Three Solutions Texas Needs Now: A No Quarter Approach
The Problem We All Know
Texans are being squeezed. Young people can’t afford college without crushing debt. Families lose their homes to property tax bills they can’t pay. Millions go without healthcare while hospitals close across rural Texas. Meanwhile, our elected officials offer excuses, tiny rebates, and empty promises.
The question isn’t whether Texas can solve these problems. Texas has the 8th largest economy in the world, massive oil and gas revenues, and some of the fastest economic growth in the nation. The question is whether we have leaders with the courage to act.
1. Make College Affordable Again
A generation ago, Texans could work their way through college. Today, UT Austin costs more than most private schools used to, and student debt follows young Texans for decades - crushing their ability to buy homes, start businesses, or build families.
This isn’t sustainable and it isn’t necessary. Texas has the resources to make public higher education affordable again. We’ve made the choice to let tuition spiral out of control while sitting on record revenues. That’s a choice we can unmake.
No more excuses. No more commissions. Make Texas public universities affordable for Texas families.
2. Eliminate Property Taxes
This is the fight that matters most to Texas families.
Property taxes are the most regressive, destructive form of taxation we have. They’re pushing seniors out of homes they’ve owned for forty years. They’re adding $500-$1,000 per month to the cost of homeownership, pricing young families out of the market entirely. They create a system where you never truly own your home; you’re just renting it from the government.
Governor Abbott talks about “property tax relief” while your actual bills keep climbing. A $300 rebate doesn’t help when your annual increase is $1,500.
Here’s the truth they don’t want you to hear: Texas has the revenue to eliminate property taxes. We can figure out how to fund schools and local government without threatening people’s homes.
Will it require restructuring how we fund government? Yes. Will there be details to work out? Of course. But “how do we pay for it” is the question politicians hide behind when they don’t want to act.
We found trillions for bank bailouts overnight. We send billions in foreign military aid without funding questions. We pass corporate tax breaks without hesitation. But when it comes to eliminating the tax that forces grandmothers from their homes, suddenly we need a decade of studies?
As Texans, we can figure this out and solve it now. We decide to do it, then we do it. Everything else is just excuses for inaction.
3. Create a Texas Statewide Healthcare System
Texas has the highest uninsured rate in America - nearly one in five Texans. Even those with insurance face medical bankruptcy. Rural hospitals are closing because politicians in Austin refused Medicaid expansion for purely ideological reasons.
This affects every Texas county; red, blue, urban, and rural. A heart attack doesn’t care about your politics, and neither should access to healthcare.
Texas has the resources and the size to create our own statewide healthcare system. We don’t need to wait for Washington or beg insurance companies for mercy. We can build a system that works for Texans, funded by Texans, accountable to Texans.
This is Texas independence at stake! Independence from a broken federal system and from insurance company middlemen who extract profit from human misery and suffering.
The Choice Before Us
These aren’t radical ideas. They’re common-sense solutions to real problems Texans face every day. The only thing radical is how thoroughly our current system has failed working people while serving the donor class.
You’ll hear opponents demand detailed funding mechanisms before we’re “allowed” to talk about solutions. That’s the trap that keeps nothing from ever changing. It’s the same deflection used to kill Medicare for All, free college, and infrastructure investment (you know, infrastructure investment such as flood sirens that saves kids’ lives); while somehow billions flow to corporate subsidies and foreign wars and Countries without anyone asking how we’ll pay for it.
The Real Question
The question isn’t whether Texas has the resources to solve these problems. We do.
The question is whether we’ll keep electing people who serve the donor class, or whether we’ll primary out the deadwood and elect leaders who serve working Texans.
A new generation isn’t accepting the rigged system that impoverishes them. They’re demanding leaders who will fight, not make excuses. Leaders who understand that when your state has record revenues and your people are struggling, the problem isn’t resources - it’s priorities!
Texas can solve Texas problems. Let’s get to work.
This is my No Quarter Democrat approach: economic populism, direct action, and no patience for the procedural excuses that preserve a broken status quo.