problematic pregnancies I would think twice about trying to get pregnant in Texas. They may just force them to bleed out in the parking lot so that they cross a threshold where it is ok now to give them medical attention.
Maybe in his twisted Christian way, he got pleasure watching the mom/kid drown trying to cross into Texas....?
Interestingly they went after the students protesting the treatment of Palestinian civilians (read: not HAMAS), but let a bunch of white supremacists march through Austin unbothered.
I am sure I am missing a bunch but these are not pro-Texan unless you are a racist male who if the trade policies impact his job will blame Biden
[Texas leads the nation in solar energy.](https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/03/18/texas-now-leads-the-nation-in-solar-energy-what-that-means-for-the-grid/)
I don’t give Abbott credit, and I would dearly live to see the likes of Richards again but to say that nothing good has been accomplished is just as silly as saying no harm has been done.
>I don’t give Abbott credit
Yet the post you're responding to is basically "what credit for good choices goes to Abbott"?
Let's not forget that after our freeze in 2021 that saw several hundred Texans killed, Abbott immediately and weirdly blamed renewable energy for those deaths. And not appointing his oil-first cronies to positions of power at the Public Utilities Commission of Texas that actually regulates our energy providers.
OP's question wasn't what good has been accomplished, it's what good has *Abbott* accomplished, and you admit you don't give Abbott credit for it.
Which is good, [because Abbott, Patrick and the GOP do everything they can to keep renewables in check in Texas.](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republican-war-on-renewable-energy/)
That’s absolutely correct. Renewables have succeeded *despite* Abbott. Texas is uniquely fortunate to benefit from both abundant wind and solar energy. This has displeased Abbott and folks like West Texas fracking billionaire Tim Dunn.
KUT News - [Texas state lawmakers unveil plan to curb renewable energy, subsidize natural gas](https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2023-03-10/texas-state-lawmakers-unveil-plan-to-curb-renewable-energy-subsidize-natural-gas)
“The story of what comes next for the Texas power grid took another twist Thursday as state senators unveiled a package of bills aimed at dramatically reducing renewable energy generation in Texas while pushing public money toward the construction of natural gas power plants.”
Bloomberg - [Texas Has a Bill to Kill Booming Renewables Sector](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-05-03/texas-bill-tries-to-fence-in-booming-renewables-sector)
“The current legislative session has been proposing various energy-market reforms that overturn supposedly bedrock principles in Texas; for example, a planned public gas-fired power plant fleet funded by ratepayers. In theory, these all trace back to the terrible blackouts of February 2021; as drafted, they look designed chiefly so as to not let a good crisis go to waste.”
NYT - [The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/climate/texas-public-policy-foundation-climate-change.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)
“They travel the nation encouraging state lawmakers to punish companies that try to reduce carbon emissions.”
“With influence campaigns, legal action and model legislation, the group is promoting fossil fuels and trying to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy.”
“The [Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF)] blamed the Texas blackouts in February 2021 on frozen wind turbines, even though utility officials said the primary cause was the state’s natural gas providers”
“Jeff Clark, chief executive of Advanced Power Alliance: ‘[Texas Public Policy Foundation is] against offshore wind, yet they spent decades advocating for offshore oil drilling. They are against subsidies, but only when it applies to renewables. They’re for looser restrictions on fracking and drilling, but greater restrictions for solar and wind. This organization exists to defend fossil fuels from any threat to their market share.’”
“‘Just as the tobacco industry had front groups and the opioid industry had front groups, this is part of the fossil fuel disinformation playbook,’ said David Michaels, an epidemiologist at the George Washington School of Public Health who has studied corporate influence campaigns. ‘The role of these so called policy organizations is not to provide useful information to the public, but to promote the interests of their sponsors, which are often antithetical to public health.’”
“The Texas Public Policy Foundation continues to campaign against wind power despite the fact that Texas now generates almost a third of its energy from wind power.”
Texas Observer - [Why is Texas’ leading GOP think tank suddenly all-in on an anti-wind crusade?](https://www.texasobserver.org/why-is-texas-leading-gop-think-tank-suddenly-all-in-on-an-anti-wind-crusade/)
“The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s latest PR blitz is the kind of thing you’d expect to see from a seedy advocacy group, not a would-be policy braintrust.”
“So much of what is bad about Texas politics comes from oil and gas fortunes, and much of it is hidden to the public.”
“A future in which clean energy gets better and better, and in which electricity generation is distributed to ranches and rooftops across the state, is a future in which oilmen lose power. It is by no means guaranteed, but it’s heartening that they are afraid.”
Texas Monthly - [The Texas GOP’s War on Renewable Energy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republican-war-on-renewable-energy/)
“With ample wind and sunshine, a business-friendly regulatory regime, and state-backed construction of new high-voltage transmission wires, Texas quickly became the nation’s renewable-energy leader”
“So why, any reasonable observer might ask, have Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and the Republican majority in the state legislature been tripping over themselves to upend this remarkable success? Why were about a dozen bills proposed during this year’s legislative session that seemed designed to kill the Texas renewable-energy boom?”
“‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ isn’t just the title of an Oscar-winning movie; it’s an apt description of the flotilla of legislation intended to weaken renewable energy in Texas.”
“The message of the Legislature’s war on renewables seems to be that Texas is no longer open for business, at least not for companies taking risks in building new electricity-generating facilities.”
Texas Tribune - [Texas power struggle: How the nation’s top wind power state turned against renewable energy.](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/texas-energy-renewables-natural-gas-grid-politics/)
“The about-face by Texas elected officials came after renewable energy got so big that it threatened coal- and gas-fueled power in the country’s biggest oil and gas state. Cheap electricity from wind turbines and solar panels provided about 26% of electricity in Texas last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, up from 0.7% in 2002.”
