Political Influence: It's Bigger In Texas

Columnist Gail Collins on Texas –how the Lone Star State sways our national politics.

From "Who Shot J.R.?" to its Armadillos, everything in  Texas is outsize: land,  oil,  egos  and maybe, it’s political influence on the other 49 states. It’s not just because we watch Dallas or root for America’s Team, the Cowboys.

Whether it’s banks, textbooks, environmental regulations or sex ed, New York Times columnist Gail Collins writes that Texas dominates the political range, and the rest of us are sheep. From the Alamo to Sugarland,  Texans complain they’re oppressed. But are they?

This hour, On Point:  Texas, and how it sets the American Agenda.
-Jacki Lyden

Gail Collins, a columnist for the New York Times, she's the author of the new book As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda.

Bill McKenzie, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Dallas Morning News.

The Daily Beast "Texas refuses to accept federal funding for sex education programs that teach kids how to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases with tactics other than celibacy. The reason, according to a spokeswoman for State Health Services, is that its “first choice is that teens chose not to have sex."

Slate "My fascination with Texas began rather suddenly. It was the spring of 2009—you will remember, that was the season when the political right was failing to adjust to the idea of a President Obama. And there was Gov. Rick Perry at a Tea Party rally in Austin, publicly toying with the idea that his state might consider seceding."

Better in Texas by Rick Trevino

Texas by George Strait