Election 2020

Special Edition - Texas Early Voting 2020

As early voting starts in Texas, my thoughts on the final month of election 2020 and what you can still do to make a difference.

Endorsements

How to think about endorsements

Bummed your favorite group endorsed the candidate you didn't want? Let's talk about why they might have done that. Spoiler: it's all strategic.

Infrastructure

One Man's Waste: The Ike Dike and earmarks

Houston needs the Ike Dike and we'd be closer to getting it if Congress used this abandoned tool.

Democratic Party National Convention 2020

Conventions and Coalitions

If you only watch one part of the Democratic National Convention, watch the roll call. Here's why.

Elections

Easy Wins - August 2020 Edition

While much of politics is about the issues that divide us, on some issues there's actually no disagreement. This is the August 2020 edition of Easy Wins.

Reform

Anti-Cynicism: Smaller Communities

Today our political communities are too big. The Founding Fathers believed in small, tight knit communities. It's time Texas returned to that model.

Taxes

Texas Taxes - COVID-19 Edition

Your taxes are going up and the Texas Legislature still might cut teacher funding or healthcare spending in a pandemic. What's going on?!?

Voting

Vote At Home

Even in normal times, voting is like a timed standardized test. These are important decisions and it's time we modernize our system so voters can take the time they need to get it right.

Texas Legislature

The First Branch

As COVID drags on, the 9th largest economy in the world is being run by one man. Is that really representative democracy?

Ballot Propositions

The Peoples' Agenda

After a few months hiatus, I'm restarting Texas Plenty. First up: Oklahoma voters decided to expand Medicaid. What would you ask Texans to vote on if we had ballot propositions?

Public Education

The roles of our public school system

Last week, the Houston Chronicle told the story of parents trying to keep their kids on track academically during COVID-19. A couple days later the Texas Tribune published a story

Property Taxes

A better tax system for Texas

Starting this week, I’m going to try something new. My Tuesday pieces will identify issues important to Houstonians and Texans. My Friday pieces will be talk about how I

Budgets

Tough decisions coming to state and local budgets

As Texas begins week three of “Stay Home, Stay Safe”, nearly half a million Texans have filed for unemployment. And according to the National Restaurant Association, 2% of Texas restaurants

COVID-19

America has enough for you

I’m writing a second post this week because, as we go through this COVID-19 crisis, I need to get this message out there: America has enough for you. Yes,

Waste

Running government like a business

When I ran for office, one of the ideas that I would hear all the time was that we should be running government like a business. Now I'd seen a

Mortgage

The cost of livin's high and goin' up

Why’s it so expensive to live nowadays?Like many folks in Texas, I grew up listening to Brooks and Dunn. I loved Red Dirt Road, Cowgirl Don’t Cry,

Accountability

On corruption (and lack of accountability)

If you can’t do the job, you don’t get to keep it When I thought about what to write for my first post, the answer was obvious – the

About Alex

About Texas Plenty

Texas Plenty is my (long time coming) personal blog. I started it in 2020 as a place to write about politics, policy, economics and culture in the State of Texas.