Watching politics evolve (or devolve) over the past few decades has been an out of body experience. Of course, social media has been made a lot of this easier to see than before, but it isn’t the cause of any of this. The seeds have always been there.

Two things on social media brought this to a head this week for me. One was a church sign that said that faith trumps facts. I’m paraphrasing there, but that was the basic message. We’ve been in a fact free environment for quite awhile, but the difference is pretty clear. It’s not that we can’t agree on policy. That’s as old as time itself. It’s not even that we can’t agree on facts. That’s more recent, but it has been going on for awhile. It’s that we can’t even seem to discuss issues that most people would agree are real issues.

The state of Texas has been ground zero for this phenomenon longer than most of the country. We’ve passed looser gun laws seemingly every term. We’ve protected girls in bathrooms. We’ve banned transgender kids from playing sports. We’ve passed stiffer and stiffer abortion laws. It isn’t so much that these policies are wrong (which they are). It’s that they don’t have any impact on 99 percent of the people. Bad policy is bad policy. These policies are a waste of everyone’s time.

It is disheartening to not only lose a debate over a key issue, but to fail to have the issue addressed at all. Three years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes. Since then I’ve spent time with six different doctors to manage the impacts of that disease. I’m not sure if single payer really is better than a private/public mixture of insurance. I certainly think after dealing with my own stuff that I’d prefer single payer. I don’t mind opposition. I mind not even having the conversation.

The same is true for the infrastructure in the state. Is is better to have highways that stretch across 20 lanes or is it better to have a robust public transportation system that includes buses, commuter trains, light rail, and other options? Again, it isn’t that some have differing opinions. It is that we can’t seem to have the conversation.

Another couple of memes brought this home. One had someone question the CDC and asked why we don’t do our own research. Another seemed to indicate that progressives were somehow ushering in the beginning of fascism. We could be having a robust debate about how to properly implement the CDC’s recommendations. Instead, we have Earle doing a Google search and declaring himself smarter than the people that have studied disease and its spread patterns for their entire lives.

I’ve spent time here on education and matters of faith. It’s frustrating for some, but at least there are conversations. We can’t fix the problems of the 21st century without conversations. We can’t debate the environment, education, safety protocols, infrastructure, or anything else if we can’t even acknowledge that they are issues. When did this all happen because I don’t remember it always being this way?

I am a proud native Texan. I’m the product of Texas schools, from 1st grade in Cypress, TX to UNT and UH. In fact, for the totality of my life and the life of my children, we have been legally compelled by the state to attend a school or we face truancy charges. The law mandates that the state is responsible for ensuring every child in Texas is educated. I like that law – overall, it makes Texans smarter, better people, and fuels the economy so we can enjoy these beautiful skies and all the natural resources Texas has to offer.

Lately, I love my state less and less. I’m a mom. I’ve got a freshman in high school who is fully vaccinated against COVID as of today, and a 10 year old who is too young to be vaccinated. Next week, this kid will go back to school, wearing a mask, but the teachers around her will not be permitted to tell the other children that might be sick to wear a mask to protect her and her peers.

One of my closest friends is an ICU nurse administrator at my local hospital, so I happen to know that we have no COVID beds left in my city and that the Children’s ICU/COVID beds are full and not accepting transfers for trauma. I know that the patients in those beds are getting less care than usual because nurses are taking double their patient load – even patients requiring 1:1 care are getting 1:2 care. School has been out for months here, so the daily exposure to hundreds of children isn’t happening. But next week, it starts.

Despite the new data coming out about the delta variant of COVID and how contagious it is to people who are vaccinated, Governor Abbott has tied our hands behind our back. We give our kids a mask and send them out into the world knowing that, vaccinated or not, the new Delta variant will likely infect them if they are exposed. We sigh with relief that our older, vaccinated children will likely fight this variant off and hold our breath that our younger children do not become seriously ill. We could prevent this infection with smart public health policy, but our Governor needs to win a primary. He has mandated that our school district can not require vaccinations for COVID nor can they require mask-wearing. Not under any circumstances.

