07.30.13
Posted in Around The State, Bad Government Republicans, Commentary, Road Issues, Transportation at 12:33 pm by wcnews
Who runs Texas? It’s an interesting question and there are several answers. There are wealthy donors and large corporations, as well as right wing PACs and “think tanks” that hold significant sway over Texas politicians. But it’s not the people of Texas. The people of Texas, as a collective, hold very little power to sway our current state government.
What yesterday’s vote in the House, and the issues of the special session(s) have shown, is that a small contingent that reliably vote in the GOP primary in Texas hold the power in Texas. Most elected politicians in Texans are more afraid of a GOP primary challenge, then anything Rick Perry, Joe Straus, or David Dewhurst can throw at them. Whether it’s through gerrymandered districts, the lack of a capable opposition, lack of citizen participation, or big money in elections, the far right of the Texas GOP runs our state. Far too many of our elected leaders could care less what the people of Texas want or need.
It’s obvious by the decisions they make. Transportation, public education, higher education, health care, social services all take a backseat to tax cuts, or giveaways to wealthy donors and corporations. What has happened in our state is that even something almost everyone agrees is needed cannot be justified because it will cost money. There is nothing, other then ideology, keeping our elected leaders from passing legislation to pass legislation to fix what’s wrong.
Joe Straus released a statement yesterday.
…Legislators know that Texas needs a much more comprehensive approach to funding our growing state’s growing transportation needs, and another 30-day special session will not change that. Until members are free to consider real options – beyond simply shuffling taxes from one purpose to another – we will not find a responsible solution to this issue. [Emphasis added]
“One of the hallmarks of this year’s regular legislative session was the way legislators came together to develop long-term, responsible policies to meet Texas’ growing needs. Developing a similar long-term, responsible plan to truly address Texas’ growing transportation needs is going to take much more time and an approach that focuses on the best solution for the people of Texas.”
It’s probably not hard to figure our what kind of freedom Straus is hinting at, (see above). It’s easier for a legislator to go home and defend not funding transportation, then it is for them to defend voting for funding for transportation. It’s easier for a legislator to go home and defend defunding public education, then it is for them to defend funding public education. It’s easier for a legislator to go home and defend keeping Texans uninsured, then it is for them to defend allowing them to have health care. It’s easier for a legislator to go home and defend cutting social services for the needy, then it is for them to defend funding social services for the needy.
Now read what Texas Gov. Rick Perry had to say yesterday.
“It is disappointing that some members of the House today needlessly delayed our state’s ability to deal with the added strain our increasing population and surging economy are placing on our roads and highways. Should the Legislature adjourn without addressing our growing transportation needs, they’ll be abdicating one of the most essential roles of state government, potentially sapping our economic momentum. This was an opportunity to utilize hundreds of millions of dollars in existing revenue to move forward on numerous projects across our state and begin dealing with the effects of our economic growth, and just as importantly, provide much-needed relief to working Texans everywhere who spend hours in traffic every day. Legislators have been in Austin for nearly seven months now, and to go home without dealing with one of the most pressing issues facing all Texans is simply unacceptable. I join Texans across the state who appreciate the 84 members of the House who voted today to keep Texas moving.”
Well Gov. Perry, and growing up on a farm he should understand this, you reap what you sow. The gas tax hasn’t been raised in 20 years. Perry vehemently denied the use of the ESF in 2011, and many legislators used that in their 2012 campaigns. Now that we have a bunch of Perry clones in The Lege he shouldn’t be surprised when they throw his tactics back in his face.
For those without health insurance that top line could read. “It is disappointing that some members of the House, [Senate, and Governor] today needlessly delayed our state’s ability to deal with the added strain our increasing population and surging economy are placing on our health care system.” And it could be rewritten for education, or any of the other many areas the GOP has neglected over the years.
We have a government that is unaccountable to the people of Texas. If things stay as they are in our political system few, if any, of the people who voted against this bill, or those like them (Greg Abbott), will be defeated at the ballot box in 2014. They will remain and so will their harmful policies. Until our state government changes to one that is accountable to the people of Texas, and not those that fill campaign accounts, we’re on the road to nowhere.
Further Reading:
From 2011, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus: We have to correct the deficit.
From January 2013, Analysis: Texas Legislature will struggle to tackle big issues this year.
Kuff, Transportation deal dies.
Funding, again, is a bump in the road.
