Lone Star Democracy Builders Association

... enough to run an automated phone survey. For his first term I just got glossy fliers. Now McCaul (CD-10) cares enough for me to hear his (recorded) voice.

The first question was whether I was a registered voter. He then went on to ask me questions about immigration, offshore drilling, the second amendment, flat taxes, and Iraq. I'm guessing the second amendment one was in there for identifying liberals vs. conservatives.

Sounds like he's concerned about securing our borders, more offshore drilling, changing the tax rate to favor the rich even more, and staying in Iraq until their government can take over -- regardless of the cost. I'd rather hear about border safety, more energy efficiency, undoing the changes to the tax code that support the rich over the middle class, working to bring our troops home from Iraq so we can be prepared for the next emergency, supporting our veterans, and figuring out where all the money spent on Iraq went. Oh yeah, and health care, de-politicizing our Justice department, re-securing our freedoms at home, re-gaining international respect, ensuring that we're ready for the next hurricane season, and encouraging voting instead of passing stupid, sneaky poll taxes.

But at least I've had another chance to give him a little feedback, albeit within the parameters he set. And he asked if he could follow up with me on the issues. Of course, he has yet to respond to any of the e-mails I've sent to him. [KBH may be a Republican party rubber-stamp, but at least I get some responses from her office. Up until now I've only gotten generic fliers from McCaul. And not even that from Cornyn.]

If I was really a conspiracy theorist, I'd say that the recent announcements of opposition candidates might have had something to do with the timing of the poll. By my count, we're up to three Democratic challengers. But the timing's just too close. I doubt anyone could have turned a phone poll around that quickly.

Posted by GlennM at 8:43 PM in Austin & Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

What's the matter with Kansas, by Thomas Frank, is just depressing.

It's a good history lesson of how the progressives in Kansas switched from fighting for economic prosperity for all to the current mess we're in. Namely, where Conservatives (Cons) do a bait-n-switch by getting folks riled up about "values" and then pass laws that take from the poor and give to the rich. Since the "values" issues are never resolved, the "values" folks can be riled up even more for the next election.

Continue reading "Review: What's the Matter with Kansas?" »

Posted by GlennM at 4:47 PM in Book Reviews & Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink | Comments (1)

After getting a pile of political books, I started with Christine Todd Whitman's "It's My Party Too". If we're going to reach out to Republicans, it couldn't hurt to start with the middle.

Continue reading "Review: It's My Party Too by Christine Todd Whitman" »

Posted by GlennM at 9:28 PM in Book Reviews & Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

From the latest Texans for Texas:

The East Gulf Coast Republican Assembly is hosting a 5-day grassroots educational cruise in the Caribbean!

Continue reading "R's version of DemFest" »

Posted by GlennM at 9:30 AM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

I think Tom DeLay would be fine with me having this book about his life out for over a week past its due date. He is not a man who cares about playing by the rules.

Lou Dubose, one co-author of "The Hammer: Tom DeLay, God, Money, and the Rise of the Republican Congress," will be a guest speaker at DemocracyFest 2005 here in Austin in June. It should be interesting to hear him talk about politics, because "The Hammer" isn't just a biography of Tom Delay. It's more of a wake-up call about how much the "game" in Washington has changed since Tom DeLay's ilk started their climb.

It's scary stuff. Basically, DeLay and his people have turned Washington into a pay-to-play arena, even more than I thought possible. They're all about power, except when they're about trying to start a war in the Middle East to bring on the Rapture. And the changes they've made aren't just problems right now - they're going to be problems for quite a few years to come.

Here are three items that particularly caught my eye:

Continue reading "The Hammer, by Lou Dubose and Jan Reid" »

Posted by Skye at 2:49 PM in Book Reviews & Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

Here's an article by a Catholic on why the religious extremists are going too far.

For finding middle ground (from the conservative side), it does a good job of saying what was good & bad about the protesters from the 60s. And then goes on to say why todays protesters from the far right aren't at the same level.

Posted by GlennM at 11:58 PM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

From Gary Chapman's piece in the Statesman "Bush will lead a nation still bitterly divided":

Social Security reform to make us all "pro-business Republicans for life."

The battle over Social Security is not about fiscal responsibility, it's about politics. Grover Norquist, the anti-tax crusader on the right, advocates an end to Social Security so that younger voters will become reliable Republican supporters of a radical corporate agenda. Norquist argues that if people are dependent on the stock market for their retirement, they will "naturally" oppose any constraints on corporate profits, and thus become supporters of deregulation, union-busting, environmental rollbacks, tort reform, etc. — in short, they'll become pro-business Republicans for life, because otherwise they may jeopardize the value of their retirement accounts. This is meant to ensure GOP dominance for another half-century or more.

