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Fun fact about Texas special sessions.
The governor exclusively gets to determine the agenda, so they can only do shit he wants them to do.
And since the legislature only meets every 2 years for a regular session, he has sole.power over what can be legislated more than 3/4 of the time.
And since the legislature only meets every 2 years for a regular session
What in the fuck?
That would probably change if Texas elected a democrat as governor.
That rule existed through many, many Democratic governors. Texas's famous redness is a recent phenomenon.
2003 was the first time that the GOP EVER had control of the Texas legislature. And in 2003, they changed voting requirements and gerrymandered the shit out of the state mid-cycle, leading the Democrats to flee the state (sound familiar).
Texas had never had a majority Republican delegation to the US House before the 2003 redistricting. In the 2004 mid-terms, the GOP won over 2/3rds of the seats.
Texas isn't very red. It's just that the GOP legitimately won a single election in 2002 and rigged the game ever since. That's why you must ALWAYS vote against the GOP in the general election, no matter how mediocre the Democratic candidate is.
But what if the democratic nominee is progressive like Mamdani? Should we still vote blue no matter who? And could you tell the DNC that.
Yes and yes.
Also, you tell the Dems how to act by changing out its leadership through more and more primaries.
Real question:
If the goal is to change out the Dem leadership through more and more primaries -
Then why not do the same with the GOP?
If that is the work that needs to be done, why should it be aimed at the Democrats instead of the GOP who are the real problem?
Why should we spend so much effort slowly reforming the good guys to do better instead of the same effort to just reform the bad guys?
The GOP is such a mess of Swiss Cheese that the second Trump isn't holding it together, anyone progressive could likely succeed there by just giving them what Trump lied about: better wages, inflation control, rent control, universal Healthcare. You know, actual progressive policies.
The entire conservative media system would eat itself without a political party to support, and it would be far better to split the GOP than the DNC with these candidates. (As the DNC already know how to do that themselves, clearly)
Honestly, if Dems are only effective once their leadership is changed, then maybe that effort would be better spent on changing it for the GOP as they are the real problem. Better Democrats means the same problems with the GOP. Better GOP means no more problems.
It really depends on where you live. Your primary vote is meaningless if that party can't win in the general election.
I'm in Texas where they do everything they can, legally and otherwise, to supress the Democratic vote. So I do vote in Republican primaries against MAGA Republicans.
If you live somewhere the Democrats win elections, then you need to vote in Democratic primaries.
Finely somedat freeeedum* fer Texas!
*Your experience may differ.
Whomst the fuck thought that was a good idea?! Wait the Texas revolutionaries were all fucking stupid.
Shitbag Texans being shitbag Texans. Earth keeps on turning, sun keeps on burning.
Just what these special sessions are meant for.
Go go Governor Hotwheels! You're handicapable while intentionally restricting aid and resources for others woohoo!
Wow, what a nice group of people. Definitely not genocidal inbred child rapists.
Just a reminder, Texas democratic reps had been on a quorum break preventing legislation from moving forward and they came back. This was preventable just like the redistricting. Yes, there is nuance to why they came back, but there was also the option not to come back because they knew more of this shit was coming down the pipeline.
They could have potentially stayed away longer but they couldn't stay away forever. At some point, this all has to come to a head. And this is not on them. They didn't create this legislation and are not the ones voting for it.
The anger should lie squarely on the Republican fucks who are making this happen without the will of the voters in many cases.
When someone leaves you no other option to prevent this kind of thing from moving forward, you do whatever you can to stop it. Virtue signaling for a few weeks then going back to business as usual while the steamroller keeps rolling over people as you tell it to stop isn't enough anymore.
Yeah, The Governor is the one to blame for this being on the agenda. Yes, the Republican reps voting in favor of this are to blame for supporting it, and so are the people who voted them in to start with when given the choice between a Republican and a Democrat. But the Democrats who just came back from the quorum break are also to blame because them not being present prevented these fucks from passing this stuff and god knows what else to come.
Its not the time to roll over and accept that fascism is coming while saying "well I didn't vote for it" fuck that defeatist attitue.
I am pissed at a lot of this, the situation sucks, "voting harder" isn't the solution here. Yeah, you as the electorate still need to vote in every election and Democratic Reps need to vote no or ammend everything they can, but if there are legal methods to stop this shit (like the quorum break) I expect my representatives to do that because its their fucking job. Saying, "well we tried" is what got us here in the first place and it won't get us out of where we are.
Was "live in exile from your home and state" in the job description or something they campaigned on? It's pretty clear that the D reps could have done more and that Texans need better outcomes from the legislature, but to blame the Dems for not doing more per se is overly reductive. Otherwise, anything less than continuously working to unconsciousness until nothing more is physically possible would still put them at fault, and that's hardly a fair expectation to be placed on any job, even an elected representative.
Your example of working to unconsciousness is overly reductive, as in this case it would actually accomplish nothing. Circumventing laws that are outright harmful by utilizing a tool at your disposal is a reasonable expectation.
By not doing so, there are years if not decades long repercussions for significant chunks of the population of Texas. Best case scenario now, the status quo is maintained in the federal house races. More of this godawful legislation is going to get rammed through the Texas Legislature now that they are back and since they are under protective custody now if something comes up they want to kill in process they can't leave again.
It's not their fault that the Governor is pushing these laws, its also not their fault that their Republican colleagues are voting for it. It is their fault for not following through until they had some other means of stopping the bleeding here. Voting no when there is no meaningful result produced doesn't get you a gold star.
Regardless of whether unconsciousness is actually the peak, if the claim is that D's are at fault for not sacrificing more of other aspects of their lives to achieve a better outcome in their jobs, better outcomes for their constituents, needs some other line to be drawn to avoid applying it all the way to the extremes. It may technically be a tool at their disposal, but that doesn't automatically make it a reasonable expectation; devoting every moment of their lives to their job is also technically at their disposal, but that can't be reasonably expected of anyone, regardless of how important the job is. I posit that whatever line one draws there is what the real issue is, not their failure to do better.
I don't disagree that they didn't actually accomplish anything here, and it's fair to say that deserves no accolades, but there is still a gap between actually helping and being at fault. They are less to blame than, and any rebuke should come after, any of the millions who voted for the R's pushing this plan, even accounting for being elected reps vs voters.