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07.29.13
Posted in Around The State, Commentary at 8:24 am by wcnews
The Texas Progressive Alliance applauds the entry of the Justice Department into the fight to continuing to subject the state to preclearance as it brings you this week’s roundup.
Off the Kuff points out that Greg Abbott would deny the same type of care that he himself has benefited from to millions of people who could not now receive it.
Horwitz at Texpatriate chronicles the unmitigated disaster that occurred when Ben Hall tried to advertise on Facebook.
WCNews at Eye on Williamson says if Texas wants the federal government to stay out of it’s electoral business the solution is easy. All they have to do is stop discriminating, Texas and the DOJ.
Former Democratic state representative Aaron Pena found out the hard way that becoming a Republican doesn’t help much when you’re driving while brown in south Texas. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs observed that not even his Greg Abbott t-shirt could save him from being ICE’d.
After hearing all of the crazy right-wing rhetoric, Texas Leftist wondered what Republicans really say about Immigration Reform away from the glare of talk radio and Fox News. Here’s the interesting result.
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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.
Mark Bennett maintains that it is foolish to claim that “stand your ground” laws had nothing to do with the Zimmerman verdict.
Austin Contrarian demonstrates why the rent is too damn high in the capital city.
Better Texas asks what can be done to help disadvantaged children succeed in school.
Eileen Smith sorts out the Republican candidates for Lite Guv.
Texas Watch wants us to close the “Six Flags loophole”.
Texas Vox wraps up water legislation from the regular and special sessions.
Texas Redistricting lays out the Section 3 arguments in the fight over the Voting Rights Act and how it should still apply here.
Juanita has had it with the spurious claims about “jars of feces” being brought to the Lege when the final vote on the anti-abortion bill was taking place.
BOR notes that Senate Democrats are demanding a women’s health study during the legislative off-season.
And Tuesday Cain, the 14-year-old girl who held up a provocative sign during the protests against the omnibus anti-abortion bill at the Capitol, would appreciate it if all the so-called grownups on the Internet stopped calling her a whore.
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07.26.13
Posted in Around The State, Elections at 12:28 pm by wcnews
The last time I discussed the issue of pre-clearance and the Voting Rights Act with non-political junkies, who didn’t quite understand, in minute detail, what the fight was about between Texas and the federal government/DOJ, this seemed to clear it up pretty quick. If Texas would just stop passing discriminatory voting laws they wouldn’t have a problem. And it’s not only the DOJ that saying this, it’s the federal courts too, Federal Court: Texas Voter ID Law Violates Voting Rights Act.
On Tuesday, a federal court in Washington found that Texas’s redistricting maps violated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and were “enacted with discriminatory purpose.” On Thursday a separate three-judge federal court panel in Washington unanimously found that Texas’s voter ID law also violated Section 5 by discriminating against minority voters.
For background, see my earlier posts “DOJ Blocks Discriminatory Texas Voter ID Law” and “Discriminatory Texas Voter ID Law Challenged in Federal Court.”
In March the Justice Department objected to Texas’s voter ID law. Among the reasons: the state admitted that between 603,892 to 795,955 registered in voters in Texas lacked government-issued photo ID, with Hispanic voters between 46.5 percent to 120 percent more likely than whites to not have the new voter ID; to obtain one of the five government-issued IDs now needed to vote, voters must first pay for underlying documents to confirm their identity, the cheapest option being a birth certificate for $22 (otherwise known as a “poll tax“); Texas has DMV offices in only eighty-one of 254 counties in the state, with some voters needing to travel up to 250 miles to obtain a new voter ID. Counties with a significant Hispanic population are less likely to have a DMV office, while Hispanic residents in such counties are twice as likely as whites to not have the new voter ID (Hispanics in Texas are also twice as likely as whites to not have a car). [Emphasis added]
These facts also persuaded the court to block the voter ID law. Section 5 mandates that covered jurisdictions with a history of electoral discrimination—which includes parts or all of sixteen states, including much of the South—receive approval from DOJ or a federal court in Washington for any voting-related change to ensure that it does not make it harder for minority citizens to be able to vote (known in the legal parlance as “retrogression”).
Of course our Attorney General and Perry wannabe is blowing the dog whistle, Greg Abbott invokes states rights in defending Texas against federal voting-rights efforts. Kuff rounds up the statewide reaction, Justice Department to push for Section 3 in Texas. But this all comes down to a simple solution. If Texas wants the DOJ to stay out of it’s business, all they have to do is stop discriminating and the federal government will leave Texas alone.
