California-ized
Let me see if I have this right. Our new governor, Greg Abbott, is complaining
that Texas is becoming more like our sister state, California, and that is a
bad thing. Let’s take a look at some
areas where it just might be a good thing to be like California. Gross Domestic Product - $2 trillion for
California to $1.3 trillion for Texas; average teacher salary - $69,000 for
California (4th nationally) to $48,000 (37th nationally)
for Texas; average ACT score – 22.2 for
California (15th nationally) to 20.9 for Texas (29th
nationally); citizens not covered by insurance – 19.0 % for California (7th
nationally) to 24.3 % for Texas (1st nationally) – and that is not a
category where you want to be at the top; poverty rate – 16.4 % for California
(18th nationally) to 18.1 % for Texas (10th nationally) –
again, the lower the ranking the better; and finally highway fatality rates –
0.87 for California (41st nationally) to 1.27 for Texas (18th
nationally).
Maybe California has some issues and concerns that
need to be addressed as every state and country does. But let’s not dismiss, out of hand, that
state and the way they approach their own issues. We have our own problems right here in Texas –
school funding problems, environmental issues, fracking and drilling fights,
and now earthquakes to deal with. We
could learn a few things from our brothers on the west coast how to handle some
of these issues in a more democratic fashion.
If we were to look for best practices regardless of
where they originate from, then all of us would benefit and reap the rewards of
doing things in the best form possible.
Maybe that’s the way to approach governing at any level, see what has
worked for others and use those techniques in your own neck of the woods.
