Not until she visited Texas,that proud state of big oil and bigger ambitions, did Gail Collins, thebest-selling author and columnist for the <em>New York Times</em>, realize that she had missed the one place that mattered most inAmerica's political landscape. Raised in Ohio, Collins had previously seen theAmerican fundamental divide as a war between the Republican heartland and itstwo liberal coasts. But the real story, she came to see, was in Texas, whereBush, Cheney, Rove, & Perry had created a conservative political agendathat is now sweeping the country and defining our national identity. Throughits vigorous support of banking deregulation, lax environmental standards, anddraconian tax cuts, through its fierce championing of states rights, gunownership, and, of course, sexual abstinence, Texas, with Governor Rick Perry'spresidential ambitions, has become the bellwether of a far-reaching nationalmovement that continues to have profound social and economic consequences forus all. Like it or not, as Texas goes, so goes the nation.