Last week, Hightower had the absolute pleasure of appearing on Tavis Smiley’s live radio talk show—a lot of great laughs, and a lot of good ground covered!
"TX isn't a right wing state, it's a non-voting one." So like the U.S. plurality; stats for 2024 are: 38% didn't vote, 31% Trump, 30% Harris. The 'voters are stupid' argument is not a great motivator.
Nor is how the Ds decided in the '80s they "could get money from rich people and throw it at television ads and then we could compete with Republicans." For what? Getting money from rich people-- and the result? "We've had too many corporate centrists." Meaning support for corporate economic policies like deliberate deindustrialization, getting rid of New Deal financial regulations, bailing out Wall St. after '08 while the millions who lost jobs, pensions, homes got nothing.
Behavior often rationalized away as because of Reagan. Not true; Ds were moving that way in the late '70s. But even if it were true, what's the excuse for doing nothing about it for decades?!
Mid-terms are local, not national. TX flavor Dem populists will not be the same as my own Pac NW ones. And I'll grant the situation is so bad we have to have blue right now. However, in 2 more years we MUST have a candidate who's not just another corporate centrist D supporting an econ system harmful to the great majority of us. How more horrific does that need to get than destructive data center huge profits for the few and Flock spy cams monitoring us 24/7? Ds, get up out "of that ditch somewhere." Shout loud and proud whose side you're on!!!
I'm amazed that during this entire conversation, the topic of oil never came up. I don't know what the percentage is, but oil & gas royalties and taxes is certainly a significant percentage of the state budget. Texas is doing great with the adoption of renewable energy, but renewable energy doesn't pay royalties and severance taxes. If Texas continues to adopt renewable energy, as I hope it will, will there come a day when income taxes will become necessary to fund Texas government?
Thanks for sharing. I am going to throw down here. If Democrats do not blow it, and actually take both the House and the Senate then Trump should get credit for uniting voters on the Democratic side better than any Democrat ever has. Not counting on it, because Corporate Dems have a way of screwing everything up.
"TX isn't a right wing state, it's a non-voting one." So like the U.S. plurality; stats for 2024 are: 38% didn't vote, 31% Trump, 30% Harris. The 'voters are stupid' argument is not a great motivator.
Nor is how the Ds decided in the '80s they "could get money from rich people and throw it at television ads and then we could compete with Republicans." For what? Getting money from rich people-- and the result? "We've had too many corporate centrists." Meaning support for corporate economic policies like deliberate deindustrialization, getting rid of New Deal financial regulations, bailing out Wall St. after '08 while the millions who lost jobs, pensions, homes got nothing.
Behavior often rationalized away as because of Reagan. Not true; Ds were moving that way in the late '70s. But even if it were true, what's the excuse for doing nothing about it for decades?!
Mid-terms are local, not national. TX flavor Dem populists will not be the same as my own Pac NW ones. And I'll grant the situation is so bad we have to have blue right now. However, in 2 more years we MUST have a candidate who's not just another corporate centrist D supporting an econ system harmful to the great majority of us. How more horrific does that need to get than destructive data center huge profits for the few and Flock spy cams monitoring us 24/7? Ds, get up out "of that ditch somewhere." Shout loud and proud whose side you're on!!!
A fantastic conversation. Thank you, Tavis and Hightower! This was a real treat. 💪🏽💙
I'm amazed that during this entire conversation, the topic of oil never came up. I don't know what the percentage is, but oil & gas royalties and taxes is certainly a significant percentage of the state budget. Texas is doing great with the adoption of renewable energy, but renewable energy doesn't pay royalties and severance taxes. If Texas continues to adopt renewable energy, as I hope it will, will there come a day when income taxes will become necessary to fund Texas government?
Thanks for sharing. I am going to throw down here. If Democrats do not blow it, and actually take both the House and the Senate then Trump should get credit for uniting voters on the Democratic side better than any Democrat ever has. Not counting on it, because Corporate Dems have a way of screwing everything up.