govt-2306 (texas)

political culture

broadly shared values, beliefs and attitudes about how the government should function and politics should operate

American political culture focuses

liberty, equality, and justice

“traditionalistic individualistic” political culture

the belief that government should be dominated by political elites and guided by tradition, influenced by the culture of the South, combined with the belief that government should limit its role in providing order in society so that citizens can pursue the economic self-interest, influenced by the culture of the mid-Atlantic states

what political culture is texas categorized in?

“traditionalistic individualistic”

what party dominated texas prior to 1978?

the democratic party

provincialism

a narrow, limited, and self-interested view of the world often associated with rural values and notions of limited government (often a result of intolerance of diversity)

texan business groups are…

major players in texan politics in terms of campaign contributions, organized interest groups, and lobbyists

texan business influence is being challenged by…

a powerful social conservative wing in the republican party that is less concerned with cosmopolitan business interests than in promoting a social agenda that includes expanding gun owner rights, controlling the books read in public schools, and curtailing abortion, immigration, and lgbtq rights

privatization of public property

the act(s) by which texas gave public land owned by the state over to private individuals for cultivation and development

texas’ political life grew out of which region?

the gulf coastal plains

what was the benefit of the privatization of public property in texas?

it allowed texas to retain ownership of the minerals under some of this land, which has provided funding for elementary and secondary education as well as higher education

one of the oldest crops grown in texas

cotton

two consequences resulting from the tenant and sharecropping system

• it condemned many rural texans to lives of social and economic dependency

• it helped fuel radical political discontent in rural areas

what happened in 1894 in navarro county near corsicana?

the first economically significant oil discovery in texas

texas railroad commission

an elected state regulatory commission originally crated to regulate railroads in texas, it now plays an important role in regulating the oil and gas industry in texas

what happened in 1890 after considerable controversy fueled by hostility to railroad companies?

a constitutional amendment was passed to create a regulatory agency, the texas railroad commission

what happened in 1917 to the powers of the texas railroad commission?

the powers were extended to regulation of energy, to ensure that petroleum pipelines were common carriers (that they transported all producers’ oil and gas on equal terms) and to promote well-spacing rules (which controlled production by limiting how closely packed together oil wells could be in a particular field)