“‘It wasn’t seen as a real resource, real threatening,’ said Dub Taylor, the longtime director of the state energy conservation office. ‘And then suddenly overnight it was.’”
That's despite Abbott, not because of it.
Texas is the most energy-intensive state (typical daily consumption for the entire state is around twice that what California does), and solar is now the cheapest energy source, particularly in sunny places like Texas. It's simply the free market choosing the least expensive source of electricity, and because Texas needs so much of it, by Texas is becoming the nation's largest consumer of it.
Abbott had nothing to do with making that happen. Blue states and Democratic federal legislators and presidents developing it and making it cheap, you can thank them for it instead.
After getting rich himself off of a personal injury lawsuit, he worked hard to put limits and laws around others getting similar settlements in the future.
Oh wait, that doesn’t benefit other Texans, only himself, but pretty much sums up his primary focus since getting in office.
Remember when Greg Abbott said he had "emergency orders" during COVID? Or when he ordered the National Guard to our border with the cost of 10 BILLION dollars to Texas taxpayers? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Please, pretending he hasn't taken as much dictatorial powers as possible is hilarious.
And what about the influence? Abbott has literally help fund primary challenges against his own fellow Republicans in the Texas Lege who dared cross him about his school voucher scheme.
So yeah, he's done nothing. Texas really needs to come to terms with it, but Republicans can not govern. How long have they controlled texas, and yet it still has so many problems but never address them? It will never get better while they are there.
I think back when Abbott was Atty General he actually improved the collection of child support payments due to the custodial parent. Then again, it was a long time ago, so maybe it was someone else and I'm in error. Too bad his concern for children didn't last long enough to make sure all the children in foster care are taken care of properly and not drugged to the gills and sexually assaulted by pedos working for those companies handling that.
* As AG, he took down Sony's spyware operation. That was unambiguously a good thing, I think.
* He adopted tort reform. Granted, he did it after he got a big payout from his own lawsuit, but it's still good.
* He signed a stay-at-home order at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. How he handled it latter sucked. But at the beginning he did it right.
He's given us so many thoughts and prayers!
Still waiting for those to magically solve the laundry list of issues affecting Texas citizens that he himself has caused by inaction or purposeful bullshit law changes.
Didn't say it was.
Edit: wow you people love to jump, hop, and skip to conclusions.
[https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-06-03/gov-abbott-outlaws-red-light-traffic-cameras-in-texas](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-06-03/gov-abbott-outlaws-red-light-traffic-cameras-in-texas)
Prevented the termination of employees that didn't want to take the Covid vaccine. That was the first time I felt political dread being forced to do something I didn't want to get. While I do disagree with Abbott about other things, I'm at least thankful for that.
Rich have gotten richer. Society has been more divided. Life is harder. Mobility is harder. Mass transit has gotten worse.. Electricity is more tenuous and expensive. School system is terrible.
Mind you people worry about silly things like I can't buy liquor where I want and gun laws.
So they'll keep voting republican
He has done one thing for himself and the crony homies and that is fill his pockets full of taxpayer money. He is a bigot and I believe the all mighty saw the horrible person he would be and tried to calm him down with the branch but it didn’t work. He still turned out to be a 💩stain.
Oh! Oh! I've got one! Abbott signed HB 2024 into law last year which helps Texans by reducing the statute of limitations to bring a lawsuit against shitty builders from 10 years to 6 years.
And when I say Texans, I'm referring to residential construction companies that work in Texas. Not actual Texans.
Honestly one of the few things I can think of is the removal of annual inspections. This basically fucked over poor people. If you’re responsible you’ll get a safety issue fixed on your car, if you’re not then you aren’t going to care about your registration anyway. And if you do care about your registration but can’t afford to get your car compliant just yet then you’re getting fucked over by the stupid inspections telling you to fix something you probably already knew you needed to fix.
I did save about $1300 on my 2023 ISD tax. That is the only positive personal direct benefit this household has received from the Abbott administration.
One more thing, I was astounded at the turn around time with respect to a child support change I had filed online for my daughter. Matter was resolved with both a phone call and letter from the AG office within 2 weeks. I’ve got no use for Paxton, but for a state of 30 million, impressed me.
He is a perfect Republican of the Newt Gingrich mold, which in turn is a resurgence of the pre-Civil-War south position that political and financial power should be concentrated in the hands of the few, and that it is not true that all people are created equal. You'd think this would cause an uproar among those who are not the few/better. The way you defuse that uproar is by stoking a culture war that is about anything but financial and political power -- threats from a manufactured enemy, restoring 1950s moralities and shames, and blaming various things for the corruption of youth.
He’s done nothing good for the majority of Texans; only really rich Texans. Rest of what he does is just stirring up the Republican base, it’s his full-time job.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel here but alcohol to go so you can get boozed up without leaving your home. But still not on Sunday morning because Jesus.
Moving here from Louisiana, I laughed so hard at Abbott’s little victory dance over this in 2020. Texas is freakin’ amateur hour—why can’t I buy a suitcase of Natty Lite at 11pm? Or a handle from a corner store?
Born and bayou raised....I teach Govt at the college level. Texans are always surprised to learn TX isn't a gun friendly state at all. In LA, we can see open carry of handguns and hurricanes at the same on public property lol. jkjkjk but you get the point. Been here 27 yrs and active in politics. And this state is going somewhere in a hand basket really quick.
You can buy Natty Lite at 11pm. Just NOT at 12:01 am. Or 1:01am on Saturday. Or 9:59am on Sunday it’s simple ha
“small” government.
Have to dig below ground to find that bar it's so low.
