The Hightower Report: Goofy is not just a cartoon character – he's a legislator in Texas

You might think that the political leaders of your state are goofy – but, hey, I'm from Texas. Goofy is as goofy does, and Texas does preeminent political goofy.

Meet Drew Springer, a first-termer state representative out of the metropolis of Muenster, Texas, population 1,600. Proud to be a hardcore right-winger, he spouts the usual dogmatic drivel of that breed: "Government has become too large," he prattles, "overburdening our lives with excessive regulations that destroy freedoms."

So, to strike a bold blow for freedom, Springer has sprung a bill on us called, "The Shopping Bag Freedom Act." This gem deals with one of the direst threats facing us Texans: the banning of single-use, plastic shopping bags by environmentally-conscientious cities like Austin. "Save our bags," is this goofus' rallying cry.

Springer declares that Austin's perfectly sensible decision to keep millions of these pieces of plastic out of our landscape and landfills is an "overreach of big government." Yet, here he comes, an out-of-town agent of an even bigger government, arrogantly trying to overrule a fully-debated and widely-popular policy that Austin's democratically-elected city officials adopted.

Whatever your personal stand is on the politics of single-use plastic bags, surely we can agree that the good citizens of Austin – or of Muenster, for that matter – ought to have the freedom to decide such a weighty issue for themselves, without the excessive, overburdening intrusion of a state government goofball. The people of Austin decided that they can handle their shopping just fine without incurring the mess of those particular shopping bags. And that should be that. So thanks for your interest, Drew – but buzz off.

Anyone who thinks Goofy is just a cartoon character never met a Texas politico like Springer.

---

For more information on Jim Hightower's work – and to subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter, "The Hightower Lowdown" – visit www.jimhightower.com. You can hear his radio commentaries on KOOP Radio 91.7FM, weekdays at 10:58am and 12:58pm.