March 19, 2024
I’m a fourth-generation Texan – my great-grandmother grew up in Borger, TX, raised her kids in Dallas, who in turn raised my parents there. I was born in Dallas, went to college in Austin, and currently work in Houston. Over the past four years I have visited almost every one of the states but those north of Connecticut, Nevada, North Dakota, and the noncontiguities. Out of these twenty-thousand miles of driving and flying I’ve had the displeasure realizing the realities of the south. The south is uniquely terrible. Get me out.
The south came to being on the backs of enslaving millions of people, even at the cost of their economy; as the north industrialized, the south chose again and again to depend upon the horror of chattel slavery. They seceded from the United States to preserve their way of life – slavery – though that’s not what the textbooks in Texas will teach you. The former Confederacy was rightfully crushed by the Union for doing so, and was properly civilized for all of twelve years with Reconstruction before slipping even further into its ways under a different name, upholding legal discrimination until the north again had to force the south to treat the sizeable minority of the descendants of slaves with the dignity they deserve. And they still fail to do that. The school district I grew up in was still under a federal antidiscrimination order when I was born.
This was spurred by seeing the influx of people moving to Texas. Sorry, but this state is terrible. Don’t move here. Though Trump only won 52% of the vote – a historic low – the remaining 6% difference is a heavy lift. And, though the state is becoming more purple, this just makes the party in power worse. Texas (and the south) is filled with voters with terrible beliefs, and those who are moving here are not much better. Commonly cited reasons for moving to Texas (and the south) are: jobs, taxes, diversity, climate risks, cheap land, culture and politics.
The job market is good in Texas. You will also have to live in Texas. If you like commuting 1-2 hours round trip, Texas might be for you.
The lack of a state income tax is often mentioned when people move to Texas. However, if you are both rich enough to move and buy a house, you will find that the lack of income tax is made up by taxes on homeowners. Good luck! Not wanting to pay taxes is also an evil reason to move to a state; the reason why taxes are so low is that our government services are severely lacking. Medicare expansion? Nope, sorry. Good roads for your hour-long commute. Not at our tax burden. Good schools? Good luck – if you live in a city (and you most likely will), you’ll find that a lot of your taxes that are supposed to go toward schools instead are redistributed to rural areas to fund their football programs.
Defenders of Texas (Houston especially) will say that it’s very diverse. It is, and that’s good. However, Texas is both diverse and incredibly racist.
Houston is on the coast in the path of a future Katrina, and will get to “wet bulb death temperature” in a few years. Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio already have 70+ days of 100-degree weather. There are months where you cannot go outside during the day without worrying about heatstroke.
The cheap land and low cost of living are out in the boonies. Cities, while cheaper than SF or NYC, are still expensive, especially with recent interest rates.
It is often claimed that the south is nicer and I can confirm that this is absolute B.S. Their niceties depend on membership in certain demographics; without that, it’s no different than anywhere else. Furthermore, the culture is suffused with a Christian nationalism – prayers at sporting events, invitations to church, a government run on evangelical values – that are regressive.
Texas is run by Christian nationalists. This is bad if you are a fan of bodily autonomy, civil rights, welfare, small government, etc.
A contention here is that the south is not irredeemable, good people still live here, “your neighborhood isn’t better just because it has craft breweries”, etc. First of all, there are good breweries everywhere which I take full advantage of when I remember that I still live in the south. Good people also do live here! But they are not the majority. Unfortunately, southern “culture” follows the majority which is composed of the people discussed above.
The south is irredeemable. I am not sure what people think will change to make it not so. Top-down interventions from the federal government did not work. Bottom-up interventions (in the form of urban demographic concentration) have barely worked due to the sea of red around these blue islands. Despite significant changes, the south remains itself. Get me out of here.
A follow-up question might be: what do other areas have which the south does not?
Though not universal, many cities outside the south are less sprawling and more dense than those in the south. Though the north has its own brand of racism, generally, the south is much, much, worse. The weather isn’t unlivable for months on end (put on a jacket and stop complaining). If your demographic is unfavorable in the south, it is less so up north. There’s good nature (most of the south has terrible geography except for the lower Appalachians). If you depend on public services, you’re better served not living in the south. If you’re in the majority of the population which faces significant bodily and civil rights issues due to the backwards policies of the horrid people running the south (women, minorities, lgbt, etc), most of the states outside of the south are much better for you. Get me out of here.