The Taliban have taken Texas

Of course the militant political group from Afghanistan has not physically invaded the state of Texas, but their essential ideology HAS taken over. Texas is now officially on record as supporting the harassment of women; the open display of weapons in public; attacks on science, doctors, and public health efforts; voter suppression; and right-wing intrusion into school curriculum.

These steps, taken by the Texas governor and state legislature, may be less extreme than what the Taliban have done and are doing in Afghanistan, but the differences are of degree, not of kind. If they get away with these first steps toward militant, fundamentalist, authoritarianism, they will tighten their control and become even more extreme.

The name of the militant, ideological, fundamentalist group that is subjugating Texas is the Republican Party. Many of the party’s branches throughout the United States are now looking to Texas as an example of where they might lead their states in the coming months.

New anti-abortion law

The Texas anti-abortion law, which went into effect on September 1, is egregiously unconstitutional in at least 2 ways. First, it prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in the embryo. This is before many women even know they are pregnant. In addition, this “cardiac activity” is not even a heartbeat because the heart valves have not yet formed.

The current Federal legal standard, set by Roe v. Wade in 1973, allows women the right to choose abortion up until the point that the fetus can survive outside the womb (about 24 weeks). No matter how one feels about abortion, Roe V. Wade has been settled Federal law for nearly 50 years. The state of Texas does not have the right to override Federal law.

Second, and perhaps even more deplorable, is the enforcement clause of the Texas law. Because the state knew it could not legally enforce an abortion ban, they decided to stop abortions by legalizing intimidation and harassment.

The law effectively deputizes ANYONE to be able sue any abortion provider. It also allows people to sue anyone whom they believe may have helped a woman, in any way, to get an abortion. If the bully wins, he gets $10,000 plus legal fees. If the clinic (or UBER driver) wins, these defendants still have to pay their own legal fees.

Texas has thus legalized predatory bounty hunting against women’s rights.

Even fewer gun restrictions

Texans love their guns. They have long been able to carry a rifle in public without a license. But, up until now, they have been required to have a license to carry a handgun. A new law now eliminates the need for a permit.

This, of course, means that those carrying handguns will NOT have had the fingerprinting, training, written exam, and shooting proficiency test that the permit had required.

In Afghanistan and other unstable countries, it is common to see people brandishing guns in public. It is a sign of lawlessness. It certainly does not make the public safer.

Law enforcement officials in Texas have said that this new law will make their jobs more dangerous.

Anti-vaxing and anti-masking orders

Along with Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, Texas governor Greg Abbott is leading the anti-science crusade that endangers the lives of the residents of his state. On October 11, 2021, Abbott issued an executive order that bans private businesses, or any other entity, from requiring Covid-19 vaccinations of employees or of customers.

Last May, Abbott issued an executive order banning local governments and school districts from requiring people to wear protective face masks. Many localities and school districts have defied the order. At least 29 cities, counties, school districts, and colleges are suing the governor. At the same time, the Governor, through his Attorney General, Ken Paxton, is suing 15 school districts for mandating masks.

The US Department of Education is now investigating whether Abbott’s mask ban violates the rights of schoolchildren with disabilities. Abbott and Paxton argue that state law puts the governor solely in charge of disaster response. They do not explain how that empowers the governor to NOT respond, and then prohibit others from responding, to a public health crisis.

Meanwhile, during the week ending on October 17, 2021, Texas had the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the country (1,380).

Voter suppression

On September 7, 2021, Governor Abbott signed a bill that restricts how and when voters can cast their ballots. It restricts voting hours, bans the popular drive-through voting, and gives partisan poll-watchers more freedom. Particularly egregious is that the new law creates criminal penalties for assisting voters and jail time for local election officials who proactively distribute applications for mail-in ballots.

This new law is just the next phase of voter restrictions in Texas. In the 2020 election, Governor Abbott ordered that each county only be allowed to have ONE ballot drop-off box. This, of course, was designed to make voting more difficult in Harris County (Houston) which has 4.7 million people. The county still managed to vote for Biden over Trump.

