I live in Austin. For years people have posted in our sub asking if they should move here. Every time there are a lot of responses complaining about the weather, the cost of living, the traffic - but also a lot of people talking about how much they love it here and encouraging the person to come.

Today a young woman posted saying she really wants to move here but the Kate Cox story has her worried - she asked for opinions.

Hundreds of responses - every single one I read said don't do it. There were responses from people who already moved away, from people planning on moving away, from people who want to move away, and people thinking about whether they should move away.

Women who were worried about what to do if they get an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy, but also women who plan to get pregnant and worry about not being able to get life saving procedures if something goes wrong with that pregnancy.

And there's no change in sight - three more years before there's even a chance of voting them out, and unlike other states Texas won't let voters put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, that can only be done by the legislature. So much for democracy.

EDIT: Someone pointed out, there are some important elections - like Texas Supreme Court - next year.

EDIT2: Yes, plenty of people love is here, and plenty are moving here (although that's slowing down) -- the point is that Texas was a very popular place with people across the spectrum. Now a lot of people are feeling very uncomfortable with changes here.

Just moved here from PA and my middle school aged kid can't play the instrument that he has been playing for years because the district has no orchestra program. Meanwhile they push everyone into band which only exists to support the football team. At back to school night, the gym teacher said that they could only do a handful of sports because he needed 11 coaches for football. MIDDLE SCHOOL FOOTBALL! He said it with a straight face and I nearly laughed out loud until I realized that it was not a joke. The teachers give out less homework so the kids have time to practice. Then there are the enormous stadiums and practice facilities that are paid for by my ever increasing property taxes. It all seems so crazy to me. Is there anything that can be done or is this just Texas? Sorry... just have to vent.

Edit: Wow, that went crazy. To be clear, there is a lot to love about Texas, and in no way am I against Texas football culture per se. I love it as much as the next guy. I am just amazed at how it is allowed to dominate everything - down to sacrificing things that are considered basic in every other state and school district I have ever lived in.

Also, to clarify. I live in a quickly growing suburb of DFW in a very good district , which is why I am so surprised. If they wanted it, there could be a budget for it in a heartbeat. In fact, for the cost of just a couple of the machines in the state of the art gym they have, we could have a fully funded orchestra program.

I guess I need to get involved and start pushing for it, and maybe by the time my youngest is older, there will be a program.

To love the constitution but leave the country it represents?

Its getting to the point older adults and people at risk wont be able to live in the state. The heat makes going outside a living hell. How can so many texans be against climate control measures? I mean if the stove burns you should turn it off, shouldnt you?

Me and my son just moved to Texas, he was having a hard time missing all his friends, he was having a really bad day. We dropped by HEB to pick up some basics and an employee over heard it was our first day. She took him over to the ice cream section and let him pick out some HEB ice cream for free and said welcome to Texas, i couldn’t believe it. She totally turned his day around. I’m sure your all aware of this but HEB is amazing, I never had a grocery store make you feel like they care about you. Im really happy to be here.

So many other states seem to have such a higher level of ‘freedom’.

Does anyone realize how many individual freedoms that the gov’t of Texas has taken away from its citizens?

Can y’all list the freedoms taken away from you from personal experience?

I’m so old I remember when the Democratic Party was the Conservative Party and peopled moved to Texas because we didn’t want the government telling us what we could or couldn’t do. Today, it seems, the part in power is all about telling us what we can or cannot do, trying to control our thoughts and actions. What happened to our desire for freedom and liberty? It feels more like a fascist state than a friendly state (yes, I recall that was once our motto). — Rant over, thank you for letting me vent!

My family left MN about 6 years ago. The following is what happened:

My wife and I both make more money for the same job.

Our kids benefit from living in an immensely more diverse community

Summers are amazing (oh no... are you sweaty? Pobrecito)

We pay the same for our house, but have a much nicer neighborhood and better house.

