This is RINO Country!

Texas is poised to become a powerhouse state in the next century, provided it votes for those who uphold conservative values and avoids those who push for failed blue state policies.

The actor Jussie Smollet’s mythical attackers had it wrong. This isn’t MAGA country. This is RINO country.

As the Texas Tribune reports, ”Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, was elected speaker of the Texas House on Tuesday [01/14].” Even though the majority of Republicans in congress originally voted for the more populist conservative Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, House Democrats joined forces with the sizable minority of establishment Republicans to put Burrows over the top.

Burrows has assured Texans that he will prioritize certain conservative priorities like school choice and bring Texans together, but his record suggests he will do the opposite. He voted against school choice the last time it came up and also voted to impeach AG Ken Paxton. Despite the popularity of both school choice and Paxton (who will likely primary Sen. John Cornyn in the 2026 midterm election), Burrows evidently has little to fear if he continues siding with Texan Democrats’ agenda.

This is because Burrow’s ascendance is as much a matter of politicking and close-door meetings as it is about voter indifference. Most Americans, including most Texans, don’t care nearly as much about state elections as much as they should. In the last election—a contentious presidential one, no less—hardly more than 60% of registered voters bothered to participate. For the midterm two years ago, less than half of registered voters showed up at the polls.

Considering that the most popular issues for Americans, like the economy, education, and law enforcement, are largely handled at the state level, Texan voters have all the more reason to care about whom they vote into office at Austin than at Washington D.C. True, a handful of primary campaigns might upset the status quo and infuse some new life into the state GOP, but this obviously didn’t happen in Lubbock where the incumbent cruised to victory despite betraying his constituents on key issues.

However, what really makes Burrow’s election to Speaker a concern for all Americans is that it happened in the country’s most important state. As writer and urbanologist Joel Kotkin recently explained, Texas “is set to become America’s most populist state, Houston could become its second-largest city by 2100 — and it’s tempting to see Texas as a model for the country to follow: one that encourages entrepreneurship while retaining traditional social values.”

Texas’s colossal size and rapid growth already makes it one of the most consequential states in the union. It also makes it the primary destination (along with Florida) for Americans leaving other states. As so many blue states continue to implode from poor governance, especially in California, their residents have migrated to the Lone Star state by the hundreds of thousands. It’s not hard to imagine more states, even the most progressive ones, adopting more Texas-style policies in the near-future to experience the same kind of growth.

This makes it all the more essential that Texans avoid the many pitfalls that have plagued other large formerly-red states that have since become blue. Incoming residents will want good schools, safe neighborhoods, solid infrastructure, job opportunities, and an energy grid that remains operational when a freak ice storm hits. What they won’t want are pointless impeachments, fruitless culture war battles, redneck incompetence, brazen cronyism, and a provincial set of out-of-touch good ol’ boys dictating policy for increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan communities.

Although it remains to be seen whether Burrows will follow the example of his drunken mediocre RINO predecessor Dade Phalan, his success as Speaker will depend on voter accountability. At the moment, most of us Texans now have their eyes on Donald Trump’s new administration and the new legislature led by Republican moderates like Sen. John Thune and Rep. Mike Johnson since this is what political news outlets are continually focused on.

As important as this is, they should pay even more attention to what Gov. Greg Abbott and his new legislature are doing. The next two years will show whether Texas will indeed become the powerhouse of the country and the envy of the world, or decline into another once-great state brought low by bad leadership and a complacent populace.

Photo Credit- Wiki Commons.