2014: How will Texas look after November?

    Here we are, the calendar flips over to another election cycle, and for the first time this century Rick Perry will not be heading the ticket as GOP nominee for Governor of the State of Texas.  But for Gilberto Hinojosa and the Texas Democratic Party will a ticket of State Senators Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte be enough to begin to shift the needle of politics in the State or may we end up seeing a pyrrhic victory come November.  

     For the first time in over a decade the Democratic party has fielded somewhat viable sate-wide candidates.  Aside from Anne Richards can the average Texan even name 1 of the state-wide candidates fielded by the Democrats since Phil Gramm switched parties?  Barring a candidate that can start with some kind of name recognition state-wide the GOP can run a ham sandwich in a state-wide race (so long as it could prove to the tea partiers that it is sufficiently conservative) and win with a comfortable margin.  Remember, in 2012 when all the other right-wing crazies in places like Connecticut, Indiana and Wisconsin imploded, Texas elected Ted Cruz to the Senate in a walk.  But will strong candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor even matter?

      Lost in all of this is that from the outside the Texas Democratic party is almost resigned to conceding large swaths of the state come November.  Everyone remembers the buzz that Sen Davis's 11 hour filibuster garnered when she waged a one-woman battle against the forces that be.  What is lost is that a short time later it all went for naught.  Gov. Perry called another special session of the legislature, and the entire Democratic delegation meekly arrived in Austin to allow the Legislature to reach quorum and pass the same bills that were stopped previously by running out the clock.  In 2003 the Democrats in Austin showed spine, left the state and denied the quorum and kept up the fight, today not so much.  In fact I don't recall any concerted effort from the point in time starting with Perry calling the 2nd special session that any targeted messaging went out in an attempt to sway 5 GOP senate votes to kill the bill.  What is the old saying , a lot of sound and noise signifying nothing.  

     The year is early, but the Democrats have their work cut out for them.  While it would be nice to win state house, they need to narrow gaps and see a shift toward the middle in the legislature in order to get anything done. Since 2000 it seems the only issues that get attention is cutting education, attacking women and minorities, and ensuring that Texas is on a course to become a 3rd World Nation.  The Democrats have to fight not from the top but block by block, precinct by precinct and district by district to shift the debate and restore Texas to her former glory.  

    

     

Now that Wienergate has played out...

Now that Anthony Wiener has admitted to sending the tweet in question , can we now go on to more important matters.

This story is not what needs to dominate the public discourse, since it is in many ways a non story. Did Rep. Wiener exercise poor judgment in carrying on the way hi did? Yes, he did, though compared to John Edwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Mike Ensign, his antics were downright sophomoric. If someone with the Name Wiener enters public life two things are certain, one is a sense of humor and the other is thick skin. Some of the shots such as him with a me sign or the alleged pussy shot (featuring him and his tabbies) are cute and funny in most contexts.

While his actions were juvenile and showed a lack forethought, they were not criminal. Anthony Wiener did not solicit money from his parents to use as hush money, nor did he father a child with the domestic help, nor did he even use campaign money to help keep the issue silent and at bay. He proved that he was human.

There are people who have the right to sit in judgement of his actions, and I am not one of them. Due to the nature of his actions, his wife is one of them. Whether or not they are able to successfully work through this and strengthen their relationship. That is by definition a private matter and should not be food for public consumption. The others are his constituents, should he decide to run for reelection. They have to decide if his actions have detracted from the zealous advocacy he has shown those who elected him while in their service. I have a couple of friends who live in his district who, barring something unforeseen still plan on voting for him in 2012.

Now that all of this that has become known as Wienergate has played out, isn't it time that we focus our attention on something more pressing such as the debt ceiling vote, the budget and maybe jobs and education? Just an idea.

Healthcare reform and the politics of fear.

In this editorial opinion, Bill Moyers brought an eloquence to our national discourse that has not been seen since Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite. While he explored the health care debate he also touched on the growing fear, bordering on paranoia that is bubbling to the surface in American life. While the debate may seem new, it is clear that some of it is a result of the latent racism the is still lurking beneath the facade in some parts of the nation.

It has been said that it is easier to say we are sorry than to admit we were wrong, the tone of our national discourse would seem to illustrate this. If we step back, for the most part a President speaking to our children on staying in school and working toward goals is not some plot to indoctrinate the children with a socialist message. The idea of offering our citizens the opportunity to buy into Medicare before we reach 65 as an alternative to private insurance is not close to socialized medicine. Yet the debate would suggest that some can not make these distinctions.

Who are the ones making the noise, many of them were the ones who have supported the Neo-Conservative movement since the days of Ronald Reagan. If people like Paul Krugman or Thom Hartmann are correct, it is the economic policies pursued since 1980 caused the current economic condition. Beginning with Reagan, all of the market safeguard put in place by Roosevelt as a result of the Great Depression began to be dismantled one at a time. These safeguards included the protection of workers who wished to organize, the separation of investment banks from commercial banks among others.

These policies saw the nation's average wage decline while the earnings for the wealthiest grow at astounding rates. We saw government abdicate its responsibility to regulate the market and ensure safety to a the industries themselves with disastrous consequences.

Remember people do not like being told they were wrong. People voted for the conservatives not only because they bought into the idea of prosperity but because the conservatives would play to the fears. They voted for people who preached a smaller government but advocated a government large enough to interject itself in the most private affairs of its citizens. They see people around them that are different from themselves and fear the change that it represents. The conservatives played to those fears. Now with our economy holding on by a thread they do not want to face the reality that they voted for the leaders whose policy brought us to where we are now, and they don't like it.

Since the days of old, it is easy to exploit fear during times of economic distress. Blame the other guy for what is wrong. That is easy. In this case President Barack Obama is of mixed ethincity and that brings old prejudices back into vogue. Hate groups have seen an upsurge in membership and activity. At least 2 times at a recent town hall meeting in an Hispanic congressional district, Rep. Ciro Rodriguez was grilled on the potential of health care money being spent on care of illegal immigrants by angry white audience members.

Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes of the past, the Republican party has tried to blame incoming administration for the problems they created. To blame Barack Obama for the state of the economy right now is akin to blaming the firemen for the loss of your house when you are the one who left the cigarette smoldering on couch cushion that set the blaze. The situation we are in took over 20 years of effort to cause, it will not be fixed overnight. It took FDR more than one term to fully repair the damage to our nation from the Great Depression.

It is up to each of us to rise above our level of discourse and begin the vital debate on the issues that are really pressing. We need to encourage our elected leaders to quit thier bickering and do the jobs they were hired to perform. We are not their servants, they are ours. They are the ones who are supposed to put petty differences aside and do what is right for the nation as a whole. That is the true intention of our founding fathers.

Barney Frank on how to deal with crazies

Congressmen Barney Frank gives all of us a lesson in how to deal with the crazies who seem to dominate the debate. I am not against debate. I encourage all people to press their elected officials on the tough issues. Think about what you are saying when you debate. Debate facts not debunked falacies. In a poll by NBC 91% of Americans favor reform in our healthcare system. Just remember if you hear something about what might and might not be included in the reform go to Fact Check and see if it is true or not. There is nothing in the bill about "Death Panels", nor is there anything in there about healthcare rationing. Let us keep the push on and take this issue to the finish line.