Lone Star Tarnished: A Critical Look at Texas Politics and Public Policy

by Jillson; Cal

• ISBN13: 9780415808767
• ISBN10: 0415808766
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-03-22
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Texas pride, like everything else in the state, is larger than life. So, too, perhaps, are the state'¬"s challenges. In this text we are presented with the distinctive view of the role and purpose of government that has always been characteristic of Texas, giving shape to the logic and limitations of Texas politics and public policy. Lone Star Tarnishedapproaches Texas public policy from historical, comparative, and critical perspectives. The historical perspective provides the scope for asking how various policy domains have developed in Texas history, often with a qualitative discussion reaching back to the state'¬"s founding and with substantial data for the period 1950 to the present. In each chapter author Cal Jillson compares Texas public policy choices and results with those of other states and the United States in general. Finally, the critical perspective allows us to question the balance of benefits and costs attendant to what is often referred to as "the Texas way" or "the Texas model." Jillson delves deeply into seven substantive policy chapters, covering most of the major policy areas in which state governments are active. Through his lively and lucid prose, students are well equipped to analyze how Texas has done and is doing compared to selected states and the national average over time and today.