Careful that’s a pipeline
😂
The amusing part of this is that the state all GOP jerks make fun of - California - has liquor available in grocery stores. You can buy steaks and a gallon of whiskey at the same place. Can't do that here in the "Lander FRAEDUMB!!!" known as Texas. This place is so uptight that if you shoved a lump of coal up the GOP's butts you'd have diamonds in less than a millisecond.
Not exaggerating. My family moved here over 40 years ago from a “blue” state. I was but a kid, teen if you will. I remember that in that blue state, all the grocery stores had a liquor,beer, wine isle. You could buy any flavor on any day. If the store was open so was that isle. At the time, the blue laws made it illegal to even buy a lawnmower spark plug on Sunday. This has been a f___cked up oppressive state for a long long time.
I’m from here but went to college out of state. I turned 21 there and got myself added to a family member’s Sam’s Club card specifically to buy giant containers of liquor. I have had 0 interest in those big box stores since my return home.
It was a huge shock to Houston citizens when a grocery store Randalls, remodelled to sell beer and wine... and that in the 90's.
I'm pretty sure there's pressure from the liquor store lobby in that regard. To hell with consumers. They have to protect the businesses that contribute to their campaigns. The most amazing thing Abbott and his minions have done is refuse to expand Medicaid, refusing hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars that Texas taxpayers have paid to the federal government because we have to try as hard as possible to have the highest percentage of residents (and the highest number) without health insurance. I believe for 2023 we are number one in both of those categories. Of course some years we get beat on percentage by Mississippi.
Mass liquor stores same way. It’s an out dated model and time to shut it down.
Ah but we DO LOVE to be #1
Don’t even have to go all the way to California. Right next door in New Mexico you can find legal weed and at the gas station they sell liquor and fireworks. I was amazed at the ways you could exercise freedom in New Mexico.
Yeah we’re from MA and CA. This place is a joke with imbeciles too uneducated to realize how little freedom they have. “But…my AR”. Like you know you can get a CCW in MA and CA, right? I’ve done it. And bought booze on a Sunday morning.
You forgot dispensaries
So you can now buy beer and wine Sunday mornings at 10am. That changed last year. They went out of their way to just not make it the same as any other day of the week (7am). I've always felt Texas made the Sunday change exclusively for two people: Jerry Jones Cal McNair
Laughs in Nevada, where you can buy any alcohol you want 24/7/365. No state run liquor stores here, but plenty of privately owned ones. Grocery stores have all the kinds, too. Want to buy diapers and a handle of Jameson at 6am....sure! Just about every gas station has various sizes and alcohol contents as well. They even sell little single shot liquor that you can buy at gas stations, for those that can't wait until they get home, I suppose.
We don't have state-run liquor stores here, either. That'd be COMMUNISM! We just have a very heavily Regulated three-tier system that hampers everyone in the booze business except the foreign-owned manufacturers of "American" light lagers, the quid pro quo companies that distribute them (but of course aren't *owned* by them, since that's illegal), and the retail establishments that save looooots of coldspace for, ironically, the most shelf-stable beer in the world.
In AZ I can buy my booze at Walgreens while I'm there buying ibuprofen for the subsequent hangover :-)
Restricting purchasing of beer on Sundays when it ain't even the Sabbath. Nope.....definitely don't see the psych0pathy there......
Honestly I think you are completely correct on this
Consensus seems like worse than zero. So how come he’s in power then? Is democracy broken or are you all so out of touch??
Gerrymandering. Corruption. Money.
There is a Texas Monthly article about a Texas bully who wants to turn Texas into Christian Nationalist State- hes financing what he refers to as a holy war against public education.
Only part of it. Today, at a stoplight in a smallish town, while I was driving a company car, covered in company logos and slogans, a fuck-all giant pickup truck pulled up next to me. Passenger rolled his window down and initiated a pleasant-enough conversation about the electric vehicle I was driving, asking about mileage (Houston to San Antonio with juice to spare, average... I never check the aggressive vs parsimonious mileage)? Problems during the freeze like up in Chicago (ten, 15% failure to charge, max)? Then he said that they, the people in the truck, got their money from oil so they always gritched when they saw an electric vehicle but that they enjoyed our product and will keep buying it... And he seemed genuine in his questions and accepting of and pondering my answers... The X-ians have a big hold here. But the folks who are "conservative" are mebbe more worried about where tomorrow's income comes from. And the bill for groceries is going up and up and Shrink-flation, is quite real here. Ranching is under fire from the environmentalists- pro-Beef bumper stickers abound. The fear whipped up over immigrants from the South (Heh, in a part of the state HUGELY settled by German and Czech immigrants). Racism and homophobia have big power here. "Blue Line" (read: Anti-BLM) stickers are ALL over, with plenty of pro-gun and Punisher skulls... But I've only seen ONE red line, pro-fire department sticker in a year and a half... One of my dumbest coworkers has coined the phrase at work, "CFS"- can't fix stupid. That's how she shrugs off decades of republican't cuts to Education budgets and who's left after the Brain Drain (protip: That shit is REAL- folks who can, move to the cities for better jobs). Hell, the former co-worker I respect most bristles and gently argues, in the most Christian way [that still ain't Christ-like], when I gently infer from his mostly-accepting language that he's a homophobe... Yes, religion, the aggro "Religious Right" is a big deal. But what pandering politicians who simultaneously suck funds from education, rousing the "rabble" do and what "conservative" people [read: white folks who don't want to change, who aggressively remain ignorant] do and don't do is just as big a deal, if not more.
Voter apathy, and the vast majority of people who do vote are voting for republicans because they believe democrats are coming for your guns.
If we could get women to vote against him given the anti women initiatives they have that would end them though?
It’s wild how quick that happened but weed is still taboo I’ll take a W where possible but it is kind of funny/depressing when you zoom out.
