The Texas Miracle? Not So Much.

The Texas Miracle, that's the phrase you will be hearing more and more of in coming months as our Governor Rick Perry makes his run for the White House.  The whole "miracle" thing makes for a catchy political phrase, but there is no miracle going on here in Texas. 
You will hear Perry point to how great Texas has fared during the recession, but you will never hear him say we still have higher unemployment than 25 other states including New York, most of New England and  our neighbors to the north, Oklahoma.  Nor will you hear Governor Perry relate how much of the employment in our Miracle State is in low paying jobs.  37% of the jobs created in the past year are at or below minimum wage.  The Texas miracle for jobs?   Well, we lead the nation in minimum wage earners - 550,000 of them to be precise.

And the climate for business in Texas, it's terrific unless you want an educated work force.  Out of all 50 states we rank number 41 for jobs requiring a post-secondary education.  Luckily, Perry and the Texas legislature are cutting an additional $2 billion from the state education budget.  I guess that is being done to attract more low-tech companies or perhaps just to put us on a level playing field with a 3rd world country.

But hey, we have lower taxes than most other states!  So, the rich can keep even more money and the poor, well they will have more to spend on things like health care.  Now in health care we top the list, the list of most people without health insurance.  A whopping 26.9% of Texans have no health coverage.  It's a miracle we don't have more considering Rick Perry's attitude on government spending.
Meanwhile as an LGBT Texan, I would like to relate to you the Miracle Worker's positions on a few points salient to our community.
Take a look at the basics, like our state's Sodomy Law (2106).  Well, Perry says, “I think our law is appropriate that we have on the books," to heck with the Supreme Court, whom he dismisses as “nine oligarchs in robes".  Every time proposals to expunge the law have been put forward, he has declined to support any of them.

He even criticized the federal hate crimes law for including LGBT people saying that President Obama overstepped his authority by “making homosexuality a protected class”.  Tell that to any of the hundreds of Texans who have been victims of gay bashing.  I suspect they would all be delighted to be part of a protected class, considering they were attacked strictly because of their sexual orientation.

He also comes down squarely against same-sex marriage.  "Gay marriage is not fine with me," Perry said in an interview Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.  If you will remember that group was recently classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Nice folks, and the same ones Governor Perry palled around with during his prayer day extravaganza in Houston.  So if you are gay or lesbian and you want to marry, Perry suggests, “…if there’s a state that has more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that’s a better place for them to live.”

Well, Governor Perry, as one of "them" let me tell you something and since I understand you didn't do very well in college,  I will put this in simple language even you can understand.

I have lived in Texas all my life, and I am not about to move and relinquish my state to a wise-cracking hate-mongering empty suit like you.  I know lots of the people you so flippantly dismissed as "them" and I will let all my gay and lesbian, bisexual and trangender and straight brothers and sisters know just the kind of man you are. In fact I encourage them to let all their friends on Facebook and Twitter know this as well.  I will be damned if I will see your intolerant and ignorant face in Washington as anything but a tourist, and personally I would be just as happy if it was you who left Texas.  Now that would really be a miracle!