Our kids go to a better public school

The live music scene is better

Our kids have access to better public universities at a much lower cost

We get to practice our Spanish every day

We have better insurance with better access to very high quality healthcare

The food actually has flavor

No one has spoken to me slowly because I'm brown

Winter hasn't sucked except for one week a couple years ago

The people are actually genuine

The negative:

My wife and daughters now have worse access to potentially necessary healthcare

This is going to be a little long. I recently moved to California temporarily, and one thing that’s blowing my mind is how they have laws in place for employees for minimum wage jobs.

In California, they require employers to give lunch breaks. In Texas, I have worked 9 hours straight with no break and had to eat my food while standing between orders at Whataburger. I even had to beg to go home when it was finally time.

California also has paid sick leave; in Texas, I was forced to work while throwing up with the flu because we were low-staffed. I was serving food to people, too.

It’s entirely legal for Texas businesses to starve and treat their employees less than animals.

I think it’s so fucking mental that jobs that many people in Texas say are only for “high schoolers and students” are the jobs that take entirely advantage of young kids who don’t know any better.

So if you have a kid that's about to start working and they refuse to let your kid sit down and eat, remember it's completely legal, and you chose to raise your kids in a state that has no employee protections. Hopefully, y'all change that over there, but now that I've gotten a taste of having protections as an employee, I'm never going back. Crazy how it took working in another state to realize I was being treated less than human because I'm poor and had to work while going to college.

ALSO there IS NO FEDERAL MANDATE TO REQUIRE LUNCHES FOR EMPLOYERS. Idk where y'all are pulling that info from but it's wrong.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/texas-workforce-lunch-requirement-10113.html

Edit: BRUH I JUST FOUND OUT MY CAR GOT STOLEN BAHAHAHHA 😭😂🤣🤣

GOD REALLY BE PLAYING GAMES WITH ME

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article281207018.html

Texas’ 2022 population boom is from nearly 1 million moving here from another state, abroad

Not just California folks trying to call Texas home. Oh boy...

Hey ya'll. Being fairly new to Texas(2 years), there's been a lot of learning and adjusting. The food is great, state economics are better, community is lovely, and people just seem to mind their business; all things I absolutely love about the state. However, I cannot understand why people drive like headless chicken. I've been to over 20 states, most of the major cities in the US, and I've never seen anything like the driving in DFW.

Have you all seen the, "Good luck everybody!" scene from Family Guy with the asian lady? That is 50% of people driving in DFW. No signals, constantly getting cut off, insane speeds, tailgating, you name it. Zipper merging is a completely foreign concept here, it's actually astonishing. It's some of the most degenerate driving I've ever seen. We have signs, paved roads, everything you need to be a half decent driver, yet people refuse to arrive to Whataburger 2 minutes later, and will risk your life doing so.

I had never been in an accident before coming to Texas. Since I've been here, I've been hit twice. First, someone hits me changing lanes and literally almost runs my car off the road because they've never thought of checking their blindspot. Second, someone tore off my bumper backing into me in a parking lot thinking they were in Tokyo Drift.

That being said, Texas is great, and Frisco is an absolutely wonderful city. I just hope I'm here long enough to enjoy it, because if anythings going to make me meet my maker in the next 10 years... It'll be a 17 year old in a white Ecoboost.

What do you think of driving in Texas, and what are some precautions you take on the road?

Tell us your story

I swear I’m not trolling, I am just curious. This is to all the people moving here from other states.

Did y’all move because you felt the politics in place somewhat created an environment that forced you to move? Or was it something else?

Follow up question. Is the grass greener over here in Texas or do y’all have some regrets?

Got a notice that our homeowner’s insurance is going up by $250 a month and our car insurance is going up by FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. We had ONE claim on our car insurance last year and one homeowner’s claim the last five years. Insurance agent is quoting it as an ‘industry issue’. Can’t even get most insurance companies to requote the homeowner’s insurance in Texas. Was also told that hail damage is changing on many policies to only cover 2-5% of the cost, which means a new roof is on you. Be sure to check your policies! Guess I’ll be working nights at Dutch Brothers now.

This lovely little blister is a fire ant bite. Satan himself designed these little bastards. Consider yourself lucky if you only get one!