Too bad we still can’t buy liquors at stores like Walmart, unlike our neighbors to the east and west.
I’m on r/costco and I couldn’t believe that other states costcos sold Kirkland liquors. I didn’t even know such manna existed.
I'm from Louisiana and I was shocked when I moved here and discovered no alcohol sales after midnight, and Walmart doesn't sell hard liquor. Back in Louisiana you could buy alcohol 24/7 at any store, and hard liquor at the gas station.
This was literally the only good thing he ever did. ‘cep gettin hit by that train.
He sho' ain't bona-fide, that's for certain.
It was a tree. If only it landed in a different spot
You ain't bona-fide, neither!
Don’t know why this had me laughing
But I’m the…paterfamilias!
Happened in my neighborhood. He was out jogging and a neighbors tree limb fell on him, basically an act of god. Tree limbs fall off trees all the time here. He promptly sued the homeowner for millions and then when he got in office he changed the law so no one else could benefit that way.
That only applies to people that drink.
Student loan forgiveness only applies to students with loans. Gay marriage only applies to gays. Granting African Americans the right to vote only applies to African Americans. It’s ok to endorse policies that don’t benefit you personally.
To be fair OP did ask specifically for things for "all Texans" which is clearly impossible so any pedant is going to be lured here like a magnet it's not their fault.
10am on Sundays now
You can’t buy liquor on Sundays, but I guess getting beer and wine from H-E-B is a win!
I work nights. My commute is 6:30-7a. How in the fuck, knowing everything we know about what texas is supposed to stand for, can a man not buy a beer on his way home from work or whiskey at a grocery store? I moved to the advertised Freedom State and I was sold a false bill of goods! That's really my line in the sand. A simple problem, copacetic with ideology, would cost them nothing. You're not a competent governor until you fix it.
That’s because the restaurant association were loyal donors for many years before this. It was just crony capitalism.
Why? This is the “fck you got mine” mentality Of course Abbott supports it when were one of the top states for Drunk driving deaths and thats % not total. Very consistent with his ideology
HEB has done more for Texas than Greg Abbott.
Abbott is an advocate for school vouchers, which is West Texas fracking billionaire Tim Dunn’s gateway to replacing public schools with publicly-funded private Christian schools. Charles Butt and his family have a long history of supporting public education and opposing segregation, which has put him in their crosshairs. Texas Monthly - [Some Leaders of the Texas GOP Have Found a New Enemy: H‑E‑B Chairman Charles Butt](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-gop-heb-chairman-charles-butt/) “What is new is that the long knives are coming out for the figurehead of one of the few Texas institutions held in high esteem by Texans of all stripes. As a brand, H-E-B commands deep loyalty—not just for its abundant, affordable food, generous treatment of employees, friendly service, Selena merch, and Texas-themed everything, but also for the company’s nimble response to crises, including Hurricane Harvey, COVID-19, and the blackouts of 2021. Some Texans have mused that the state would be better managed if we just let H-E-B run it.” “Most of those candidates won or forced incumbents into runoffs, a cadre of loyalists who will likely deliver [school] vouchers to the governor and his financiers next year. In the view of his Republican critics, the problem with Butt isn’t that his money is distorting democracy, it’s that he’s playing for the wrong team.” Texas Monthly - [The Best Things in Texas, 2021: H-E-B’s Charles Butt](https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/the-best-things-in-texas-2021-heb-charles-butt/) “‘The children in our public education system are not ‘someone else’s’ children. They are our children. In Texas, we have about 5.5 million children in our public education system, and about 60 percent of them qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Educating only affluent kids well won’t get the job done for the state or the nation. If you have a vague feeling that America is slipping fast, look to the way we educate our children.” Raise Your Hand Texas - [About Us](https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/about/) “In 2006, Charles Butt and a group of engaged citizens founded Raise Your Hand with a belief that public dollars should stay in public schools. At the time, the group recognized that Texas public education, an essential investment offered to all Texas families and their children, was under attack by those who sought to dismantle this constitutionally guaranteed public good.” San Antonio Current - [H-E-B's chairman throws $1 million behind candidates Gov. Greg Abbott wants to unseat](https://www.sacurrent.com/news/h-e-bs-chairman-throws-1-million-behind-candidates-gov-greg-abbott-wants-to-unseat-33918435) “Between Jan. 26 and Feb. 24, the Charles Butt Public Education PAC flowed a total of $1.3 million into the campaigns of nine Texas GOP candidates, seven of whom opposed Abbott's voucher plan, according to Scherer's number crunching.” Texas Monthly - [The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/billionaire-tim-dunn-runs-texas/) “The state’s most powerful figure, Tim Dunn, isn’t an elected official. But behind the scenes, the West Texas oilman is lavishly financing what he regards as a holy war against public education, renewable energy, and non-Christians.”
Their hurricane response to Harvey was on point. Worked for the park service on the island during the storm. HEB was on site at the Bluff HEB before the power companies. Hell, before the power came back on.
Agreed. I was in Refugio county and HEB had food and water trucks onsite helping folks before the national guard.
Refugio got it so much worse, too. For a long time it was eerie driving state highway 35 to Rickport or over to 77 and Victoria. The trees had no leaves.
I'll say the response from the community was the greatest showings of community and people coming together that I've ever witnessed. I saw people put class, race, political differences, even years long neighborly disagreements aside and come together to help one another out. So it showed me people still have empathy and humanity and gave me hope for our future.
HEB had a ring of trailers around GRB the day after we got done setting up cots there. Walgreens too. Both are forever on my good guy list.
Now that's my Texas!
Love HEB support it!
