Republican Influence on Texas Government

In Daniel Hung’s Daily Texan article, Hung is targeting the general public; however, the main intended audience is individuals on the University of Texas at Austin (UT) campus.  The article asserts that the economic success in Texas is the result of the pro-business and pro-growth policies put in place as a result of the Republican Party’s control of state government.  Daniel Hung is a second-year law student at UT who has written editorials on open-carry bills, Texas education, student tax cuts, and UT’s affirmative action policy.  Hung claims that during the times that the Republican Party has held political power in Texas, the state has prospered more than when the Democrats were in power.  Hung argues that while there is room for improvement in the state of Texas, such as public education, the improvements that the Republican Party has made in Texas should allow it to stay in power.  In his article, Hung quotes Paul Burka, the former senior executive editor of Texas Monthly, saying that “Texas has prospered under the republicans” and that the “economy has been strong, tax collections have likewise been consistently good, and the Rainy Day fund is bulging with money.”  Burka, who covered Texas politics for more than 40 years, believes that everything about the economics of Texas is good.  Hung acknowledges other arguments that the Republican Party isn’t responsible for Texas’s economic success but rather that the fact that the state is blessed with abundant natural resources, such as oil, is the real cause of that success.  These natural resources mean nothing Hung asserts, however, without pro-business policies that help develop the resource.  He contrasts the success in Texas with the level of success in California, which also has abundant resources, but little pro-business policy.  Hung argues that all of these pro-business policies have been implemented while Republicans have held power, which in the legislature has been since 2003 and the governorship for the last 20-years.  Even with all these arguments for the good that Republican leadership has caused, Hung still points to improvements that the party needs to make, including tax cuts for everyone, a full time legislature, and the elimination of the affirmative action in University admission.