How Should Democratic Members Of Texas Legislature Best Use Their Time & Efforts?

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Texas Democrats lost two seats in the Texas House of Representatives in the recent election, & look to be in an 88-62 minority in the next legislative session. Democrats will also remain a minority in the Texas Senate. Donald Trump won Texas by a margin of 56%-42% over Kamala Harris.

(Above is a picture I took of the Texas House chamber while visiting Austin last year.)    

At bottom line, political parties have an obligation to win elections and keep supporters safe. Texas legislative Democrats cannot accomplish these goals. We are not safe from the extreme right either physically or in terms of our freedoms.  Nor can our caucus legislate effectively because they do not have enough votes.  
 
The political philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) said that because people can't get along, we should yield our freedom to a king beyond accountability. This a strategy we seem to be trying in the United States.  

From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy regarding Hobbes:     

"His vision of the world is strikingly original and still relevant to contemporary politics. His main concern is the problem of social and political order: how human beings can live together in peace and avoid the danger and fear of civil conflict. He poses stark alternatives: we should give our obedience to an unaccountable sovereign (a person or group empowered to decide every social and political issue). Otherwise what awaits us is a state of nature that closely resembles civil war – a situation of universal insecurity, where all have reason to fear violent death and where rewarding human cooperation is all but impossible."

People do seem to have a difficult time getting along. But instead of an unaccountable monarch, like the far-right Supreme Court is trying to give us with Donald Trump, we should have elected officials of varying viewpoints who do a good and effective job & who help work out the differences between people.   

What are ways Democratic Party legislators could proceed after this disastrous election & during the legislative session?  

Here are some ideas:

1. Sponsor self-defense courses, including responsible firearms trainings, for constituents. We were told-correctly-by our Presidential nominee that Donald Trump is hateful and a threat to democracy. The mainstream political system does not keep us safe. We have a right to protect ourselves and should be empowered to do so. (I know people have well-merited reservations about guns. Guns kill. But the right has a lot of guns and the 2nd Amendment is not just for them. People have a right to consider all the options for self-defense.)  
       
2. Work to heal anger and mistrust between core Democratic Party constituencies. So many of us live in extremely diverse cities and counties. We have to be able to work together and move forward together. There is no viable future if we can't get along. I'm a 57 year old white guy from Ohio. I can't fix these tensions. But our whole Democratic coalition is impacted by these fights. Many Texas Democratic legislators are in safe gerrymandered districts. They can use the time freed up by not having to campaign to work to bring people together.                

3. Work year-round to rebuild the Democratic Party. Stop relying on low turnout election wins. The health and strength of the Democratic Party is more important than legislation we can't pass, or cozying up to authoritarian bigots for committee assignments. 

4. Act with courage and imagination. The way we've been doing things up to now has taken us to this terrible place.      

5. Accomplish what you can in the legislature without losing sight of the more important work outside the Texas Capitol.       

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show each Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

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