There is no separating the citizen Abbott from the Governor of Texas Abbott, and the political realities are that this is a move which they are unwilling to take right now due to the increased animosity and tensions at play.
Like I said, I agree that he should be arrested immediately and thrown in prison; hell, I think there’s a case for the federal government to take over management of the entire state, but I’m not blind to the fact that the political realities make that difficult and I can certainly see why the federal authorities aren’t rushing to do so.
What I meant is Abbott isn’t sitting there guarding the border. People that are making on average $14.14 an hour are stopping them. That would work out to less than 30k a year. They are living off benefits.
The average cost of living in Texas is 45k. I know the military does it’s best to get recruits to blindly follow orders, but ignoring federal orders to follow state orders isn’t in their normal repertoire. Many would likely choose to keep receiving benefits and pay which I’m sure is mostly coming from the federal government.
And should it come to the point where the Guard is nationalized and ordered to ignore Abbott’s order, I agree that they would do so. Same with the case where Abbott would be arrested, I agree that these guardsmen are not going to attempt to prevent it.
None of that changes the fact that the political realities make the federal government actually ordering one of those options very dicey at present. While I’m in agreement that they absolutely should go ahead and do so, I can clearly see why they’re reluctant at the moment, as this would no doubt further inflame animosity, which is part of why Abbott is doing this in the first place.
There is no separating the citizen Abbott from the Governor of Texas Abbott, and the political realities are that this is a move which they are unwilling to take right now due to the increased animosity and tensions at play.
Like I said, I agree that he should be arrested immediately and thrown in prison; hell, I think there’s a case for the federal government to take over management of the entire state, but I’m not blind to the fact that the political realities make that difficult and I can certainly see why the federal authorities aren’t rushing to do so.
What I meant is Abbott isn’t sitting there guarding the border. People that are making on average $14.14 an hour are stopping them. That would work out to less than 30k a year. They are living off benefits.
The average cost of living in Texas is 45k. I know the military does it’s best to get recruits to blindly follow orders, but ignoring federal orders to follow state orders isn’t in their normal repertoire. Many would likely choose to keep receiving benefits and pay which I’m sure is mostly coming from the federal government.
And should it come to the point where the Guard is nationalized and ordered to ignore Abbott’s order, I agree that they would do so. Same with the case where Abbott would be arrested, I agree that these guardsmen are not going to attempt to prevent it.
None of that changes the fact that the political realities make the federal government actually ordering one of those options very dicey at present. While I’m in agreement that they absolutely should go ahead and do so, I can clearly see why they’re reluctant at the moment, as this would no doubt further inflame animosity, which is part of why Abbott is doing this in the first place.