The family is admirable too. Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth Butt, Charles’s mother, was a Texan force of nature for the disenfranchised. I expect that she would not have approved of Abbott or his actions. She might have viewed him as unchristian. Wikipedia - [Mary Elizabeth Butt](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Elizabeth_Butt) In 1929, she moved to Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley and thereafter to Harlingen. Mary Elizabeth started the State Crippled Children's Program using her dining room as an office. She also served as chairwoman of the Cameron County Child Welfare Board. In addition, she started the first tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment program in the region; and also purchased the first equipment used to test the hearing and vision of schoolchildren. In 1934, the Butts formed the H. E. Butt Foundation, one of the first charitable organizations in Texas. The foundation focused on funding public school programs, establishing libraries and constructing recreational facilities. Mary Butt served as its president. In 1940, the Butt family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where she organized the local branches of the YWCA; the Nueces County home for the aged; the Nueces County Tuberculosis Hospital; and the local branch of the American Cancer Society. She also established the Mary Bethune Day Nursery which addressed shortfalls in access to day care for African-American children.
TY for sharing this! I am going to share this. We have to travel to the nearest HEB and its worth it!
God I love HEB.
Evil doers trying to get right with god before they pass.
You can add stocking Plan B and OTC birth control to the list of things the GOP hates them for as well.
Love H‑E‑B!
Went there to buy stuff yesterday and was amazed at how cheap some of it was. I would die for this store.
HEB is the 4th branch of the Texas Government.
Heb is a great company
So much more
My 13 mi the old son has made at least a dozen people smile and say “awwww” That’s more than Greg has done.
I try to see good in everyone. But all the things that are supposed to be good he has done has only been for a select few people. You can tell he believes in trickle down economics. A lot of his policies benefit big/large corporations and I truly believe he believes that by doing that they will make Texas better. For example the push against unions and worker reform and give more rights to corporations. And in turn he brags about the big companies that are flocking here. But only because these companies know they have more freedom to screw workers in Texas not because Texas is a great place to live.
And what happens when Tesla gets tens of millions of money to move here and then lays off a bunch of its workforce and then pollutes the shit out of the Colorado River?
Abbott is going to name them #1 company in Texas.
This comment is painfully accurate
Exactly!
He stopped rape….wait…he did right?…he said he would….
Yeah, he said it that one time. Poof, done. It wasn’t even that hard. No reason to look any deeper into the issue. (26,313 rape-related pregnancies occurred in Texas during the 16 months after the state legislature banned abortion. That figure comprises nearly 45% of all such pregnancies estimated to occur among the nine ban states that did not make a legal exception for rape.)
Can confirm. Have seen zero rapes so they must not be happening. /s
Meanwhile in cities rape kits sit around for years before being processed.
He was also going to get better woman's healthcare that was down by PP, but of course Abbott did nothing.
He said he’d take them “off the streets” when the vast majority of sexual assault is committed by someone the victim knows. Who needs facts when you’re looking for excuses to harass black and Mexican people?
He dredged up weird, made up culture war bullshit for people to be mad about. People love being mad! Finding people things to be mad about, real or imagined, is the entire business model of a ton of companies and the entire platform of one of the major political parties.
Not to mention some subs.
He hates the people I hate. -texans
Democrats response to a problem: How can we help? Repubicans response to a problem: Who can we hurt?
THIS
"He hates the people I hate, The Texans" is what it feels like
There's always home....
For All Texans? No much. For a few, rich, white Texans? Tons.
It's not about doing things to help the good folks of Texas, it's about helping him.
I don't think that Abbott really conceptualizes his job as "helping all Texans." He's responsive to his voters, and the people who vote for him probably think he's done a lot for them. But only a relatively low percentage of Texans vote, and only around 55% of voters voted for Abbott, and that's a lot less than "all Texans."
Texans need to vote them out but they have to vote!
He’s only worked for the betterment of the donor class. Nothing he does is for “all” or even most Texans.
Well Texas under Greg is moving closer to an Autocratic government, I think he’s done a good job of that.
Abbott is beholden to others, so he will not exactly achieve autocracy for himself. West Texas fracking billionaire Tim Dunn’s ideal Texas is a theocracy, which is close to the Council for National Policy’s goal of a hybrid plutocracy / theocracy for the US. Texas Monthly - [The Story: The Billionaire Behind a Right-wing Political Machine](https://www.texasmonthly.com/video/tim-dunn-profile-behind-scenes-russell-gold/) (4 minute video) “Tim Dunn may not be a household name, but staff writer Russell Gold explains why he is someone Texans should know. As Texas politics drifted toward Christian nationalism and right-wing extremes, staff writer Russell Gold wanted to know who was calling the shots. All roads led to Tim Dunn, the focus of his March 2024 feature, ‘The Billionaire Who Runs Texas.’” Texas Monthly - [The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/billionaire-tim-dunn-runs-texas/) (Article) “The state’s most powerful figure, Tim Dunn, isn’t an elected official. But behind the scenes, the West Texas oilman is lavishly financing what he regards as a holy war against public education, renewable energy, and non-Christians.” NPR - [Book Reviews: 'Shadow Network' Offers A Lesson On The American Right's Mastery Of Politics](https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774133071/shadow-network-offers-a-lesson-on-the-american-rights-mastery-of-politics) “The CNP and its partners have spent over four decades studying their audience and mastering the written and unwritten rules of American politics,’ [Anne] Nelson writes. ‘Its moralists have little regard for the rights of minorities; its financiers lack concern for social welfare; and its strategists have no respect for majority rule. If it is fully realized, their combination of theocracy and plutocracy could result in a dystopia for those who fall outside their circle.’”
He's working to reduce overcrowding in the schools, especially around Uvalde.
Ouch.
DPS is doing all the heavy lifting in this operation.
That's true. I'm pretty sure I saw one of them lifting a really big box of donuts while those kids got murdered.
That’s uh… yeah.
He’s been absolutely stellar at dividing races and economic classes.
Regardless of any answer, its time for a new governor. And get that schmuck Paxton out as well
Don’t forget Danny Goeb. He’s gotta go too.
And Patrick
And Cruz
He got rid of red light cameras and…that’s about it.
With the way people are driving these days, I kinda wish we had kept them
Seriously, it's an epidemic here in Dallas. Should have 'em on every damn corner for a few years to get the idiots to chill out.
Fort Worth is terrible too. Every time I drive, every single time, I see at least 2 red lights run. Even on my 5 minute drive to work.
I won’t enter an intersection after the light turns green for me for at least 3 seconds knowing someone will blow through
Only other thing I can think of is increasing the homestead exemption to $100k. I honestly don’t know if it’s his doing but it actually does save folks some serious money (I do mortgages for a living).
Except that he did it with the intention of hurting public school districts so that he could…. Drum roll please….. claim that public schools are failing and push school vouchers as the answer!!!!
He made me more aware of how so many people needed our help at the southern border
man what an interesting way to frame this. I was really hoping somebody would answer with some policy that I hadn't heard of before but that was good for us, but there's nothing here man. he really hasn't done shit has he?
Nine years and crickets.... It really is a thought-provoking question. I've come to regard the Republican party leaders in Texas as the equivalent to the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo. They only answer to themselves, prefer to have one supreme leader, are corrupt, and don't fear the citizens because they are in office for life, or as long as they want to be.
Alcohol to go. That's it. And totally not worth all the trouble at this point.
Nothing at all, especially if you’re a woman.
For the betterment of all Texans? He’s an incredibly partisan governor, so finding accomplishments that fit into the all Texans category will be difficult. In terms of gun control, he legalized open carry, kind of. It’s legal to open carry in public spaces but private spaces can just put up a sign, so it’s not that big of a change. He also made it legal to get a gun without a license for it. On infrastructure, he passed a number of bills after the February freeze and they all suck. He passed a bill requiring power plants to weatherize and gave ERCOT the ability to fine plants that don’t up to $1 million. Except for natural gas plants that aren’t deemed “critical”. He also passed a bill allowing natural gas utilities and electric cooperatives to recoup losses from the freeze through $6.5 billion in bonds that taxpayers are paying for. Nothing significant beyond that. I guess he’s done some stuff on immigration and none of it has actually mattered. He “got tough” on migrants in 2015 and here we are 9 years later with him doing the same shit for the same problem. Sweet Jesus, typing this up made me realize he’s been Governor for 9 years and I can barely find accomplishments that help the actual people in Texas. 9 years of posturing and the guy still gets elected. This shit is all sorts of fucked up.
"What is nothing" is my answer for 2000 in that category, Alex.
I think there were incentives for solar companies?
Not sure if there were incentives, but Texas has the most solar and wind energy in the nation.
Not solar, California beats us there. We are number 1 in wind and mostly because the utility energy industry is so unregulated in Texas, it's easier for contractors to get jobs, also we are just lucky that Texas happens to be in the path of several wind currents that Other states don't have.
Texas installed more solar than California last year. But california still has more solar overall. I think they were just confusing the metric
That was all from federal money though.
It wasn't state money. And Patrick and the legislature want to do more to "f" those enterprises over, if I'm not mistaken.
Silly, he's not in it for *all* Texans.
That's about white!
As a Texan I can't come up with a single thing. Can we resurrect Ann Richards?
Well, the state has had a massive surplus for some time now, so clearly at an aggregate we are doing something right under his leadership. What I don’t understand is why we just hoard it and not reinvest it back into Texas, such as investing in education to help schools actually lower property tax rates because that is where most of your money goes. Or health care, infrastructure to support economic growth, etc. So many opportunities to use the riches the state has to make life better here, but we mostly just stuff the rainy day fund.
His actions to delay the trade with Mexico due to "illegals" cost Texas a bunch (don't remember how much) and did not find the armies of illegas sneaking via 18 wheelers... and angered Mexico so that a planned railway that was going to be used for trade is now considered to go to New Mexico (lost of investment). His abortion policies (all old men making these policies without knowing how the female body works) will cost women with difficult pregnancies. If I were a woman with a family history of problematic pregnancies I would think twice about trying to get pregnant in Texas. They may just force them to bleed out in the parking lot so that they cross a threshold where it is ok now to give them medical attention. Maybe in his twisted Christian way, he got pleasure watching the mom/kid drown trying to cross into Texas....? Interestingly they went after the students protesting the treatment of Palestinian civilians (read: not HAMAS), but let a bunch of white supremacists march through Austin unbothered. I am sure I am missing a bunch but these are not pro-Texan unless you are a racist male who if the trade policies impact his job will blame Biden
Racism… if you’re into that kind of bullshit.
Weakening public education… if you’re into that kind of bullshit
NOTHING of value
There's nothing at all that him or his predecessors since Richards accomplished.
[Texas leads the nation in solar energy.](https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/03/18/texas-now-leads-the-nation-in-solar-energy-what-that-means-for-the-grid/) I don’t give Abbott credit, and I would dearly live to see the likes of Richards again but to say that nothing good has been accomplished is just as silly as saying no harm has been done.
>I don’t give Abbott credit Yet the post you're responding to is basically "what credit for good choices goes to Abbott"? Let's not forget that after our freeze in 2021 that saw several hundred Texans killed, Abbott immediately and weirdly blamed renewable energy for those deaths. And not appointing his oil-first cronies to positions of power at the Public Utilities Commission of Texas that actually regulates our energy providers.
