The recent floods in Texas have prompted some comments and diaries on the topic of whether to support the victims of this natural disaster since many of their elected representatives, notably Ted Cruz, were opposed to disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. This is, as our friends in the education profession might say, a teachable moment. While it may be satisfying to observe deniers of climate science getting smacked in the face by climate science reality, schadenfreude is a poor principle for organizing a movement. I think it is better to use this occasion to demonstrate the positive power of collective action, i.e. government and community aid.
First, it is unfair to place collective blame on an entire population for their elected officials. That a person as odious as Ted Cruz has the title of U.S. Senator is not entirely the fault of the population of Texas as a whole but rather that Texas has a very low voter participation rate. There are many fine people who call Texas home, Willie Nelson, Jim Hightower and the late Molly Ivins spring to mind. Within living memory Texas had a Democratic governor, Ann Richards. I am told there are even Texans who subscribe to Daily Kos. These people are our allies, not our enemies and we should be helping them organize a progressive presence in the lone star state.
I saw a documentary in the late 1970's on the Non-Partisan League in North Dakota in the early part of the 20th century. This was a group of small farmers who were attempting to gain some economic independence from the Minnesota banks and commodities dealers who controlled their access to capital and the market for their products. They organized and got their people to the polls on election day. One of the things that struck me in the film was that when they went to a farmer to drive him to the voting site, they first helped him feed his livestock (there had been a snowstorm on election eve). Helping people when they are faced with adverse circumstances is how a group gains support for their agenda. Perhaps the most lasting accomplishment of the Non-Partisan League was the creation of the Bank of North Dakota, the only state-owned bank in the United States and regularly cited as an example of a financial institution independent of Wall St.
One of the insidious effects of corporate dominance since the 1970's and the Powell Memo is that as individuals have to strive more merely to meet their basic needs they have less time and energy for political action. Some might even think that is a feature, not a bug of Republican policy. In any case it is important for us as progressives to identify our allies, help our allies, and encourage them to vote.