How Can The Kinkster Do Any Worse?

An old friend in Amarillo takes great delight in mocking my candidate for Governor of Texas in 2006: Richard (Kinky) Friedman. As the Kinkster loves to say: My campaign offers Texans an alternative to "Paper or Plastic." The Kinkster is saying that the gullible voters of Texas have voted for Democrats and — more recently — Republicans in a one-party state for most of its history. Look below at what those votes for Paper or Plastic have given Texans. The statistics below were posted to this blog more than a month ago. However, Texas Monthly has arranged those sad statistics in a more readable and understandable format. What comes clear is that Texas is not even third-rate when it comes to quality of life compared to the other 49 states. Read 'em and weep, Texans. Cast a vote for Goodhair or the empty suit that the Democrats put up to oppose Goodhair and Texas will remain at the bottom of the national heap. Kinky Friedman is smarter than Goodhair or any Democrat; he was an honor graduate of UT-Austin. The Kinkster was a Peace Corps Volunteer. The Kinkster is a songwriter, singer, and musician. Friedman has written 17 mystery novels; several of his novels made the NYTimes best-seller list for fiction. Vote for business as usual and that's what you'll get: a State that is a disgrace. Don't vote for Paper or Plastic. Sign the Kinkster's petition instead of voting in either primary so that Friedman can get on the 2006 ballot as an Independent. The Kinkster is fond of saying that Sam Houston was the last Independent who was elected governor of Texas. Sam Houston would weep at the state of affairs in the Lone Star State at the beginning of the 21st century. If this is a (fair & balanced) call for change, so be it.

[x Texas Monthly]
Where We Rank

First in executions, last in the percentage of low-income children with health insurance— that much we knew. But how Texas compares with the rest of the country in a whole host of other areas may surprise you. It sure surprised us.

Click here for sources for “Where We Rank.”

THIS SPRING, Democratic state senator Eliot Shapleigh, of El Paso, distributed the second edition of “Texas on the Brink,” a pamphlet detailing how the second-largest state compares with the other 49 in education, health, crime, and other measurable areas of public life. Shapleigh writes in the introduction that Texas must “make the necessary and critical investment” in public services and warns that “our state is at a crossroads.” At least that crossroads is familiar territory: Shapleigh’s portrayal of a state government that taxes and spends at a low level is hard to dispute, but it is not exactly new. It was as true fifty years ago, when Texas was a Democratic state and “a good business climate” was the mantra of state leaders, as it is today, when Texas is a Republican state whose watchword is “economic development.” The rankings below, drawn from Shapleigh’s report, say a lot about the choices we’ve made, and they’re certain to fuel the ongoing argument over whether those choices have been wise.

50th in

Percentage of population with health insurance
Percentage of high school graduates age 25 and over
Percentage of insured low-income children
Average consumer credit score
Per capita spending on government administration
Affordability of homeowners’ insurance
Affordability of residential electric bill

49th in

Tax revenue raised per capita
Per capita spending on state arts agencies
Total general expenditures per capita
Per capita spending on water quality
Amount of monthly Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits paid

48th in

Per capita spending on parks and recreation
Mean Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores
Average spending per child on child protection
Percentage of workforce represented by a union

47th in

Amount of welfare and food-stamp benefits paid
Percentage of poor who receive Medicaid

46th in

Per capita spending on environmental protection
Per capita spending on mental health
Per capita spending on the protection of open spaces
Average hourly earnings

45th in

Per capita spending on public health
Number of secondary teachers with degrees in the subject they teach
Percentage of women ages 50–69 who received mammograms within the last two years
Total assets of banks, trust companies, and savings institutions
Home ownership rate

44th in

Number of pharmacists
Percentage of eligible voters who are registered

43rd in

Number of households with checking accounts
Income distribution equality
Workforce education

41st in

Number of dentists
Number of households with savings accounts

40th in

Rate of women ages 18–64 who receive Pap smears
Percentage of adults who meet recommended levels of daily physical activity
Number of physicians

39th in

State aid per pupil
Number of psychologists
Affordability of auto insurance

37th in

Compliance with the Supreme Court decision declaring that unjustified institutionalization of a disabled person is discrimination
Number of women receiving prenatal care

35th in

Per capita spending on police protection

33rd in

Percentage of population with access to primary care
Rate of firearm deaths per 100,000 people

32nd in

Percentage of households with Internet access
Per capita spending on education
Average teacher salaries

25th in

Percentage of adults with at least a bachelor’s degree

16th in

Property tax collected per person

15th in

Murder rate

12th in

Prevalence of obesity

11th in

Percentage of low-income students in public schools
Violent crime rate

9th in

Rate of infectious disease per 100,000 people
Unemployment rate
Number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities

7th in

Poverty rate

6th in

Percentage of two-year-olds not fully immunized

5th in

Total crime rate
Number of diabetes deaths per 100,000 people

4th in

Percentage of children living in poverty
Per capita consumption of energy

3rd in

Percentage of population that is malnourished

2nd in

Sales tax dependence
Percentage of population that goes hungry
Overall birth rate
Teenage birth rate
Amount of exposure to ozone pollution
Number of hazardous-chemical spills
Number of inmates per 100,000 people
Number of highway fatalities
Number of adults diagnosed with diabetes

1st in

Child population growth
Percentage of uninsured children
Percentage of home refinance loans that are sub-prime mortgage loans (generally three to four percentage points or more higher than a comparable prime market loan)
Amount of toxic and cancerous manufacturing emissions
Number of clean-water permit violations
Number of environmental civil rights complaints
Per capita consumption of electricity
Number of job discrimination lawsuits filed
Number of deaths attributed to floods
Number of executions

Copyright © 2005 Texas Monthly Magazine