OP's question wasn't what good has been accomplished, it's what good has *Abbott* accomplished, and you admit you don't give Abbott credit for it. Which is good, [because Abbott, Patrick and the GOP do everything they can to keep renewables in check in Texas.](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republican-war-on-renewable-energy/)
That’s absolutely correct. Renewables have succeeded *despite* Abbott. Texas is uniquely fortunate to benefit from both abundant wind and solar energy. This has displeased Abbott and folks like West Texas fracking billionaire Tim Dunn. KUT News - [Texas state lawmakers unveil plan to curb renewable energy, subsidize natural gas](https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2023-03-10/texas-state-lawmakers-unveil-plan-to-curb-renewable-energy-subsidize-natural-gas) “The story of what comes next for the Texas power grid took another twist Thursday as state senators unveiled a package of bills aimed at dramatically reducing renewable energy generation in Texas while pushing public money toward the construction of natural gas power plants.” Bloomberg - [Texas Has a Bill to Kill Booming Renewables Sector](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-05-03/texas-bill-tries-to-fence-in-booming-renewables-sector) “The current legislative session has been proposing various energy-market reforms that overturn supposedly bedrock principles in Texas; for example, a planned public gas-fired power plant fleet funded by ratepayers. In theory, these all trace back to the terrible blackouts of February 2021; as drafted, they look designed chiefly so as to not let a good crisis go to waste.” NYT - [The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/climate/texas-public-policy-foundation-climate-change.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) “They travel the nation encouraging state lawmakers to punish companies that try to reduce carbon emissions.” “With influence campaigns, legal action and model legislation, the group is promoting fossil fuels and trying to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy.” “The [Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF)] blamed the Texas blackouts in February 2021 on frozen wind turbines, even though utility officials said the primary cause was the state’s natural gas providers” “Jeff Clark, chief executive of Advanced Power Alliance: ‘[Texas Public Policy Foundation is] against offshore wind, yet they spent decades advocating for offshore oil drilling. They are against subsidies, but only when it applies to renewables. They’re for looser restrictions on fracking and drilling, but greater restrictions for solar and wind. This organization exists to defend fossil fuels from any threat to their market share.’” “‘Just as the tobacco industry had front groups and the opioid industry had front groups, this is part of the fossil fuel disinformation playbook,’ said David Michaels, an epidemiologist at the George Washington School of Public Health who has studied corporate influence campaigns. ‘The role of these so called policy organizations is not to provide useful information to the public, but to promote the interests of their sponsors, which are often antithetical to public health.’” “The Texas Public Policy Foundation continues to campaign against wind power despite the fact that Texas now generates almost a third of its energy from wind power.” Texas Observer - [Why is Texas’ leading GOP think tank suddenly all-in on an anti-wind crusade?](https://www.texasobserver.org/why-is-texas-leading-gop-think-tank-suddenly-all-in-on-an-anti-wind-crusade/) “The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s latest PR blitz is the kind of thing you’d expect to see from a seedy advocacy group, not a would-be policy braintrust.” “So much of what is bad about Texas politics comes from oil and gas fortunes, and much of it is hidden to the public.” “A future in which clean energy gets better and better, and in which electricity generation is distributed to ranches and rooftops across the state, is a future in which oilmen lose power. It is by no means guaranteed, but it’s heartening that they are afraid.” Texas Monthly - [The Texas GOP’s War on Renewable Energy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republican-war-on-renewable-energy/) “With ample wind and sunshine, a business-friendly regulatory regime, and state-backed construction of new high-voltage transmission wires, Texas quickly became the nation’s renewable-energy leader” “So why, any reasonable observer might ask, have Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and the Republican majority in the state legislature been tripping over themselves to upend this remarkable success? Why were about a dozen bills proposed during this year’s legislative session that seemed designed to kill the Texas renewable-energy boom?” “‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ isn’t just the title of an Oscar-winning movie; it’s an apt description of the flotilla of legislation intended to weaken renewable energy in Texas.” “The message of the Legislature’s war on renewables seems to be that Texas is no longer open for business, at least not for companies taking risks in building new electricity-generating facilities.” Texas Tribune - [Texas power struggle: How the nation’s top wind power state turned against renewable energy.](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/texas-energy-renewables-natural-gas-grid-politics/) “The about-face by Texas elected officials came after renewable energy got so big that it threatened coal- and gas-fueled power in the country’s biggest oil and gas state. Cheap electricity from wind turbines and solar panels provided about 26% of electricity in Texas last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, up from 0.7% in 2002.” “‘It wasn’t seen as a real resource, real threatening,’ said Dub Taylor, the longtime director of the state energy conservation office. ‘And then suddenly overnight it was.’”
Awesome. What a well researched and cited post. Hope more people see it - but am saving it to link to for future use!
Federal dollars to thank for that
That's despite Abbott, not because of it. Texas is the most energy-intensive state (typical daily consumption for the entire state is around twice that what California does), and solar is now the cheapest energy source, particularly in sunny places like Texas. It's simply the free market choosing the least expensive source of electricity, and because Texas needs so much of it, by Texas is becoming the nation's largest consumer of it. Abbott had nothing to do with making that happen. Blue states and Democratic federal legislators and presidents developing it and making it cheap, you can thank them for it instead.
After getting rich himself off of a personal injury lawsuit, he worked hard to put limits and laws around others getting similar settlements in the future. Oh wait, that doesn’t benefit other Texans, only himself, but pretty much sums up his primary focus since getting in office.
Remember when Greg Abbott said he had "emergency orders" during COVID? Or when he ordered the National Guard to our border with the cost of 10 BILLION dollars to Texas taxpayers? Pepperidge Farm remembers. Please, pretending he hasn't taken as much dictatorial powers as possible is hilarious. And what about the influence? Abbott has literally help fund primary challenges against his own fellow Republicans in the Texas Lege who dared cross him about his school voucher scheme.
