If Texans are interested in continuing the sort of uninterrupted economic and cultural growth they've experienced over the past 40 years, they will spurn nativism and tribalism and embrace the future-oriented, individualistic, and open-minded attitudes and policies that have made the state America's "new centre of gravity" (according to The Economist).
uncertain
state → continue → Economist
In a way that is genuinely rare today, French didn't sugarcoat his disgust at seeing brown students cheering for the Longhorns after a remarkable comeback, writing, "I heard UT graduation this year looked like this.
asserted
graduation → sugarcoat → this
I didn't believe it.
asserted
I → believe → it
The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined."
asserted
anyone → imagine → ?
For French, who stresses his genealogical bona fides in his campaign biography ("Bo grew up in a family that's been in the oil business for over 80 years"), Indian Americans simply cannot be real Americans the same way that people descended from Brits, Swedes, or Germans are.
asserted
people → stress → Brits
I heard UT graduation this year looked like this.
asserted
graduation → hear → this
I didn't believe it.
asserted
I → believe → it
The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.
asserted
anyone → imagine → ?
— Bo French (@bofrench) September 13, 2026
In case anyone missed his point, the Republican candidate for the powerful Texas Railroad Commission (somewhat confusingly, it regulates the state's oil and gas industry) followed his first post with another, averring, "Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.
asserted
Americans → miss → foreigners
It's everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine."
uncertain
any → imagine → us
In an earlier post about the brutal Labor Day stabbing murder of Texas state employee (and Reason supporter) Andrew Wimsatt, French had gone even further, writing of the alleged killer, "Someone named 'Chinedu Ogbodiegwu' shouldn't even be in our country."
asserted
Someone → go → country
As The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf has noted, Texas residents are not being displaced at UT Austin, especially at the undergraduate level, even as the school becomes more elite.
asserted
school → note → level
"There is no reason to assume that the students in the photograph are foreigners, and Texas does not prioritize foreigners over Texans.
asserted
Texas → be → Texans
Ninety percent of slots for first-year students at UT Austin are reserved for Texas residents."
asserted
percent → reserve → residents
Last year, the university, ranked in the top 30 by US News & World Report, announced that it received a record number of freshman applications, but the overwhelming majority of undergrad and graduate students came from Texas:
Students who are Texas residents make up 80.5% of all students, while another 10.2% are from outside of Texas, representing 48 other U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
asserted
% → rank → Columbia
International enrollment of 5,140 is down 1.7% from 2024 and comprises 9.3% of all students.
asserted
enrollment → comprise → students
As the result of various court decisions and a conservative state legislature, Reason's Robby Soave writes, UT Austin has been a leader in replacing race-conscious admissions with merit-based ones instead.
asserted
Austin → write → ones
So when figures such as French complain "the entire system is biased against heritage Americans and for third worlders," they are wrong.
asserted
they → complain → worlders
Indeed, it takes a particular sort of racialist myopia to look at an image of students of all sorts of backgrounds cheering in unison at an American football game and turn it into some sort of dystopian nightmare.
asserted
students → take → nightmare
If anything, the very picture that sent French spiraling is a tribute to the idea of America as a melting pot.
asserted
French → send → pot
That's even more true of Texas writ large, a state whose population has increased by 86 percent, to 31.7 million, since 1990.
asserted
population → writ → 1990
Now the second-most populous state in the country after California, Texas is home to about 5.8 million people born outside the United States, meaning that 18.4 percent of its population is foreign-born, well above the national average of 14.8 percent but well below states such as California, New Jersey, New York, and Florida.
asserted
percent → bear → California
If current trends hold, Texas will overtake California as the most populous state by 2050.
asserted
Texas → hold → 2050
Why are people leaving California to head to Texas?
asserted
people → leave → Texas
Demographer Joel Kotkin says for a mix of economic opportunity and something less tangible but equally important: broad-based opportunity.
asserted
Kotkin → say → opportunity
Once the epitome of the American dream and home not just to Hollywood but to many high-tech industries along with agriculture and manufacturing, he writes, California has become anti-business, overregulated, and too expensive.
asserted
California → write → agriculture
"California needs to refocus not just on elite industries and research, but also on nurturing blue-collar and business service jobs for everyone else.
asserted
California → need → everyone
Right now, we don't do that anymore," he says, "Texas, with its crappy weather, unspectacular scenery and sometimes coarse culture, does."
asserted
Texas → do → weather
And if his attitudes toward newcomers win the day, Texas will be left only with crappy weather and unspectacular scenery, as domestic and international migrants find a place that is more welcoming.
asserted
that → win → place
The Aporia