Further Reading:
Justice Ginsburg Reacts To Epidemic Of Voter Suppression Laws: Told Ya So.
“I didn’t want to be right,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says about her prediction that striking a key prong of the Voting Rights Act will lead to a wave of minority voter suppression, “but sadly I am.” In an interview with the Associated Press’ Mark Sherman, Ginsburg reiterated one of the core points of her dissent from the five Republican justices’ voting rights decision — “The notion that because the Voting Rights Act had been so tremendously effective we had to stop it didn’t make any sense to me,” Ginsburg said. “And one really could have predicted what was going to happen” once the law was struck down.
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07.25.13
Posted in Around The State, Commentary, Progressive Radio at 3:50 pm by wcnews
What we need is not a three-month plan, or even a three-year plan; we need a long-term American strategy, based on steady, persistent effort, to reverse the forces that have conspired against the middle class for decades. That has to be our project.
– Remarks by the President [Barack Obama] on the Economy — Knox College, Galesburg, IL (July 23, 2013)
We had that once, it was called the New Deal. I watched President Obama’s speech and, for lack of better term, he half-assed it. While the quote above is fantastic, he didn’t follow through. He failed to name exactly who, or what, the “forces that have conspired against the middle class for decades” are. He is, for whatever reason, incapable of engaging those forces head-on and the needed changes won’t happen until he does. See the Rick Perlstein’s Rules of Liberal Political Success, which has this great line.
No liberal regime has ever succeeded in American History without successfully stigmatizing the conservatism that preceded it as a failure that ruined ordinary people’s lives.
The best analysis of the speech comes from Robert Borosage, Obama: Revive the American Dream. He calls what Obama left out “the missing enemy”.
What caused the fall? The president’s version is focused on “forces” as if they were acts of nature. “Technology…global competition.” He’s in passive voice. “It became harder for unions to fight for the middle class.”
Absent is the reality: Conservative policy choices devastated what made America special. Costly global military misadventures. Financial deregulation. Corporate dominated trade policies. Trickle-down fantasies. The unrelenting assault on workers and labor unions. Perverse executive compensation policies that gave CEOs million-dollar incentives to plunder their own companies. Ayn Rand’s delusions supplanting Adam Smith’s sober suspicion of business collusion to limit competition. Race-bait politics that closed the hand up for the impoverished.
It wasn’t technology and globalization that destroyed the middle class. It was wrong-headed policies and an increasingly corrupted politics. This isn’t incidental. As we’ve seen in the war on terror, without clearly naming the enemy, it becomes difficult to direct the forces.
In his speech Obama does a good job of pointing our what so many have lost.
A good job with decent wages and benefits, a good education, home of your own, retirement security, health care security — I’m going to make the case for why we’ve got to rebuild ladders of opportunity for all those Americans who haven’t quite made it yet — who are working hard but are still suffering poverty wages, who are struggling to get full-time work.
But Borosage saves some of his harshest criticism for Obama when he turns his criticism of Democrats. Because Obama is continuing to cling to “New Democrat” spin.
He also calls on Democrats to change: “I will be saying to Democrats, we’ve got to question some of our old assumptions. We’ve got to be willing to redesign or get rid of programs that don’t work as well as they should.”
This is a favored trope of the New Democrats, often aimed at justifying cuts in Medicare and Social Security, or “ending welfare as we know it.” And it is here that the debate within the Democratic Party must begin. What are the “old assumptions” and “programs that don’t work” that have contributed to destroying the middle class?
At the top of the list would be the core agenda of Rubinomics, the Wall Street economics that has defined Democratic policies over the last decades. Trade policy by and for the corporations. Strong-dollar Fed policies by and for Wall Street. Catastrophic financial deregulation. Perverse executive compensation. Regressive tax reforms. Surrender in the war on unions. Prioritizing austerity over investment. Starving programs for the poor while squandering trillions on military misadventure abroad. Swimming in a corrupted money politics, embracing a revolving-door Washington culture. [Emphasis added]
The president’s story should be told with the actors involved. What made America special was a broad middle class, built by sensible policy, driven by a broad coalition. We’ve descended into Gilded-Age inequality because of a corporate funded ideological and political offensive, championed not just by the Reagan right but by the Wall Street Democrats. Turning this around isn’t a short-term, stop-gap measure. It requires a new direction, a new coalition, a willingness to clean out the corrupted stables, in order, in the president’s words, to “make this country work for working Americans again.”
