And I've met several of them. This is probably because all politicians are not the "sit down and enjoy a beer while watching the game" type of people. In reality they are the "sit down and enjoy a beer while watching the game only if I can see some benefit to me or my campaign" type of people.
I'm not being rude, that's just reality.
The way our political system currently operates people don't get re-elected by being a decent person, or even all that personable (i.e. Borris Myles) they get re-elected mainly through name-recognition and the fact that the power of the incumbency grants them large campaign chests with which to outspend all but the most wealthy competition.
How do they amass wealth in their campaign funds? By offering gift-basket legislation to large political donors.
Brewers Object to Beer Measure. Ronnie Crocker, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)
The bill originally would have forced Karbach and the others to shutter their taprooms. A revised version allowed them to continue operating them, but it would require breweries above the limit to first sell their beer to a distributor and buy it back - at a markup of around 30 percent - before selling it on site.
The wholesaler's logic behind this is laughable. They are only trying to "protect" craft brewers from those big, mean multi-national beer companies. They alone have the ability to do this you see. All they need is a 30% mark-up on beer that never leaves the brewery in order to do so. Never mind that some (not all) of these distributors are part-owned by the very multi-national liquor companies they claim to be so valiantly protecting the little guy against.
The thing is, there's a better than average chance that a bill this odious, so obviously an attempt to redistribute income for no work whatsoever, is going to pass because the distributors spend a LOT of money wooing politicians, throwing "welcoming" galas for them at the beginning of the Legislative session and dumping the maximum amount into their campaign chests.
When a Texas politician sits down to have a beer, it's usually to discuss what the Wholesale lobby is going to do for him/her next. Even the ones that DO sit down with the small, independent brewers are only doing it because someone in their staff told them it's a "good look", good looks being important to those in show business after all.
The point here is that it doesn't matter which party you put in power, the levers are still the same, only the labels change. If you think that a Democratic regime in Texas wouldn't do the same thing you're sadly mistaken. They're the ones that allowed the distributors to gain so much influence and power in the first place. Democratic cows are no less sacred, they're just a different breed of cow.
A lot of people moan and cry over this. Functional idiots such as Elizabeth "High Cheekbones" Warren and Bernie "Three Dachas" Sanders have made a living pushing the "get money out of politics" fallacy after all.
What they all know is this: As long as a significant portion of the American population doesn't pay attention to politics at any level beyond glancing at the occasional headline, or poorly reported story (the media in this country is just as bad as the politicians for the most part) they can go on saying one thing, doing another, and still be held up as the "hero of the little guy" while deciding which vacation home they should visit next.
The story in Texas is just the same, only the casual dress is different. While the pols in DC prefer Cardigan sweaters the 'everyman' politician in Texas likes to be seen hunting and wearing camouflage. On dressy occasions its boots and a cowboy hat, the latter of which they frequently wear indoors.
Something no gentleman or lady would ever do.
Something to think about.
