Sometimes I think Texas exists as a reality check for those who might wander too far toward the precious.

Anyone who thinks humans are not capable of so fouling their own nest that the land and the waters can no longer be productive just hasn't been paying attention.

Personally, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build or you can use a hammer to destroy; there is nothing intrinsically good or evil about the hammer itself. It is the purposes to which it is put and the skill with which it is used that determine whether the hammer's work is good or bad.

Most of us think of government as them. Yet government isn't Them: It's us.

I think provincialism is an endemic characteristic with mankind, I think everybody everywhere is provincial, but it is particularly striking with Texans, and we tend to be very Texcentric.

I think of Texas as the laboratory for bad government.

I often plagiarize from myself. I like to think of this as ecological journalism: I recycle.