The president has helped to frame this debate. But it will take an independent people’s movement if we are to displace the entrenched interests and deformed ideas that stand in the way.
It’s impossible for anyone who isn’t friendly to the corporations to get elected in our current political system. Inequality and democracy don’t mix, (See Lawrence Lessig’s Lesterland). The kind of inequality we currently have is making democracy impossible. The movement Borosage mentions will start some day. But it will not come from Washington, it will have to come from the people. Washington is too beholden to corporate cash and is incapable of starting it. Only a movement of the people can break that tie, and then the middle class and the American Dream will can be a reality again.
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07.24.13
Posted in Around The State, The Lege, Transportation at 3:23 pm by wcnews
This AAS editorial, If it’s a funeral for transportation funding, don’t expect many mourners ($), gets to the point of why there’s not likely to be a deal reached on transportation funding in the second special session.
Though the state’s top elected officials declared highway funding a priority, agreeing on how to pay for roads appears doomed from indifference, poor leadership and political ambitions.
There’s indifference and no leadership on this issue because, let’s face it, our so-called “top elected officials” don’t see it as a priority. They see getting something done on this issue as more of a hindrance to their political ambitions then doing nothing. Why is that? They don’t see things like transportation infrastructure, education, health care, etc.., as things that impact them. They’re doing just fine. A real solution means spending money, likely raising taxes, and showing that government can help people. And the Texas GOP is incapable of those things. Therefore,they’ve made the decision that they can live with the status quo. No matter what the rest of us need.
The Texas GOP has always been for economic growth, but they don’t want what comes with it. More spending on infrastructure, education, health care, etc.., to support the population increase that comes with it. That would mean raising taxes and likely hinder their political ambitions. Their true constituents, their funders, don’t seem to mind either. Hate is not the opposite of love, it’s indifference.
Further Reading:
Transportation bill heads to conference committee.
Is There No Price to Be Paid?
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Posted in Around The State, Criminal Justice, Williamson County at 10:33 am by wcnews
Hopefully the cost of a mistake like Ken Anderson’s – both to him personally as well as to the state of Texas and Williamson County – will make prosecutors think twice about what they’re doing in the future. At least that seems to be the hope. Here’s Grits on a recent Statesman article, (Legal bill brings cost of Morton case to nearly half a million dollars for Williamson County), about how much the false conviction of Michael Morton is costing them, Williamson County getting off light financially for Michael Morton exoneration.
Considering the state paid nearly two million dollars to Morton in a lump sum and that Texas taxpayers created a lifetime annuity for Morton in a like amount, quite honestly, it seems to me the county is getting off light. One of Morton’s unrequited reform suggestions was for counties to bear at least part of the burden for compensating exonerees since local officials were fundamentally responsible for most false convictions. That idea didn’t move forward, but it would be folly to think the county would get off scot-free while Judge Ken Anderson, who prosecuted Morton and was arrested this spring for allegedly secreting exculpatory evidence in the case, remains on the bench. For that matter, “If a trial is held, the county will face more expenses.”
Here’s the lead from the Statesman article:
By the time Williamson County pays the latest legal bill, it will have spent almost half a million dollars stemming from the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton, who was freed after serving 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife.
The latest bill of $339,492 is for attorney Rusty Hardin, who presented evidence and questioned witnesses in a special hearing back in February over the original prosecutor’s handling of the 1987 case. At the end of that “court of inquiry,” State District Judge Louis Sturns found then-district attorney Ken Anderson hid potentially exculpatory evidence to secure Morton’s conviction.
The suffering of people convicted of crimes they did not commit is hard to fathom. There is no monetary compensation that can make up for what was done to them. Read what Anthony Graves recently wrote about his time on death row. The only way we can try and make up for this is to do our best to make sure this never happens again.
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07.22.13
Posted in Around The State, Commentary at 9:02 am by wcnews
The Texas Progressive Alliance supports the call for justice for Trayvon as it brings you this week’s roundup.
Off the Kuff discusses the status of abortion litigation as pro-choice forces in Texas prepare to file suit over Texas’ harmful new law.
