It’s good to be in Texas. To a European like me, Texas is why we came to America. It’s a huge state, but more importantly it’s a state of mind. It is a fount of freedom and imagination.
For most of the inhabitants of America’s two coasts, Texas is worse than flyover country. Texas represents everything they hate about America. Texas is big, loud, white, Republican, Christian, produces fossil fuel. Its citizens drive big cars that use up a lot of fuel, they eat a lot — starchy, fatty foods — they carry guns. The so-called élites in the Bagel, inside the Beltway and in El Lay turn Orlando Furioso when the word Texas comes up. They see it as a stronghold of religious fundamentalism, homophobia, racism, sexism and mindless patriotism. And now Texas is tainted through its association with George W.
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