When you hear the phrase "Don’t Mess with Texas" do you think of generic Texas swagger? When you see the "Don’t Mess with Texas" logo slapped all over Texas Governor Rick Perry’s lapel and podium on Tax Day, is that just about what you’d expect?
Reference Perry’s April 15, 2009, speech in Austin : www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbWz1RYGE3Q&feature=related
Unfortunately, Rick Perry’s tax rant was expressed via a theft from the taxpayer. "Don’t Mess with Texas" (DMWT) is the trademarked slogan of our own state’s much beloved non-partisan, public-service, anti-littering campaign – he stole our state’s Don’t Mess With Texas brand.
How is this theft from the taxpayer? It's theft because the DMWT logo and campaign are the result of 20 years of non-partisan investment and goodwill on the part of the publicly funded Texas Department of Transportation and the people of Texas. It's a moral co-opting of feel-good Texas pride that belongs to more than Perry and his short-term reelection goals.
Yes, this is property with value, and it is trademarked:
http://www.dontmesswithtexas.org/...
Texans know that there is a real environmental aspect of being Texan (no, really!), with a history that includes Lady Bird Johnson’s support of Keep America Beautiful. A little over 20 years ago, the Texas Department of Transportation and Austin ad agency GSDM harnessed and gave voice to that Texas Pride through the DMWT campaign. For over 20 years, that campaign has been built up through non-partisan efforts of spokespersons as politically diverse as Willie Nelson (in earlier days) and Chuck Norris (part of a highly diverse celebrity group currently) – all appearing in non-partisan capacities. Texans of all walks of life participate by adopting roads, doing cleanups, and funding the state that produces this campaign. The ad campaign has been honored nationally and was made a part of Advertising Week’s Madison Avenue Walk of Fame in 2006.
A current DMWT ad: http://www.youtube.com/...
So Rick Perry took something that doesn’t belong to him. Perry helped himself to 20 years of positive brand recognition owned by the people of Texas, and hijacked it for private gain. And he didn’t just borrow it. He stomped all over it, dirtied it up a bit, and sent it back with some
nasty residue. Pretty ironic for a beautification program.
The man done went and stole a piece of my Texas Pride, and I want it back.
But then, maybe Perry believes that if we are going to be a fiefdom pretty soon, as King of Texas, he, like any tin-pot dictators, personally owns the public’s goods.
What I want to know is, does this mean TxDOT has to give back all the Federal infrastructure cash (with a B for Billions) that we got from the Stim?: http://www.txdot.gov/...
-http://www.txdot.gov/...