With Democrats now in control of the federal government, Republican-led states like Texas are making moves to ensure that the chaotic liberalism that descended on Washington in recent weeks doesn’t overtake their way of life.
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s first step is to defund those who seek to defund the police.
On Thursday, he posted a video on Twitter issuing a warning to any city in the state that considers measures to take funding from law enforcement. If they decide to go that route, Abbott and his staff will effectively cut off their access to state funding.
He says, “Hi, this is Gov. Greg Abbott at the headquarters for the Texas Department of Public Safety, where we had a roundtable discussion with law enforcement officials from across the entire state of Texas, where we’re focusing on legislation to make sure that we fully fund police in Texas.”
“We will defund any city that tries to defund the police,” he added.
Abbott continued, saying that the discussion also brought up bail reform, which has been implemented in states like California, New York, and cities like Portland, Oregon, and have led to disastrous results. Gov. Abbott has refused all such notions, citing that he cannot, in good conscience, or with any common sense, see how putting bad people and known criminals back onto the streets is good for anyone.
He said, “(W)e are not letting back out on the streets people who are dangerous criminals who just go and kill somebody else. If they have committed a heinous crime, they should not be let back out on the streets.”
Essentially, Abbott says, these moves “give cities a clear choice. Either fulfill their duty to keep residents safe or lose access to all of their tax revenue.”
Many such as KXAN-TV have noted that video and discussion were likely aimed at the state’s capital of Austin, Texas. It was here that last year the city council proposed cutting funding of their police department significantly.
At the time, Abbott made his disapproval clear and said that in the future, he would be putting forth plans to make sure or at least encourage that defunding of the state’s much-needed law enforcement wouldn’t happen. However, the state’s legislation was already closed for the year, forcing Abbott to wait until the assembly resumed at the start of 2021.
And now that it has, Abbott is keeping his promise.
In addition, should any city, Austin included, decide to defund their police force and so be defunded themselves, Abbott has considered letting the Texas DPS take control of the city’s police to ensure its citizens are protected no matter what.
And if the 2020 election cycle tells us anything, it’s that people will appreciate moves like this. All throughout the US, lawmakers who pushed defunding the police lost out to those who want to keep our nation and her states backing the blue.
As a result, the House of Representatives, which last year held a democratic majority by a significant number, is barely hanging on to that lead at all. It has been noted that the Democrats lost a whopping 12 House seats this year, and most were to those who stuck for police and their unique ability to protect our citizens.
As it turns out, defunding the police, as popular as the political left and Fake News Media makes it out to be, isn’t in touch with what most Americans want or need.
It is also why thousands upon thousands of residents from Democratic-led states like New York and California are fleeing in hordes for states like Texas and others who have promised to protect law-abiding citizens’ rights and not criminals.
For Texas, it looks as though Governor Abbott is making serious headway in his promise to keep Texas a “law-and-order state.” With any luck, the Lone Star State cities will take his words to heart and keep their police fully funded. And if they don’t, well, they’ll soon learn that law and order pays.