Horwitz at Texpatriate discusses the State of Municipal Elections in the City of Houston.
Can Texas Democrats win in 2014 if they focus on turning out women of all demographics to the polls? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs says ‘no, but’…
WCNews at Eye on Williamson makes the case for Wendy Davis to run for governor, Why Wendy Davis must run for Governor of Texas in 2014.
Texas Leftist observes that campaign season has swung into high gear for Houston, as City Council debates the true cost of 380 deals.
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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.
TFN Insider challenges us to remember all of the nasty things abortion opponents have been saying about us lately.
Jason Stanford compares Rick Perry to Jerry Jones, but doesn’t say who should be more offended by the comparison.
Mark Bennett contends that the Zimmerman verdict didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already believe.
Juanita expresses her pride in a recent award won by Rick Perry.
The TSTA Blog gives an update on the state of CSCOPE.
BOR wants to know what Greg Abbott was thinking when he asked people to ask him anything.
Marty Hajovsky mourns a piece of history damaged by fire in Houston.
And for folks in the Austin area, I Love Beer announces a food drive benefiting the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas.
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07.16.13
Posted in Around The State, Election 2014, Good Stuff at 4:38 pm by wcnews
Social unrest and frustration over injustice leads to political realignment; however, one can never know the exact moment the tipping point is reached until some years afterward. Democrats, particularly left-leaning ones like this blogger, have prematurely heralded the realignment before; only to discover that not enough new Texas adults have become voters to bring about political change. Therefore, eye with some skepticism any predictions here of a Democratic resurgence in Texas.
However, we do have historical precedents that provide some clue as to what goes into a realigning political movement. In the 1932 Presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt forged the New Deal coalition out of resentment over the disastrous economic policies that brought on the Great Depression in 1929. Core components of that coalition held together until 1980, when Ronald Reagan captured Southern whites and evangelical Christians, merging these constituencies with anti-labor, anti-regulation and big business.
Finally, in 2008, a charismatic, if inexperienced, African American galvanized a growing minority vote, coupled with anti-war and struggling middle class voters reacting to 30 years of wage stagnation and growing income inequality. Although the elections of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 motivated large numbers of African-American and Latino voters in Texas, the backlash from white voters in 2010 and 2012 has left many Republicans confident that they can extend their dominance, at least through 2014.
From these three examples, we can draw some conclusions about the conditions necessary to bring about realignment. First, we must have popular dissatisfaction with governing policy, financial hardship and at least perceived injustice for a large majority; and a galvanizing candidate with the ability to inspire new participants in the political process.
With Wendy Davis as a gubernatorial candidate in 2014, we may have all three.
Wendy Davis is a rare candidate that can become the face of a movement. A movement that must grow past choice and women’s heath to a true populist movement that can change the face of Texas politics. A movement that can engage and inspire Texans that don’t usually participate in elections. And she’s the first Democrat in Texas in a long time that has stood up the the GOP and scares them.
One compelling aspect of Wendy Davis is her biography. She was able to work her way through school as a single mother and get an education, which enabled her to get a job with a living wage to support her family. She is a symbol of the American Dream, an American Dream that has been lost for future generations. We need to bring that Dream back.
Win or lose, the Democratic Party in Texas will be much better off if Wendy Davis runs for Governor of Texas in 2014 –obviously much better off if she were to win. But even if her opponent prevails, the Texas Democratic Party would certainly benefit, in the years to come, from the momentum of the popular movement that will come together in this campaign.
Greg Abbott on the other hand is a creation of the modern Texas GOP. Only those that have attained a certain wealth status are on his radar. The poor, the hungry, those in need of health care, equal pay, and a living wage to support their families, will continue to be neglected. He’s a carbon copy of our current governor in many ways, pro-big oil, pro-big money, pro-insurance corporations, and on it goes.
There are a couple of ways that Abbott and Perry differ. Perry had personality, Abbott doesn’t. Perry had the West Texas farm boy upbringing, Abbott doesn’t. Abbott looks like a candidate that’s never had to run a serious race. He recites right wing talking points that have always carried him through. It’s hard to see his appeal outside the GOP base. His inexperience revealed itself when the media quizzed him on abortion, and after stumbling, his wife helped him answer.
