Interview: Avik Roy on the Texas Model of Diversity and Prosperity
Across the political spectrum, many believe that as America becomes a more ethnically diverse country, it will move leftward. But will it?
It has become conventional wisdom that a more racially diverse America will be one that favors economic policies associated with the left. But there’s at least one state — Texas — that disproves that theory.
Texas is a majority-minority state; in 2015, 39 percent of Texans were Hispanic, 13 percent were black, and 5 percent were Asian. But it’s also a state where free-market policies have expanded economic opportunities to Texans of all ethnicities and income levels. Over the past 15 years, 6 million Americans migrated from other states to Texas, hoping to take part in its robust economy.
In December, FREOPP and Reason co-sponsored a panel discussion on the “Prospects for Liberty in a Diversifying America,” featuring FREOPP President Avik Roy, National Review Online Editor Charles C.W. Cooke, and Reason’s Shikha Dalmia, moderated by Reason.com Editor Nick Gillespie. The following day, Gillespie interviewed Avik about why Texas has avoided the ethnic tensions and ideological rifts that are common elsewhere in America.
“In Texas, Mexicans have always been there,” said Roy in the interview. “There’s not this sense that Mexicans are foreigners…to the degree that there are conservatives and libertarians out there who fear a more diverse America because they worry that, say, Mexicans or Asians don’t come from the Anglo-American political tradition, I think Texas is a good counter-example [of why] that’s not necessarily what the outcome will be.”
Avik pointed to the fact that Texas’ welcoming atmosphere has created a unique political culture that both liberals and conservatives can learn from. “There really is a sense that everyone feels — whether Anglo or Latino or neither of those categories — that freedom has made their lives better.”
To watch the wide-ranging, 12-minute interview, click on the video above. In it, Avik talks about FREOPP’s mission, his own philosophical evolution, and how Donald Trump’s electoral victory highlighted the importance of economic mobility for voters who haven’t experienced it.