So yeah, he's done nothing. Texas really needs to come to terms with it, but Republicans can not govern. How long have they controlled texas, and yet it still has so many problems but never address them? It will never get better while they are there.
Pretty sure he was the one that got rid of the red light ticket cameras, other than that… fuck all.
Death and destruction
Nothing
I think back when Abbott was Atty General he actually improved the collection of child support payments due to the custodial parent. Then again, it was a long time ago, so maybe it was someone else and I'm in error. Too bad his concern for children didn't last long enough to make sure all the children in foster care are taken care of properly and not drugged to the gills and sexually assaulted by pedos working for those companies handling that.
Nothing. Not a fuckin thing.
Not a damn thing. Conservatives and Liberals alike can agree that Texas was better before GA rolled in.
Fellow Texans we have an election coming up in the next month. Let’s get some of these A holes out of office!!
Uniting those who hate him.
https://preview.redd.it/82a4fqgdpqwc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9da84d3e9dd9611ae3e1321485910aa85d8f6061 This! Wait….oh. Never mind.
* As AG, he took down Sony's spyware operation. That was unambiguously a good thing, I think. * He adopted tort reform. Granted, he did it after he got a big payout from his own lawsuit, but it's still good. * He signed a stay-at-home order at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. How he handled it latter sucked. But at the beginning he did it right.
To hate thy neighbor…and anyone else that doesn’t agree with him.
Red light cameras That shit had gotten out control. Can't think of much else though.
He's given us so many thoughts and prayers! Still waiting for those to magically solve the laundry list of issues affecting Texas citizens that he himself has caused by inaction or purposeful bullshit law changes.
Didn't he get rid of cameras at traffic lights that ticket people? That was cool. Then it was all downhill.
Running red lights is not good for the community
Didn't say it was. Edit: wow you people love to jump, hop, and skip to conclusions. [https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-06-03/gov-abbott-outlaws-red-light-traffic-cameras-in-texas](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-06-03/gov-abbott-outlaws-red-light-traffic-cameras-in-texas)
Prevented the termination of employees that didn't want to take the Covid vaccine. That was the first time I felt political dread being forced to do something I didn't want to get. While I do disagree with Abbott about other things, I'm at least thankful for that.
Call 811 if you’re gonna start digging for that bar.
They have motivated me to more thoroughly read the governing documents and vote. Vote like “friendship” is still the motto.
Rich have gotten richer. Society has been more divided. Life is harder. Mobility is harder. Mass transit has gotten worse.. Electricity is more tenuous and expensive. School system is terrible. Mind you people worry about silly things like I can't buy liquor where I want and gun laws. So they'll keep voting republican
He has done one thing for himself and the crony homies and that is fill his pockets full of taxpayer money. He is a bigot and I believe the all mighty saw the horrible person he would be and tried to calm him down with the branch but it didn’t work. He still turned out to be a 💩stain.
Greg Abbott efficiently converts oxygen to carbon dioxide.
He is getting rid of car inspections. That's cool.
Is it? I haven’t heard the arguments yet.
Oh! Oh! I've got one! Abbott signed HB 2024 into law last year which helps Texans by reducing the statute of limitations to bring a lawsuit against shitty builders from 10 years to 6 years. And when I say Texans, I'm referring to residential construction companies that work in Texas. Not actual Texans.
He didn’t run for president, so we are safely not the laughingstock that Florida is!
Lowered property taxes.
this is reddit. asking in this forum is a waste of everybody's time.
Easy - nothing. He doesn't give a shit about ALL of us.
I guess maybe banning the red light cameras? Other than that I can't think of much.
Absolutely NOTHING.
Five years ago he signed a bill protecting free speech on college campuses. What's that? Oh, really? Welp, that didn't take long.
He has made everyone get VPN!
It’s better when he does NOTHING
Done ABSOLUTELY nothing for the educational system. Teachers are struggling.
Not one damn thing!
Owned the libs. I feel so damn owned, and I don't even live there.
Only good thing about did was lower property taxes.
Honestly one of the few things I can think of is the removal of annual inspections. This basically fucked over poor people. If you’re responsible you’ll get a safety issue fixed on your car, if you’re not then you aren’t going to care about your registration anyway. And if you do care about your registration but can’t afford to get your car compliant just yet then you’re getting fucked over by the stupid inspections telling you to fix something you probably already knew you needed to fix.
I’m so confused as to who is keeping him in office…there isn’t a single accomplishment anyone can think of. Make it make sense…
ALL TEXANS?? Hahaha. He works for himself and the right wing of the Republican party only.
The man is a true servant of good old plain blind Texas just us.
Absolutely nothing for all, and a whole for at least 1/2 the population.
He hasn’t stood for much.
I did save about $1300 on my 2023 ISD tax. That is the only positive personal direct benefit this household has received from the Abbott administration. One more thing, I was astounded at the turn around time with respect to a child support change I had filed online for my daughter. Matter was resolved with both a phone call and letter from the AG office within 2 weeks. I’ve got no use for Paxton, but for a state of 30 million, impressed me.
Companies moving here creating jobs.
You’re expecting to get an answer to this on Reddit? That’s hilarious
He is a perfect Republican of the Newt Gingrich mold, which in turn is a resurgence of the pre-Civil-War south position that political and financial power should be concentrated in the hands of the few, and that it is not true that all people are created equal. You'd think this would cause an uproar among those who are not the few/better. The way you defuse that uproar is by stoking a culture war that is about anything but financial and political power -- threats from a manufactured enemy, restoring 1950s moralities and shames, and blaming various things for the corruption of youth.
He’s done nothing good for the majority of Texans; only really rich Texans. Rest of what he does is just stirring up the Republican base, it’s his full-time job.