Poor, working, and middle class Texans need someone that will speak for them as the leader of this state. We know that the GOP in Texas speaks only for corporations and the wealthy. (see here, TX court ruling benefits insurance companies in workers’ comp cases.) Wendy Davis knows the hard work it takes to get from the trailer park to the Texas Senate. She knows the hurdles right-wing governance has put before us.
Very few believe now that Wendy Davis has a good chance to win the governor’s race in 2014. Here’s a recent example from the Texas Tribune.
Hopes of a Democratic resurgence in Texas soared after this year’s first special session when state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, helped stop an abortion bill with a filibuster and an assist from protesters who disrupted the proceedings with their screa
It was a temporary victory: The Republican-led Legislature is on the verge of passing the same legislation in a second special session.
But the fight energized the moribund Democrats, and activists are urging Davis to run for governor next year. She would face long odds against Abbott, who has a huge war chest and support from the same Republican grass-roots machinery that propelled Perry to one victory after another. Democrats might also lose Davis’ hard-fought Senate seat, the only one seen as competitive under the current district maps, if she were to give it up to run for governor.
In an interview in her office at the Capitol this week, Davis said it was a privilege to be mentioned as a possible candidate for governor. Wearing a bright orange dress, the unofficial color of the abortion-rights protesters, Davis said she would be “very disappointed” if Democrats did not field a serious candidate for governor.
“I don’t know whether it’s me, but I do think it’s terribly important that we have a general election dialogue and debate,” she said. “I really do, particularly because this is an open seat now, and it just brings a new opportunity for those sorts of conversations.” She said she would decide in the next few weeks whether to run.
Much can change in the next 16 months, however.
It’s unlikely Wendy Davis will ever have a better opportunity than she has now to run for Governor of Texas. No one can run a race like Davis could in 2014. The timing is perfect for so many who have for the first time become involved in the political process because of her heroism. And if she does run, there would be an influx of new and energized voters and activists into the Texas political process not seen in decades.
If she does run, win or lose, the infrastructure that would be built because of her run for governor would be invaluable to the future of the the people of Texas and the Democratic party. (It’s already begun, Battleground Texas raises modest $1.1 million in four months and Wendy Davis Raises Nearly $1 Million.)
Wendy Davis may not read this blog post or run for Governor of Texas. 2014 may not be the realigning election in which women, Latinos, African-Americans, marriage equality advocates, environmentalists, labor, Medicare recipients and others come together as one. 8.1 million adult Texans who could have participated in 2012 chose not to vote. Many of those lost hope, and have come to doubt whether voting matters. Refusing to participate in elections is seen by some as rebellion; however, it is as good as a vote for the status quo. It’s the opposite of rebellion. It is acquiescence.
Increasing the number of participants in our political process is the only way to restore democracy. Being right on the issues is not enough to inspire non-voters to participate. We need an inspiring leader with a passion and a clear voice, someone who has walked in our shoes and will work to restore justice, fairness and equality.
Wendy Davis is that candidate for 2014. No one else between now and November 2014 has the ability to run the campaign that she can. She’s the only one who can put forth a message to beat the GOP in 2014. She’s the only one who can restore hope to the millions of Texans that have given up. That’s why Wendy Davis must run for Governor of Texas in 2014.
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07.15.13
Posted in Around The State, Commentary at 10:19 am by wcnews
The Texas Progressive Alliance stands with Texas women as it brings you this week’s roundup.
Off the Kuff gives some advice on what to do now that the anti-abortion bill has passed.
Horwitz at Texpatriate explains why he is a Democrat.
WCNews at Eye on Williamson says the dream that once made America great has become a nightmare for too many, We must “make morality possible again”, and bring back “The American Dream”.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme can hardly wait to see the results of the republican War on Women in 2014. Some Blue Dogs like Eddie Lucio Jr. are already feeling a pinch.
Dr. Mark Jones of Rice University tried to take down Wendy Davis’ political prospects, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had to take down Jones. Conservatives drinking “librul” whine still smell like vinegar.
At TexasKaoslightseeker foresees the coming crackup of the Texas Republicans. Check it out: Texas Republicans – The Coming Crackup??
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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.
Juanita eulogizes Bev Carter, Fort Bend political journalist and rabble-rouser.
Lone Star Ma deplores the gutting of the Voting Rights Act.
Jason Stanford has a personal story about why the omnibus anti-abortion bill is such a miscarriage of justice.
Equality Texas reports from the Texas GSA Network Activist Camp.
