Texas – Friendly or Crazy

Our beloved land was named after the Tejas (Friend) people. By 1973 “Drive Friendly – the Texas Way” was our highway slogan. But in the last 30 years we have been led to road rages, school massacres, razor wire sand wildfires through the policies supported by this administration. Our impotent Governor seeks to cover his inadequacies through a Revenge tour, where he punishes party members who dare to disagree with ANY of his extremist agenda. Bankrolled by religious zealot oil billionaires he imposes purity tests to divide us. His successionist followers do not want the diversity or experiences of outsiders, only their money. His party collaborates in secret meetings through PACs with authoritarian fascist Nick Fuentes. Armed thugs patrol outside his events to stifle reporting and dissent. His owners stir the Rage machine to question Who you love, What you worship, When did your ancestors arrive, and Where are you from. Bless their hearts. Let’s lead guide and direct them at the polls to Make Texas Friendly Again.

Book Banning Alternative

“Now the self-appointed Morality Police are scouring our libraries for Greek mythology e.g. Oedipus, Zeus and others like that guy Onan (You know what book that’s from) to CANCEL. Rather than burning books and witches, I suggest they take the time to read Machiavelli, Greek mythology for Narcissus, and Abnormal Psychology texts concerning sociopaths to better understand their ruling Texas elected officials. The graver problem than just zealots fighting the Culture Wars is the self-censoring effect this campaign has on people just doing their jobs as best they can, e.g., librarians, teachers, and other public servants, i.e., your neighbors. When these hard-working servants are threatened by the power of the State, the mob rule weakens our society and democracy. A local instance is the disappearance of a September Hispanic Heritage exhibit at the city Public Library replaced by a Celebration of the US Constitution. Iran’s leaders would be proud.”

Stop the Sham

It is time to stop the sham. The current administration of this state is wrecking the populace. They focus on issues irrelevant to ordinary people.  Fear is their tool. Fear: babies are being butchered, gangs of drug dealers from Mexico are flooding in, and minorities are “cancelling” white culture.  They use the full power of the state to force teenage rape victims to care a baby to term, return women and children asylum seekers to their tormentors, allow uninspected chemical plants to explode, and ban books that tell a history that does not match with the myth of the Lost Cause. It’s NOT conservatism. It’s Kleptocracy. only 3% of eligible voters will determine who cracks the whip. To those 2,413 GOP Bell County voters who voted for Marvin Summers for Railroad Commissioner: he died on Feb 8^th, three weeks BEFORE the election. Don’t be misled by a few haters who stir fear. Shame on those politicians, shame on the media and political operatives that legitimize those politicians. shame on voters who fall for this sham.

Sequestration Rope-a-dope

The GOP is counting on the short game by letting sequestration go into effect. Claiming that they compromised by letting the tax giveaways to those with incomes over $450k the GOP believes they have boxed Obama in to accept only deep spending cuts. The effects of austerity will not be distributed evenly. Obama will now be able to state that spending cuts have matched the pain of lapsed tax cuts. It is time for those who have benefitted from the recovery to share and build the economy.

Bitterness

Yes, I admit it. I am one of those bitter individuals. Bitter that the media does not address the real issues, but focuses on flag  pins, haircuts, and cookies.  What about globalization? Strengthening Social Security? Bringing the  study of government into education?  Crumbling infrastructure? Energy independence? Punishment vs. treatment for drug abuse? Granting of FCC broadcast licenses for the public airways to corporations without enforcing the responsibility to operate in the public interest?

Bitter.

 

 

The party we don’t have

I got an email from a lady unhappy with the current two-party system. She wanted to “resign” from the party. She said, “They are in the pockets of big business”…”We just can’t identify with it any longer”.   She also said she had voted for and contributed money to her party’s candidates in the past.  These feelings have been prevalent for a while now, wishing for a new independent party that will be for America.  My view on this group is that most of the people who hold this view were not all that involved in either existing party. They may have voted fairly consistently for their preferred party and even made contributions, but I don’t think they played an active part in the local party. I doubt she has ever been a precinct chairman or even a “block captain” , probably never attended a party meeting, convention or worked at a party’s or candidate’s rallies.  This yearning and praying is a manifestation of their desire to let someone else do the work of democracy. Complaints about politicians being owned by the moneyed interest are rampant, but few seem willing to organize and support a candidate who foregoes large donations.  I know that even the most partisan supporters have at least one disagreement with their national party.  Any party of more than one person is going to have differences of opinion. Those who choose to work within the system know it’s not perfect but they are willing to work to enact the larger agenda.  Even Ross Perot said, “It’s not about me, Larry.”  (To tell the truth it really was about you Ross, but your prescription was correct). As democracy has evolved from the days of the Founding Fathers to encompass all Americans, rich or poor, male or female, black, white, or brown, the question, “who will do it if we don’t?” has been asked less often.