Robert Pratt
One headline Tuesday night read “Blue Hopes Drowned by a Sea of Read”, another “Democrats fail miserably in attempt to turn Texas blue”.
Yes, for the first time in this century Texas has a new governor and it is Greg Abbott. Big change or not? There will be a big change of culture and style in the Governor’s Office, only small changes on policy. And from my perspective and the perspective of a huge majority of Texas voters, that’s a very good thing.
The serious question that comes from the Texas 2014 General Election is this: Is the Texas Democratic Party a viable political organization? I’m not being flippant. There is election data which points to the idea that all money, time and effort put into keeping the Party going is pointless, essentially wasted treasure.
Statewide results show that the Democrats’ nominee for Agriculture Commissioner, a man who refused to raise money, campaign, or even attend his Party’s convention, pulled about the same vote percentage, within two percentage points, of the Party’s big-spending, heavily press covered candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Comptroller.
“Not the Republican” as a label would have likely pulled the same vote in all races without campaigning or spending a dime.
What does this tell us? One thing is says is that all the millions of dollars and thousands of volunteer and staff hours invested by Democrats had no significant return. I’m not talking about losing, I’m talking about not even outperforming non-campaigning candidates.
“Not the Republican” as a label would have likely pulled the same vote in all races without campaigning or spending a dime.
Is the Texas Democratic Party now little more than student council playing at governance and handing out titles but in reality having no power or purpose?
The Democrats in Texas might as well as had a Bonfire with all the money the wasted here.
Listener Russ comments: “While the Democrats could craft a message that resonates in Texas, they will not do so. The east and left coast liberalism message doesn’t fit with Texan independence and individualism, not to mention that Texans simply do not respond well to outsiders telling us what we should do. The problem with the Democrat message is that it is a Liberal message, and they cannot allow it to be anything else. The east/left coast vision is to change America to fit their model, so that must be the message. If that message were changed to appeal to Texas voters, the results would not be what they want. The results would, at best for the Dems, be a return to the party of the 70’s and 80’s, where a strong block of conservative Democrats, the “Boll Weevils” refused to support the full liberal agenda, and actively supported much of the conservative one. On a broader scale this would result in something similar, for the Dems, as their problems today in pushing through a gun control agenda; where enough constitutionally conservative Democrats refuse to toe the party line. The modern liberal does not operate with a philosophy of compromise, so the message itself may not be compromised. In all other areas, the ends justify the means for them, but not here.
God Bless Texas…”
Besides all that, we simply can’t keep spending more money than we have. If we don’t get a budget and stick with it we will all be paying more for everything and our kids will be after we are gone.