WALL STREET JOURNAL

LETTER TO THE EDITOR   JANUARY 25, 2012

Roger A. Keats has it right in his letter of Jan. 14 (“Protecting the Election of Democrats”) when he describes how a minority-Anglo Texas has ruffled the national Democratic Party. In my 49-year stint as a resident in Texas, I witnessed a 100% Democratic state in the 1950s change to one of the reddest of red states today. Among other states, its economy and job creation are beyond comparison. It has become the absolute opposite of California; it does not need nor require a state income tax; and it pays for a substantial homestead exemption on resident and senior-citizen property taxes.

It appears that Sam Houston had it right in his negotiations with the U.S. Congress over the 1845 Treaty of Annexation when he reportedly said in essence that Texas is going to keep ownership of its public lands or we are not going to join, thus laying the groundwork for its economy to become unique among the 50 states. Texas doesn’t have a significant share of its area under federal control, as many other states do, and it is able to profit from royalties on state lands on which it encourages development.

Fred Humke

Bailey, Colo.