Our school cannot offer online learning for the children who are immunocompromised because they don’t have the funding – much of the funding in our wealthy district is taken and given to the rural districts that voted for this school funding system so they can build giant football palaces in the middle of the great plains. Children who can’t risk getting COVID will have to be withdrawn from school, and those parents will have to find some way to care for and educate them while also trying to work. If they do not educate the child, they will face jail time for truancy. Teachers who are high-risk or immunocompromised choose between their health and their career.

Texas moms and dads who are facing this reality right now feel powerless. We are like big mama bears with our hands tied behind our backs and just a snap away from being able to bite the man who has tied our hands up. Those of us that are not part of the vast right-wing conspiracy universe see this for what it is: lunacy. We are a Republic, not a libertarian Wild Wild West. It is my hope that the apathetic, non-voting working people and parents of Texas finally wake up to what is going on in our government and vote these guys out.

I don’t know if Beto O’Rourke can win the race, but I fear he is the only candidate who has the name recognition to do it state-wide. I call on him to risk his political future and run for Governor, knowing full well that another huge loss like this will likely end his political career. I think he cares about Texans and if he can walk back his “I’m going to take your guns” comment, he is the only candidate with the fundraising power to challenge Greg Abbott’s corruption campaign chest filled with millions from big donors.

Complete disregard for the health and safety of children has to be the line, doesn’t it? The line where we don’t sit back and take this political nonsense anymore?

I was perusing social media last night when I stumbled upon a picture in one of the groups I belong to. It was a teacher convocation in Lubbock. They say a picture speaks a 1000 words and this picture was speaking volumes. It showed hundreds of teachers packed into a cafeteria and not a single one was wearing a mask.

Unfortunately, the picture is difficult to find or I would have posted it here. It seems Lubbock ISD took the picture off of their social media when they got blasted in the comments. Convocations are feel good events for central office administrators. Teachers and campus level administrators have never gotten a whole lot out of them even in the before times.

I remember one particular year where the district brought in the woman from “Dangerous Minds” and had her speak. In another year we had an Elvis impersonator (actually that might have been the same year). We’ve also had the superintendent ride into the room in a toy school bus. These events obviously preclude us from doing over a hundred things more worth our time.

I admittedly never took classes in campus leadership for my masters, but counselors did take a few courses in common with future principals. One of those should have been Communication 101. There are things that should be communicated face to face. There are things that should be communicated in an email. Obviously, there are things that don’t need to be communicated at all. In the age of COVID, convocations should be a thing of the past.

It is hard to call wearing masks and practicing social distancing civil disobedience, but in this state I guess it qualifies. Texas seems to be in a race with Florida and Louisiana for brain dead governance. Abbott has to be in the lead here because if he doesn’t get you with COVID then you always have the opportunity of freezing to death. He truly is an equal opportunity jackass.

It is high time we take the talk of freedom seriously. He has banned school districts from mandating masks, but he cannot bar us from wearing them ourselves. He cannot bar us from encouraging others to do the same. In order to do that they would have to outlaw masks outright. I can’t imagine he would want to go that far, but I’d put nothing past him at this point.

Meanwhile, there is no real reason for district wide meetings to take place in person. We managed to get by with Zoom last year. We didn’t even hold in person faculty meetings. Again, it goes back to Communication 101. If the goal is disseminating information then we need to consider how we can do that efficiently and safely. Our governor may be stupid, but there’s no reason why the rest of us need to be.

I know you’ve heard about a runoff in Texas last week over filling a vacant congressional seat. The odds on favorite was the wife of a deceased congressman because she had Trump’s endorsement, his $100,000 contribution, $1.2 million from Club for Growth, and all manner of MAGA mannerless rants.

However, Susan Wright lost.  Polls until election day had her up by as much as ten points.  But, then there was a report from the field …

It was from a campaign worker at a polling place, and they said the kinds of voters who were showing up had “definitely changed.” How do you know that? Langston asked.

“Because they’re all wearing masks,” the worker replied.

Oh y’all, Matt Gaetz.

Gaetz: I got the Florida variant. I got the freedom variant. It affects the brain. pic.twitter.com/U4XGhbVqph

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 31, 2021

Meanwhile, in a little thing we like to call reality —

Florida reported 21,683 new COVID-19 cases — the most in the state in a single day since the pandemic began, per data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday.

Since the pandemic began, y’all.  Click this link to see how they’re already putting up tents.

Ya know, when a guy’s total knowledge of Greek is fraternity names, he might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer.