Houston State Political Culture Analysis

The city of Houston is quite large and holds with it certain qualities that most cites cannot even begin to understand, but is this just the Houstonian pride talking? Generally, there’s an established set of protocols and practices held by people that form their political behavior or better yet their political culture. It is these practices, moral decisions, political myths, beliefs, and ideas that creates a good society. Daniel J. Elazar, a political scientist, developed his own theory of state political culture. Elazar divided the states into three types; moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic. He describes the moralistic states’ political positions as being justified by demands to the general public interest, rather than narrower interests. In individualistic states, in contrast, government tends to serve more specific interests. Although these states view the government as a

Parker was elected city-wide nine times in a row for over 18 years, drawing votes from a majority of Houstonians. Her sexual preference never appeared to be an issue for her or any of her opponents. Houstonians certainly did not seem to care. Even by the early 2000s, Houston had elected at least “five gay men and women to city council”, and a “transgender candidate for city council – Jenifer Rene Pool – was considered a serious contender”. Liberal Democratic candidate Wendy Davis got the bulk of the Houston votes in 2014, despite losing by a huge margin statewide. Surprisingly, Houston voted to repeal a recently-adopted “Equal Rights Ordinance,” a year later, which was originally intended to create special protections for people with any of 15 “protected characteristics,” such as age, gender, race, sex, etc. The campaign to repeal the ordinance was so focused on the transgender issue, it controversially became known as the “bathroom ordinance” and was quick to fall during