“You may all go to hell. I will go to Texas.” - Davy Crockett
This week sure has made me proud to be a Texan. While I don’t currently live in Texas, the sentiment is the same as the sentiment felt by Marines. Once a Marine, always a Marine…..well that goes double for Texans. For those of us fortunate enough to have been born and raised in the Lone Star State, pride in our roots comes as naturally as our unshakeable accent. This week, like I said, has made me particularly proud. It’s not like Michelle Obama’s pride in America that she felt for the first time when her morally bankrupt husband took over the country. It’s not the kind of pride felt when your favorite sports team wins a championship. Those particular brands of pride dissipate quickly. The pride that comes from a birth within the borders of Texas is different. It’s the kind of pride that used to be felt as an American before the liberals made it fashionable to be too cool for patriotism.
When Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) told Attorney General Eric Holder to “resign” earlier this week, I literally clapped out loud at my television. That’s the kind of language we need out of our leaders. “Our” leaders, as in “those men and women willing to set aside political habit for the good of the country.” Those men and women who are of a strong enough character to look beyond political need in pursuit of American greatness. Eric Holder’s tenure as the Attorney General of the United States of America has served one purpose and one purpose only…..clear the road of any pesky legal obstacles His Barackness may encounter along his divine ascension. Eric Holder’s allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America has been tenuous at best. Holder has never once, in any situation, chosen the path of virtue when a path of self-preservation was an available alternative. Eric Holder has taken the position that will endear his audience to the mission of his supreme leader over that which will extend the life of America at every opportunity. Brian Terry’s family mourns the loss of their son and the one man that should have apologized first and loudest has yet to do so. Even if he were to utter an apology at this point, the motives would be suspect to say the least. Eric Holder is a sleazebag. He’s the scrambling understudy of the master magician whose curtain call will most assuredly be even more dramatic than the one we all hope will usher Mr. Holder back into this “doing just fine” private sector. Senator Cornyn did what any Texan would do when confronted with a wimpy little man in a suit hiding behind wimpy little laws and semantics designed to protect wimpy little men…..he knocked him on his ass. The Constitution of the United States should be the only thing Attorney General cares about. He should transcend the political opinions of his boss but instead he accepts them as heavenly scripture. He fights against the very philosophies and traditions that made this country great and he does so by ignoring, twisting, or blatantly misrepresenting aspects of a system designed to do none of those things. We applaud you Senator Cornyn. (And you too Congressman Issa, you just don’t fit into the whole Texas theme I have going here.)
It’s often been said that Texas is like a “whole ‘nother country.” Aside from the fact that it once was exactly that, it truly is like a country all of its own. Manhattan is known for its enormous buildings and big city feel but do you think any of those absurdly loud New Yorkers know that DFW International Airport is bigger than the entire island of Manahattan? During the whole “Bush Bash” that has been the Obama Administration, it has somehow become acceptable to dismiss Texans as unnecessary, redneck, illiterate, country, extremist, homophobic, religious zealots who couldn’t possibly know anything about American politics. Texans are just too dumb to understand the brilliance of a worldly scholar such as the man from Kenyagolulu scolding us from the campaign trail. We’re just armadillo chasing hillbillies in Texas, right? All we know is cow manure and greedy oil tycoons, right? Wrong. Texas demands common sense of a man. There’s something about living in Texas that literally targets the stupidity so readily accepted in other parts of the country. There’s a logical charm to the overall way of thinking that seems almost too simple for over-complicated attorney generals full of over-complicated, under-substantiated ideology to comprehend. It’s not taught in Texas schools but rather in the school yards. Manners are accepted and encouraged. “Yes ma’am” and “Yes sir” are not only appropriate but expected responses because that’s how polite people treat each other. It doesn’t matter what your political, religious, or sexual orientation may be; that stuff is up to you and you alone. What matters is that you respect my rights with courteous professionalism and I’ll respect yours in kind. It’s a simple way of life that many interpret as stupidity, weakness, or disinterest. It’s none of those things. It’s not a weakness at all. It’s actually the founding principle of a system that Eric Holder should be willing to die to defend…..innocent until proven guilty.
See, Texans have the unmitigated gall to believe that a person with whom they have no prior relationship is not an enemy or potential threat. They are so naïve that they actually believe a stranger is just that until such time as that stranger’s exercise of his or her rights infringe upon someone else’s freedom to those same rights. Until that time, that stranger is innocent and should be treated with the same respect afforded to ‘innocent’ people anywhere else in the world. Texans get out of the way in narrow grocery store aisles. We hold doors open for women and in Texas, the women say “thank you.” (It’s true, Saint Louis…..it’s actually true!) It’s not because we’re sexual predators. It’s not because we’re flirting. It’s not because we think you’re a weaker sex. It’s because that’s how our fathers raised us.
Occasionally, a story comes along where the entire country says “man I’m glad that happened in Texas!” If the Alamo was in Montana and it had been Canadians instead of Mexicans attacking, do you think there would be nearly the interest in the story? If Jerry Jones was a New York real estate mogul, would he be nearly as intriguing a figure? If the TV show Dallas had been called Boise would it have had the same appeal? Well, this past week has provided yet another of those stories where Texas provided a backdrop of justice found uniquely within her borders.
In the southern part of the state, in land that would seem like a distant planet to a New Yorker, a man was beaten to death over the weekend. He was beaten to death with the bare hands of another man. The man with the deadly fists was provoked by the sight of his four year old daughter being molested by the now deceased “victim.” There was a time, not very long ago when this would not have even made the news. The family of the true victim, the little girl; would have buried the body in a shallow pit in the back forty and gone on with their day. No fuss. No lawyers. People seem baffled that the father of the little girl is not being arrested. Even though he did what was right by protecting his daughter, people still seem concerned with the rights of the man who was attempting to fondle away her innocence. That’s where being raised Texan provides the logic the rest of the country is having trouble putting into words. That man, the scumbag who lost life; he lost his “rights” the instant he touched that little girl with thoughts of harm in his mind. His rights do not have the right to impede her rights. Her right to live a life free of attack from sexual deviants far exceeds any right the deviant had, has, or ever will have. Period. Indicting this man, regardless of the letter of the law, would serve no purpose. No father should have to consider the ramifications of protecting his child. Common sense has to step in and overrule a misinterpretation of our legal system that would afford any rights to a man attacking a child. Had he lived, then yes, he would have been afforded a fair trial. He didn’t live. He was punched in the head and he died. As far as Texas authorities are concerned, that seems to be the end of the story. As it should be. There’s no racial angle here, liberals. Leave it alone.
In his lesser known book Travels With Charlie: In Search of America; John Steinbeck wrote “Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study, and the passionate possession of all Texans.” It’s true. I feel lucky to call myself a Texan. No matter where I am, I will still hold the door open despite the absence of acknowledgement because the acknowledgement is not the point.
"Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called 'walking.' " - George W. Bush
As always, thanks for playing!
J Robert Giles
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