Texas, Explained # 2: Politics

No one person can really explain Texas politics. I'm not arrogant or foolish enough to try. What I can do is provide readers with some of the best sources that exist.  Steer you in the right direction. For your reading pleasure:

1)Molly Ivins is a national treasure : smart, funny, irreverent, suffering no fools. She started as a journalist and finished as a goddess. Literally. I had the pleasure of hearing her speak a few years before she died, and was amazed in her presence: she was 7 feet tall with red hair, hilarious, captivating, angry, scary, hypnotic and charming. A real life Athena, goddess of wisdom. Read anything by her and it will be time well spent.....Below she weighs in our our governor.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/08/rick-perry-molly-ivins

2)Do you think people in this country just show up and vote.....that votes, and thus politicians, simply, mathematically, represent clear majorities and minorities - the voice of the people? Well, in that case, I've got some swampland I'd like to sell you..... In the USA we have a "winner take all" political system....voting districts are configured by the political party in power to ensure that party's candidate wins. Read further:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/04/24/the_south_white_black_voting_and_gerrymandering_in_two_maps.html

3)For good or for evil, due to its sheer size in population, Texas holds undue sway over this country:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/books/review/as-texas-goes-by-gail-collins.html?_r=0

4)Why do Southerners, Texans, and the shrinking middle class vote against their own best interests?
http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2012/oct/09/book-review-deer-hunting-jesus/

5)The best journalism commentary both positive and negative, about Texas:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/fifty-best-texas-books-august-1981

6)One president from Texas, and his legacy : LBJ
http://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/essays/biography/9

7)More Presidents "from" Texas (remember, they really aren't) : the Bush family, George the father and George W the son
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/jamie-stiehm/2012/04/09/the-bush-family-an-american-tragedy

8)The best governor of Texas, so far, in my lifetime:
http://www.texasobserver.org/ann-richards-legacy/