What is the best state to move to, from a traditional Catholic prospective, considering the following criteria?:
1) Mass options
Texas scores low in this area. Probably a C- or D+. Depends on where you live. Huge state, not a huge number of Trads. Have to gather Trads from 100 mile radius to scrape together a viable chapel for priest to say Mass. That having been said, there are SSPX, 1 Resistance, a couple Fr. Pfeiffer chapels, and a Sede chapel in Houston. Bp. Trinh used to say Mass near Austin (independent) don't know if he still does.
Texans measure distance in "hours" rather than "miles". Because in 1 hour, you can find yourself 70 - 90 miles from where you started.
2) Conservative political atmosphere and freedom
Texas gets an A in this department. Governor declared religious services to be "essential" from the very beginning. One of the first states to re-open, etc. No license to own guns, castle doctrine, big on capital punishment, and concealed carry is only a couple classes and a license fee away and you're set. Like most states, the cities are liberal and all the rural areas are conservative. Still, Texas manages to be Red every presidential election. For now. The Mexicans love to vote Democrat for some reason.
3) Homeschooling
I'd have to give Texas an A here. No restrictions, tests, requirements at all.
4) Gun laws
Texas gets an A. No license required to *own* guns. Lots of people own, love, and shoot guns. Even concealed carry is easy to achieve. The old Texas stereotype is still somewhat alive today -- yee-haw!
5) Taxes
No income tax, but property taxes can be high, depending on where you live.
6) Weather
Texas gets a C here, on average. Great winters! But let's not talk about the hot, humid summers. You *have* to run A/C from late April through mid-October, even if you're a fresh air fiend/super frugal. That's because it doesn't go below 70 even at night. During the heat of summer it goes up to 100 (sometimes over) and barely reaches the high 70's by 6 AM the next morning. And those 90's and 100's aren't counting the Heat Index -- it's very humid. The "feels like" temperature often hits 110 or worse. A whole house fan isn't going to do ya. In the evening/overnight, our house is always 7 or 8 degrees hotter than the ambient outdoor temperature. Oh, and those nighttime temps? As the temp goes DOWN, the humidity goes UP proportionately. So even if it's a "pleasant" 75, it's also 95% humidity. So you can't get comfortable enough to sleep.
7) Vaccine issues
Texas lets you exempt every vaccine for any reason. If you're an idiot and want to send your kids to public school, I don't know. But our kids are quite involved in free kids music classes at the local college, and they've never hassled us for being anti-vax.
8) Covid-19 nonsense
There's insanity around here as elsewhere, but ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY AT THE NATIONAL CHAINS. Home Depot, Taco Cabana. A more local chain, Bill Miller BBQ, doesn't even have their crew wear masks. Taco Cabana *requires* a mask for entry to the restaurant. And their employees wear gloves AND masks.
9) Any other issues.....
Cheap and available land is a big plus. Also, when it comes to "minority" issues I'll just say that not all minorities are created equal. I much prefer the dominant minority around here, compared with the dominant minority back in Illinois. Speaking of minorities -- white people will probably be a minority soon. In parts of Texas, we already are. For details, you can google the demographics of Texas.
And Texas puts more criminals to death than any other state. I'm very happy about this. If you google Capital Punishment stats, you'll find that they often break it down "Texas" and "everyone else" to give more meaningful results. We're in a class by ourselves when it comes to capital punishment. hahaha
Overall, I'm quite happy here.
Topic: Best state to move to (Read 2084 times)