Back off, Abbott; Cause and effect?; Show us the bill

Back off, Abbott

Home-rule charters for cities have been part of the Texas Constitution since 1876.

They have been under assault by Gov. Abbott for more than two years.

In August 2016, Abbott addressed the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute and made his intention clear when he said Texas should take a “ ‘rifle shot after rifle shot after rifle shot’ approach” to override local regulations one-by-one.

The governor has called for a special session of the legislature to address 20 pieces of legislation, and at least seven of them are written to weaken home rule. This action would continue his agenda to fire “rifle shot after rifle shot after rifle shot” to eliminate home-rule charters.

Gov. Abbott and the Legislature must be stopped, and they can be stopped if Democrats and like-minded Republicans let them know that home rule should be protected, not destroyed.

Our governor is now targeting our Constitution (Abbott letter, “Act on Constitution,” May 4).

As state attorney general, he was frequently suing federal government agencies for rules or actions with which he didn’t agree.

Now he is calling for a convention of states to restore or propose amendments.

He doesn’t like the president dictating laws. Yet our governor is attempting to dictate laws and policies to our local communities and counties.

Let our local elected officials do their job.

He is right that proposing or changing amendments is hard. The framers of the Constitution made it hard for people like him from wanting to gut our Constitution.

I wish the governor would do his job. We have a lot of problems here in Texas that need to be addressed.

Cause and effect?

Who is surprised to read that abstinence-only programs may contribute to teen pregnancies? The data has long existed.

Or that more Texas women are dying in childbirth? This was predicted when politicians closed Planned Parenthood clinics.

When are we going to replace politicians who get on their moral high horses and focus on bedroom/bathroom issues rather than infrastructure, school finance, and the environment?

Are we ready for serious government or more of this schoolyard mentality?

Show us the bill

Why are only 12 Republican senators deciding the path of future U.S. healthcare, which incidentally is one-sixth of the economy, without any input from the public, without those within the healthcare system, and without any other senators?

What is it they don’t want us to see?

When the Affordable Care Act was being written, there were at least 42 hearings spread over 18 months. This was a well-publicized bill, with plenty of debate.

But now a GOP aide says Republicans are not releasing the text of the bill is because “we aren’t stupid.”

Does that mean they think the rest of are?

If they’re about to take away healthcare from 24 million Americans, shouldn't we know about it?

What are Republicans hiding, and why are they hiding it?

This story was originally published June 20, 2017 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Back off, Abbott; Cause and effect?; Show us the bill."