Mindful Monday - Politics?

Politics is generally something I steer clear of. It is generally something that overwhelms me and I always feel is so exaggerated I'm not sure I ever know what's "real" in that realm. But there is something that recently passed in Texas, my home state, that just feels wrong to me.

There are cities that have in the past year or so passed bans on oil/gas fracking within their city limits. Their citizens put these bans to vote and passed them. A wonderful way to exercise their freedoms in decisions that effect their immediate ecology and economy, right?

Well then, some months afterwards, here comes lawmakers in the state of Texas that say, statewide, cities can't ban fracking. This just stinks to me. It isn't as though the city(ies) have banned healthcare or growing sustainable food or the sale of bandages or something like that. It is something that as a group they came together to say "we don't want this controversial operation in our city." This seems like a perfectly acceptable and right usage of their abilities, and then the state comes along and squashes it!? Outrageous! 

Those are my two cents, take it or leave it, just doesn't seem right to me.

Until next time,
Julia

**Since writing this the state has also passed (and I think waiting on Gov. signature) that guns can now be open-carry in public, and closed-carry on college campuses. Not sure how I feel about those yet.

**Also, I know it's not all as cut-and-dry as this, but these are the things that stick with me and evoked my thoughts.