The leadership of the Texas Dem Party is so Right Wing that they won't support Progressive Statewide candidates or a vote straight ticket campaign and they center all their efforts for years to put up a gubernatorial candidate who won't even use the word DEMOCRAT by his name. If their intentions are to get Republicans elected, then it's working.
My response to Boyd Richie's post election letter...
It is embarrassing that the Dems promote candidates who are afraid to run as Dems and start a campaign already conceding to Republican ideology. If they don’t want to run as a big D and help carry the rest of the slate, then they should run as Independents and not be allowed in our primary. If there is a lesson from last night’s election, it is that Centrists can’t get Dems elected and Progressive Dems who embrace Centrist policy, can’t get reelected (Feingold). You simply cannot out Republican the Republicans (Chet Edwards). The problem is not that the Dems are not Right wing enough to win elections in Texas; it is that they do not act like Dems, hold the Republicans ideologically accountable or give all the disenfranchised Dems in Texas a reason to vote. You can’t get elected just by attacking the character of the incumbent; you have to make an ideological case to win voters. Right or wrong, everyone knows where Republicans and Tea Party candidates stand. Our Dems come off as saying what they need to say to get elected by Democrats, but once elected will back the corrupt corporate-Dem policies pushed by the DLC/Blue Dogs. This is what Obama did and now it could ultimately cost us our Medicare, Social Security, minimum wage, public education and every other program that protects the middle class.
We need a real unapologetic Dem Party with real Dem Party leadership who promotes real Dem Party values and will fight for the working class in Texas. The TDP has to learn that politics is all about the grassroots. That is what fueled the Tea Party and allowed them to overcome the disastrous Republican brand. It might mean that you have to share power, tolerate some unusual candidates, educate the masses on what we stand for and support straight ticket voting, but it is the right thing to do, it will help you grow qualified candidates and it doesn’t require a lot of money, as with consultant-centric political organizing.
I just can’t believe that you all held back the party all these years and disenfranchised Progressives for this one lackluster gubernatorial campaign. I hope that we will finally see a political shift in the TDP/SDEC, now that you folks have cost us yet another statewide election.
Peggy Walton
Conroe, TX