America’s future: California or Texas?

The comparison is hard not to make.

When California hikes taxes; Texas reduces spending.

California deindustrializes, then disingenuously crows about per capita energy use reductions as if unemployment or offshoring were a good thing; manufacturing actually makes up a bigger share of Texas’ economy today than it did 10 years ago.

California pays its teachers extremely well; but national standardized test scores show Texas does a far better job at educating children across a diverse racial and ethnic spectrum.

On paper, California’s official poverty rate is a couple of points lower than Texas’; but Texas, with a cost-of-living 42 percent cheaper than California’s and a far-lower unemployment rate, has a cost-of-living adjusted poverty rate 7 percent lower than California’s (paying less for food, rent, and transportation matters a lot when you’re struggling to make ends meet).

Once a portent of things to come, California threatens to be a harbinger of national doom — clearly warning the nation of the danger of an overbearing government.

By contrast, prudent Texas shows the way to a once-and-future America — an America that values hard work and rewards investment and where government’s role is limited to securing liberty.