Posted by GlennM at 8:25 AM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

From the NYT Sunday magazine article on taxes:

Within Republican circles, Norquist's job is to organize other organizations, making sure the different branches of conservatism are moving in the same direction, at the same time, to the greatest extent possible. His particular genius is for persuading one organization to reach beyond its own agenda to help out another -- for getting, say, the cultural traditionalists at the Eagle Forum to join the business libertarians at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in opposing fuel-economy standards for automobiles by convincing the traditionalists that, as Norquist once explained to me, "it's backdoor family planning. You can't have nine kids in the little teeny cars. And what are you going to do when you go on a family vacation?"

Posted by GlennM at 10:26 PM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink | Comments (1)

More via Texans for Texas, the Lone Star Report's list of the top republican Legislative priorities.

Lone Star Report

Under the general topics I've pulled out interesting quotes about the republican base. For the complete article, follow the link above.

Continue reading "Top Republican Leg priorities" »

Posted by GlennM at 10:07 PM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

Ok, think about how conservatives might feel when liberals are making fun of them.

Then take a deep breath.

Then check out Texans For Texas.

Continue reading "Texans for Texas" »

Posted by GlennM at 11:40 PM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

I just visited another Republican friend up in Dallas. She was a Poli-Sci major, but more interested in political history than applied politics. Now she's a middle-school teacher.

She's pro-life, anti-death penalty, for smaller government, for a secure america (she didn't like it when we stopped Star Wars the first time, although she'll admit it might not be the best idea for our current threats), for marriage being between a husband and wife, against welfare. But after seeing the effects of lack of health care in her classroom, she's starting to be a little pro-semi-socialized medicine.

Again, since she doesn't like up exactly with the straight-line-issues (that socialized medicing thing), she doesn't feel like the Republicans are welcoming her. But she's still more likely to swing Republican than Democratic.

It was hard not to argue with her, but just to take it in. She's also tired of having most of the political discussions end in extremes on both sides, I had to push her to get this much out of her.

Since she's issues oriented, I couldn't help but think about whether some of the True Majority stuff could have reached her if it had been shown on TV in Texas. It's certainly not stuff she's likely to look for herself and/or get from her church.

It was also interesting to get her (albeit limited) insight on what it's like to be a middle school teacher in TX right now. With a mostly better administration, she's having a better time teaching gifted kids now than she was teaching non-gifted kids last year in Dallas. What seems to be driving the good teachers out of the classrooms isn't low salaries or lack of benefits. It's too much bureaucracy, especially the fact that the cirriculum is totally laid out for them. How can we teach children to be creative if we don't allow the teachers to use their own creativity in the classroom?

Posted by GlennM at 6:32 PM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

So I have a new friend that's on the fence between the parties. She wants to think of herself as a Republican, but is fairly pissed off at Bush right now. To the point that she's having a hard time remembering what she liked about him before.

Part of the reasons she's apolitical is her job (she works for the state) and gets enough politics at work. But she also feels like neither side is speaking to her. She's pro death penalty, and also pro choice, pro gay marriage, pro social services, etc. So mostly Democratic on the issues except for the death penalty. Since she gets to see the results of murders, she'd rather folks focus on how to reduce the murder rate than worry about what happens to criminals after they're convicted.

As for Iraq, the question is now how do we get out of it. Instead of bitching about who screwed it up, she wants to hear about how we're going to get it fixed.

For all the talk about the "apolitical folks that don't know politics could help them", there may be other issue-based folks that are just feeling left out of the conversation. Or just turned off by the finger-pointing instead of doing the "hard work" to get to solutions.

Posted by GlennM at 10:41 PM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink

I spotted this story over at kuro5hin, pointing to an editorial by Chuck Baldwin, a conservative Baptist minister who's angry at the direction the Republican Party is taking. The original article is an interesting read. I really like this quote:

It also appears painfully obvious to me that in order to sit at the king's table, the Religious Right is willing to compromise any principle, no matter how sacred. As such, it has become a hollow movement. Sadly, the Religious Right is now a movement without a cause, except the cause of advancing the Republican Party.

Beyond that, the Religious Right is actively assisting those who would destroy our freedoms. On the whole, the Religious Right comports with those within the Bush administration and within the Republican Party who, in the name of "fighting terrorism," are actually terrorizing constitutional protections of our liberties.

It does seem that a lot of conservative voices are starting to appear with objections to the way the Republicans are running their party. I wonder how this will affect their unity over the next four years.

Posted by Ben at 1:38 AM in Who Are The Republicans? | Permalink