The shift to the Left for Texas has been gradually happening for a couple decades now. You can blame that on high levels of illegal immigration, or it could be all the liberal state transplants that are moving here, fleeing terrible Democrat policies in their home state. Either way, there has been a definitive slant back to the Left in a state that is historically staunch Right.
Texas is continuing that back hill slide into liberal Marxism by emerging more and more as a welfare state. Guaranteed income programs have already been floated out, and approved, by Harris County Commissioners in Houston. In the program, low-income families can receive around $500 a month to take care of various expenses. What expenses they use that money on is anyone's guess.
All of this will be done first on leftover COVID money, but then, presumably on the taxpayer dollar. Charles Blain of Urban Reform says it is only a matter of time before other cities follow Houston's footsteps in Texas.
"I can see this spreading far and wide...if you see Austin do it, you will probably see all Travis County do it...if you see San Antonio do it, then Bexar County will do it," he says. "You will see this grow very rapidly."
The City of Dallas has a program that guarantees $250 a month to low-income households.
Meanwhile, as these governments grant money to people for free, we continue to see a breakdown in basic services. Anyone who has been raised in, or lived in Houston, can tell you that roads are a disaster. Mykawa Road in Pearland has had gargantuan potholes for 35 years, just to name an example.
This income program is a way for them to say, 'look here, not there.'
"It would be one thing if they were handling the basics well...but if they cannot do that, why would we allow them to stretch thinner, and go direct these other issues," he says. "What we then get is government doing things in all these areas but doing none of them well."
Going back to Dallas, just $250 a month seems like a joke in today's economy. It is not uncommon to pay $150 at a grocery store today, and have the food last maybe a week, at best.
"If you were to take that money and put it toward some kind of workforce development program...you would have a better return on investment," says Blain.
Recently, one of the Democrat squad members Michigan's Rashida Tlaib said she wants to begin giving $1,400 a month to homeless people. Other cities like San Francisco have even started similar programs for Artists. Not because they are destitute, or homeless, or anything. Just because they are artists and deserve a payday.
The only way to stop the madness too is to stand up ourselves.
"Until we see someone steps in or see some kind of public pushback...they will keep moving forward with it," he says.
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