Hard Bold Facts

In spite of being a broadly recognized desirable trait, Courage is rare. It's common for people to present boldness where they face no personal consequence, or even a real expectation of consequence. True boldness only comes with the expectation of a personal cost. It requires vulnerability, the possibility of sacrifice. In our extroverted world, being loud is often confused with being bold. Posturing for an echo chamber isn't bold, it's a plea for dopamine or, in some cases, votes.

One good thing about more people starting to wake up to the dysfunction in Texas politics is that they're finally paying attention at a little deeper level. What may not be so good because of that, for Texas politicians, is that people are starting to see through the veneer of bold words to the inconsistent actions of elected officials. Elected officials in Texas would do well to recognize that a shift is happening.

When people are only superficially paying attention to the actions of politicians, they are easy to gaslight or inspire with political theater. When people start paying closer attention, they are easy to enrage with attempts to manipulate them. People like authentic boldness. They hate being manipulated, no matter how theatrically.

In the quorum breaking episode that Texans have endured for the last month, we see some R politicians setting expectations that they will do things that they're not really capable of doing. We see some talk about doing minor things that are within their capability, but never quite happening. This kind of stuff worked for them in the past, but it's increasingly working against them now. That line between inspired and enraged is approaching. Politician beware.

For Texas republicans just catching on to the myth of the deep red Texas capitol, this is all a confusing mess. We have some great reps in the statehouse. We have some truly terrible reps in the statehouse. The bad ones know what to say to make conservative Texans vote for them. They've had a lot of practice. They're good at the theater of conservative politics. They don't expect you to pay close attention to state politics. Watch their actions.