Politics in Texas can be a real challenge for grassroots activists like me. There are so many contradictions, mind boggling ironies, silver forked tongue charlatans and snake oil chicanery to cut through before one can latch onto a message that motivates people to vote. This week has been especially challenging on the progressive grassroots political front. This is due to the sorry fact that seventeen Texas Democrats have decided to stand on the side of the Fracking industry over the needs, health and financial well-being of their constituencies.
What are you thinking Texas Democrats? Our Party may be a sorry minority but it doesn't mean we have to roll over and die without a fight.
Wimps never win.
For crying out loud. How many times do we have to tell Democrats that when Democrats turn tail and run as Republican Lites Democratic candidates turn off our Democratic base? Stop listening to your handlers and crony donors and publicly stand for what you know is right. Voters will respect and vote for you. IF Democrats stand by our core values and principles. To do otherwise disappoints and discourages us.
I mean, why bother to vote when there is little difference between the two parties? What is a grassroots activist like me to say to a non-voter. Vote for my Party because............................??????????????? The expected response in cases like this? Both sides suck.
Grow some if you want to excite us, Democrats. Take a paddle and blister the forces that are making life miserable for your constituents. Shining a laser focused microscope on the Fracking industry and pay day loan sharks may be good places to start.
Sigh.
Yes. It has been a confusing and disappointing week in Texas politics for progressive Democrats. But this week has not been one without a little dark humor.
It seems that a new movement has emerged here. A normally business friendly state that will impose ALEC sponsored legislation at the supersonic speed of Mach 5 has encountered a bit of a system failure.
One has to wonder what happened to change the state's usually over-the-top business friendly ethos. For a state that likes to brag about personal freedom, individual rights and liberty seems to have fallen prey to a force that works against these very firmly held beliefs.
A new anti-business Party has emerged, not because of worries about personal freedom or individual rights or that ALEC has been running rough shod over the rights of Texas consumers and workers for decades. No, this Party has emerged because a group of right wing tea party extremists want to punish those who do not share their ideological and religious beliefs. Blinded by ideology these hard right tea partiers have chosen to ignore Republican core principles that are grounded in the notion that what is good for business is good for Texas. (Not true but the GOP has been singing the pro-business hymns for decades.)
The Anti-Business Party of Texas is Born.
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