Greg Wythe shreds a recent story that claims Sen. Wendy Davis is “too liberal” to win in Texas.
Texas Vox looks at a series of new studies that focus on the destructive effects of pollution.
The Texas Green Report explains why you should care about the cost of tap water.
Concerned Citizens reminds us once again that elections have consequences.
BOR analyzes the litigation that is likely to arise from the passage of the omnibus anti-abortion bill.
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07.13.13
Posted in 83rd Legislature, Around The State, Commentary, Cronyism, Had Enough Yet? at 1:05 pm by wcnews
As I was reading Texpatriate’s post on the Senate’s passage of HB 2, the omnibus abortion bill, Where do we go from here? What came to mind that was a take on the saying, “Living well is the best revenge”, that electing Democrats is the best revenge.
2. The Ballot Box
Since the first filibuster, I have seen a lot of my contemporaries, who couldn’t have cared less about politics just a few weeks ago, become involved and outspoken on the process. If this motivation and anger will translate to mobilized and dedicated voters on this issue, it will be a wonder for the Democratic Party. That is still an open-ended question at this point, however.
2014 will see all Statewide positions, roughly half of the State Senate and all 150 State Representatives seek re-election. If the Democrats do their jobs (a big if), we could have a meaningful impact.
3. Activist Lane
Remember, don’t get mad, get even. Or at least get involved. This whole controversy has propelled Wendy Davis into the national spotlight. As I have been arguing somewhat perpetually now since the filibuster, she truly needs to run for Governor, regardless of her feasibility as a winning candidate. Be the Democrats’ Barry Goldwater.
Find people riled up by this, and register them to vote. Get people involved with the local Democratic Party. And, my gosh, find some candidates for Statewide office next year. Wendy Davis is obvious, but there are so many others. Rodney Ellis, Jose Rodriguez, Leticia Van de Putte and Judith Zaffrini are among the talented Democratic Senators who are not up for re-election next year. Cecile Richards is a great possible candidate as well.
There was a huge rally at the end of the evening tonight, where Cecile Richards and Jessica Farrar led thousands of protesters from the Capitol down Congress Street. Stuff like that needs to continue happening.
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So, I guess Wendy Davis really was prophetic when she said this is only the beginning, and not the end. Don’t pout, don’t cry, don’t complain. What we need to do right now is to get to work. I will part with a line from an old Bob Dylan song that I find quite fitting for this evening.
“The loser now will be later to win, oh the times they are a-changin’”
No one should be under the illusion any longer that the Texas GOP will not implement it’s radical campaign rhetoric if given the chance. Or the illusion that this will just change some day in the future because of demographics. It will take sustained hard work over the course of years and there will be setbacks. Even once power is taken back it will take time. As this Ross Ramsey article shows, A Weak Governor System, With a Strong Governor, (via Kuff, Rick Perry will be with us for a long time).
It’s not the system that makes the governor strong or weak necessarily. It has to do with the person, and much more important, the length of time that person is in office. Becaue until the 1970’s the governor was only a two year term. And no one has ever been the Governor of Texas as long as Perry. Here’s what EOW wrote back in 2010 about Perry, We must end Perry’s unprecedented time as governor – he’s been in office too long.
Because of the staggered terms of boards and commissions it can take years for a governor to get their people in place and get control the bureaucracy. And Perry’s time in office is unprecedented. At the end of his current term Perry will have done something no Texas governor has ever done, serve two consecutive four year terms. He will have been in office a total of 10 consecutive years, which has allowed him to “burrow-in”, or imbed, his people into the bowles of state government as no other governor before.
That means it’s possible that there will still be Perry imbeds in office until 2020. And if Perry clone Gregg Abbott is elected the same kind of cronies will be there even longer.
That’s why it’s imperative the current momentum is used to create a movement for governmental change in Texas. While women’s rights and health issue are important, more issues must be included. Inequality, equal pay, equal rights, health care, education, etc.., must be included to make sure the movement can grow and endure.
Further Reading:
Stand With Texas Women: In Houston, a Rally Inspires and Energizes
When tampons are outlawed, only outlaws will have tampons
The battlefield shifts now
Texas’ New Abortion Bill Will Go to Court and Texas Women May WinAbortion Rights Are at a Crossroads: This Is NOT a Time to Lay Low – It Is Time for Massive Uncompromising Struggle!
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