DEBUNKED: 4 Myths Keeping Texas Divided—and One Truth to Inspire You

Texans argue hard because we care hard. But a lot of what fuels our fights isn’t truth. It’s corrosive myths that turn neighbors into villains. Here are four of the loudest—plus one shared truth hiding beneath the noise. 

1) “Cities Are Full of Woke Liberals”

Maps may look like blue splotches ringed by red counties. But zoom in and you’ll find city-dwellers are far more nuanced. Take Austin. Despite being widely known as a drum circle in city form, they’ve passed some pretty right-coded legislation in recent years. In 2024, the all-blue city council reneged on 2020’s “defund the police” movement and voted to increase base pay for police officers by roughly 28% over the next five years. In 2021, voters reinstated a public camping ban, preventing homeless people from pitching their tents on sidewalks or in parks. And in the big blue cities of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, a growing Latin population is increasingly voting Republican. Basically, Texas’s cities aren’t blue monoliths. They’re a red and blue patchwork. 

2) “Transplants Are Ruining Texas”

When your commute gets longer and your rent gets higher, it’s easy to blame the U-Haul with California plates. But business relocations have fueled big gains in jobs and payrolls. They grow the tax base that funds schools, roads, and first responders. And in fact, most job growth comes from startups and Texas firms expanding, not being replaced.

Transplants aren’t “flipping Texas blue” either. According to an analysis by the Houston Chronicle, Californians moving to Texas were, in many counties, more Republican than Democratic. The biggest political shifts are driven more by younger native Texans than by out-of-state arrivals.

The real friction most people feel comes from housing supply: we didn’t build enough, in the right places, fast enough. So you get growth and a pinch. Booming payrolls alongside pricier homes and longer waitlists. But the fix isn’t telling people not to come. It’s finding a way to green-light more homes.

3) “Texas Can Secede Anytime It Wants”

Texas can’t just vote itself out of the United States. The Supreme Court said so in Texas v. White (1869), calling the U.S. an “indestructible Union,” which means no state can unilaterally secede. If Texans ever wanted to try, it wouldn’t be a Texas-only ballot measure. It would take consent and action beyond Texas (think Congress, other states, and likely a constitutional amendment). Any attempts to secede otherwise would be met with US military intervention.  

Beyond the civics, the story we tell ourselves about secession matters. It frames fellow Americans as enemies to escape, not partners to argue with and, ideally, work alongside. It also turns real political frustration into fantasy—energy that could go toward practical solutions gets spent on daydreams about quitting the union. 

4) “Rural Texans Don’t Care About The Environment”

If you picture wind turbines and solar fields, you’re already looking mostly at rural counties. Texas leads the nation in wind generation and has added massive amounts of solar, much of it on ranchland and farm acreage. That boom isn’t happening in spite of rural Texans. It depends on them.

Rural farmers and ranchers in Texas care about the environment because it’s their paycheck. If they trash the land, their grass dies, their cattle lose weight, their wells run dry, and their kids can’t inherit a workable operation. That’s why you’ll see them rotating herds so pastures recover, fencing off creek banks, planting native grasses, fixing erosion washouts, managing brush and burns, and keeping pesticides and runoff out of waterways.

One Truth? “No One Loves Texas More Than Texans”

Texans are famously proud of their state, no matter where they come from or who they vote for. That pride isn’t limited by zip code, language, background, or political affiliation. It’s shared by immigrants chasing opportunity, ranchers preserving the land, teachers in small towns, and tech workers in cities. 

This shared love of Texas—its culture, its land, its people—is stronger than any myth trying to divide us. And it’s exactly the kind of common ground we can build on. Because at the end of the day, we all want to make Texas better—for our kids, our neighbors, and our future. It’s not about erasing our differences. It’s about remembering what connects us underneath them.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)