Current and Projected Changes in the Texas Population

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Current and Projected Changes in the Texas Population
Introduction
Political culture refers to broadly shared values, beliefs, and attitudes on how politics should operate and the functionality of governance within a politically define area or region (2306 5). As a country, the United States' political culture emphasizes democracy, equality, and liberty. However, these values' application has varied according to time and place within the country's history. In essence, the overall definition of American political culture differs from that of individual states like Texas. The political culture is vital because it determines how citizens interact with government and political institutions. Due to the cultural diversity, size of the state, and dynamic nature of politics in Texas, it is not easy to classify the state's political culture: instead, the state has different political subcultures. The paper seeks to define the state's political culture based on changes in population, urbanizations, and economic transformations.
Texas’ Perceived Traditional Political Culture
Attempts to understand Texas's political culture often allude to three historically vital patterns: One-party state, provincialism, and business influence. Democrats dominated Texas politics for over 100 years until 1978, when the streak was interrupted by William Clements (2306 5). Since then, the state's politics is dominated by a majority conservative republican whose long-term control of the state remains questionable. Provincialism still plays a role in Texas' politics, with evidence emerging in the inherent intolerance of diversity that seeks to squash liberal ideas like the rise of LGBT people. Lastly, the ties between politics and business are increasingly prominent in the state. For instance, Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that prohibited local governments from banning fracking (Davis). The move aimed to squash oppositions to the reliance on natural gas and oil.
Current and Projected Population of Texas
As of 2017, Texas had 28 million people, a population that is increasingly minority (2306 3). 42% of the population was non-Hispanic whites, 39.4% Latinos, 12.7% African American, and 5% were of Asian origin (TexasGov). 85% of the population resides in urban areas attracted mainly by Hi-tech industries. Over 28% of the population has a bachelor's degree and consists mainly of the youth. 12.3% of the population was above the age of 65 while another 26% below the age of 18 years, making Texas among the states with the youngest population. Changes in the state's population set-up suggest that the state is headed towards a minority-dominated future. Between 1950 to 2017, the white’s dominance in the state reduced from 74% to 42%, and the factors that caused the changes to continue to exist (2306 24). Based on this, population projections suggest that by 2050, the Latinos will dominate the state's racial constitution by 54% against 28% Whites.
Urbanization and Economy
With urbanization remaining an essential characteristic of Texas and given that 85% of the population resides in urban areas, sub-urbanizations appear to the future of the state of urba...