“I want my cake and to eat it too!” So proclaimed Texans in a poll conducted by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune.

A quick “spin of the wheel” on public opinion illustrates that Texans are in full “reality show” mode while not facing actual harsh realities.

The poll clearly reflects that we do not want to see major cuts in education or most any government program on the chopping block in current budget drafts.

At the same time, we do not want a state income tax or to raise revenue through other mechanisms.

Welcome to “Celebrity Apprentice” people. In order to make your business work, you have to make the numbers balance. A great idea alone will not set you free or take you to the winning spot.

Respondents to this poll only supported a couple of revenue-raising ideas. One of them is …… wait for it……. “gaming”! We just couldn’t have fit this into our “reality show” analogy any better if we had planned it.

Yes folks, we have decided that if we bring “gaming” (translate to casinos) to Texas, it will help solve our problems. That’s it! Our path to victory! We can win the “big money” if we just build casinos.

The true players in today’s “reality show” are the members of the Texas Legislature. They are competing to resolve a serious budget deficit and maintain their political futures. Now, we, the decision-makers on the “survivors” of the show, have made their task that much harder.

We have said we don’t like the dance of “cutting public education” and we don’t like the song of “trimming nursing home care”.

Clearly, we believe that if we drop a “quarter in the slot”, we can solve all of our problems because that one quarter will return us millions or even billions.

To read more about the views of Texans on our “reality show”, click here.