JULY 10, 2015

Representing District 17:
Midtown, University, and East Anchorage

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Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 269-0265
 
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Channeling My Inner Scott McMurren
Andy Goes to Texas

The Alamo; San Antonio, TX

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I recently completed a trip to Texas and I thought I’d share my experiences with you. While a niece’s wedding was the catalyst for the trip, I learned a thing or two about Texas and the trip fed my interest in history along the way.

My wife, Donna, and I drove to the Texas capital, Austin, from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Unlike the Dallas-Ft. Worth “metroplex”, Austin is eminently walkable. Along with having a nationally renowned music scene, Austin is the home of the Texas capitol building, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, and the University of Texas at Austin. Donna and I enjoyed touring each of these places.

Texas House of Representatives

Given the tragic events of last month in Charleston, South Carolina, I was keenly sensitive about Confederate displays in and around the Austin capitol building. I found many of them. Foremost, on the floor of the Texas State Senate, to the right of the dais, is a massive portrait of President Jefferson Davis. Interestingly, this is “softened up” a bit by a portrait of former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, an African-American woman, also hung prominently on the Senate floor. Incidentally, Texas state senators represent 890,000 Texans, or a remarkable 22 times more constituents than an Alaska state senator, like our own Senator Berta Gardner. This also means that Texas senators represent more constituents than a member of the United States House of Representatives!

I also saw a large statue of President Davis featured prominently on the campus at the University of Texas.

Also on the grounds of the Texas capitol building, is a large statuary of the 10 Commandments. About 10 years ago, the appropriateness of this display was litigated and came before the United States Supreme Court. In the case, Van Orden v. Perry, the high court found by a vote of 5-4 that the display was constitutional.
Austin is also very well known for a bit of an oddity: its bats. Hundreds and hundreds of locals and tourists alike descend on a downtown bridge crossing the Colorado River at twilight, to see the bats move about in big “flocks”, if I can use that word. We took in some of that and caught some of the action.

Next, we visited the LBJ Ranch, about an hour or so west of Austin. Donna and I were both born during LBJ’s first term (or the term completed after the Kennedy assassination). Given that the Voting Rights Act (some of its authority was recently stripped away by the Supreme Court) was passed 50 years ago, and the Civil Rights Act was passed 51 years ago, this trip was especially appropriate. At any rate, we saw the birthplace of Johnson, his childhood home, his first schoolhouse, the “Texas White House”, and related sites. It was all very compelling, provocative, and memorable.

Finally, we drove through the Texas Hill Country (the ranch lies in the Hill Country) to San Antonio. We enjoyed the famous San Antonio River Walk and toured the Alamo. Texas’ early-to-mid 19th Century History is complicated and fascinating. In its simplest form, the Spanish Empire was dying out, Mexico revolted and formed a Republic, and the westward moving “Anglos”, along with Tejanos, clashed during the 1830s and 1840s. The result was Texas independence, an actual country called The Republic of Texas, and finally annexation in 1845 and the Mexican War.

I highly recommend any visit to Austin and San Antonio.

As always, please call or email with any thoughts, ideas, or concerns.

I Answer to You!

Sincerely,

Representative Andy Josephson
Anchorage LIO Room 412
Phone: 907-269-0265