Texas Republicans believe in democracy only as long as most Democrats are not allowed to vote.

Right-wing control of school curriculum

Most disturbing to me as a retired educator is the renewed right-wing effort in Texas to dictate what teachers can and cannot teach.

Few outside of the field of education know that Texas has long been dictating the content of school textbooks to the publishers – especially American history textbooks. And for decades those “Texas edited” textbooks have then been sold around the country.

Now, a new Texas law discourages teachers from discussing “controversial” historical, social, or political issues.” If they are discussed, the law requires teachers to “explore such issues from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective.”

In addition to the outrage of ignorant partisan legislators telling teachers how to teach, this new law led one school district curriculum director to tell a group of elementary teachers that if they had books about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also have books with “opposing views.”

The only “diverse perspective” one could have about the Holocaust is that it never happened. Does this mean that Holocaust denial should get equal treatment in schools with true history? Well, yes. That is what the law says. It strikes at the very heart of what education should be about.

Of course, the law was really designed to promote and defend conservative ideological issues: anti-abortion, anti-gun control, anti-marriage equality, anti-equal rights, anti-critical race theory, anti-taxes, and anti- critical thinking.

Texas Republicans want to control what teachers say so they can control what the upcoming generation believes.

America is in imminent danger

Please do not take the title or the content of this blog post lightly. I am not trying to be dramatic. The threat is very real. The catastrophic collapse of American democracy is much closer than people realize.

The Republican Party is now fully committed to the lies, fake outrage, distrust, dysfunction, authoritarianism, and violence that have been promoted by FoxNews, and other right-wing media, for decades. This shameful downward trend has reached its nadir in our national infestation of blind Trump worship.

Texas Republicans are now proudly leading the way into the fascism of the future.

Sources

“Taliban,” Wikipedia.
“Who are the Taliban?,” BBC, August 18, 2021.
Roni Caryn Rabin, “Answers to Questions About the Texas Abortion Law, “The New York Times, October 15, 2021.
Adam Liptak, “Justice Department Asks Supreme Court to Block Texas Abortion Law,” The New York Times, October 18, 2021.
Jennifer Stayton, “Texans No Longer Need A Permit To Carry A Handgun. How We Got Here – And What Worries Law Enforcement,” KUT (Austin’s NPR Station, September 1, 2021.
Joe Hernandez, “You Can Now Carry A Handgun In Texas Without A License, Training Or Background Check,” NPR, September 2, 2021.
Rebekah Allen, “Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bans any COVID-19 vaccine mandates – including for private employers,” The Texas Tribune, October 11, 2021.
Joshua Fletcher, “Gov. Greg Abbott and local officials are fighting several legal battles over mask mandates. Here’s what you need to know.” The Texas Tribune, September 28, 2021.
David Mills, “Here’s Where COVID–19 Cases Are Rising and Falling,” Healthline, October 19, 2021.
Alex Ura, “Gov. Greg Abbott signs Texas voting bill into law, overcoming Democratic quorum breaks,” The Texas Tribune, September 7, 2021.
Jolie McCullough, “Texas counties will be allowed only one droop-off location for mail-in ballots, state Supreme Court rules,” The Texas Tribune, October 27, 2021.
Rob Alex Fitt, “Conservative activists in Texas have shaped the history all American children learn,” The Washington Post, October 19, 2021.
Dana Goldstein, “Two States. Eight Textbooks. Two American Stories.” The New York Times, January 12, 2020.
Kate Slater, “Who chooses the history textbooks?” Today, September 10, 2020.
Tamim Ansary, “A Textbook Example of What’s Wrong with Education,” Edutopia, November 10, 2004.
Francine Prose, “Texas schools are being told to teach ‘opposing views’ of the Holocaust. Why?” The Guardian, October 19, 2021.