Why the GOP Occupied Texas II

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Though Texas is now thought of as a 'red' state, it was not always so. From January 15, 1874 to January 16, 1979 every Texas governor was Democratic. Moreover, most of them could be described as 'progressive Democrats'.

This topic has come up as Texas is now thought of as GOP occupied territory, i.e, a 'red' state. If this is, indeed, the case, the GOP had best be kind to Texas. A cursory survey of the red-blue map of the U.S. indicates that Texas is the only state among GOP/red states to have electoral votes in two digits. As a result, Texas may be essential to the GOP which seems hell-bent on self-destruction, courting irrelevance, skirting eventual oblivion.

Under the Constitution, the office of President is supposed to represent the 'people'. If that is the case, then WHY are Presidents elected by states and appointed 'electors'? The final 'vote count' is watered down to the extent it may be irrelevant.
There are several remedies but one is most urgent: the abolition of a relic called the Electoral College! What IS it good for? Absolutely NOTHING! (apologies to Edwin Starr)

There are, in fact, various methods by which a popular vote could and would allow the people to elect their representatives directly, thus cutting out the middle man. The office of President is, under the Constitution, responsible directly to the people --not the states. It is, therefore, absurd that the holder of that office be elected by any method other than a direct election of the people to whom the President is ultimately responsible.

That, of course, is why the GOP will oppose this proposal!

The question is: how responsive is the government to the will of the people? It is self-evident that public officials should achieve public office by way of elections that most accurately reflect the will of the people. Otherwise --why have elections? The most egregious outrages against this principle include election thefts as, in fact, happened in Florida. That is, in itself, an outrage. It might have been predicted that the only beneficiary of this outrage --George W. Bush --turned out to have been among the very worst Presidents in U.S. history. That alone is outrageous and even more so as it followed Bush v Gore, the very worst SCOTUS decision in U.S. history.

Questions remain; solutions are scarce. Nevertheless, there must be a better way. The good news is: there is a better way: the President could be elected directly by the people. Party machines capable of 'stealing' elections may be bypassed, made irrelevant. An election can be made scientific, the tabulation of votes made accurate and the casting of votes themselves made more representative of the 'will of the people'.

I have in mind a direct election of the office of President by all of the people. This has the advantage of getting powerful 'state machines' out of the 'national election' business save for the primaries. The office of President --responsible directly to the people --should, therefore, be elected by the people, not the States. The 'electoral college; should, therefore, be abolished and good riddance!

Why was Texas targeted for occupation by the GOP?

That's easy, covered in 'Election Grabbing 101', first semester! With 38 electoral votes, Texas is, by far the plum in the GOP bag o' dirty tricks. If Texas should turn blue, the GOP is FINISHED. Look at the other 'red' states with electoral votes ranging from 3 to 16. I will put it this way --the GOP needs Texas a hell of a lot more than Texas needs the fucking carpetbaggers of the GOP.

Under the current system, some votes are worth more than others. For example, a single vote in a state having very few electoral votes (Rhode Island with 3 electoral votes) is not worth nor should be worth as much as a single vote in a large state like Texas with some 38 electoral votes or California with 55. At last, 'Southern Strategy' EXPLOITS the present system and is in fact, a huge argument in favor of the kind of reforms I propose.

ALL the people!

Currently, typically minorities are inadequately represented. That's the point behind direct elections. Cut out the middle man; stop 'watering down' the vote. Prior to re-districting by one Tom DeLay, Texas had not been the solid 'red state' that millions now believe it to be. For a period of some 100 years, for example, EVERY TX governor had been Democratic. Some --like the Furgusons --were VERY PROGRESSIVE. It was a better state for it.

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Post Cards from the GOP Wasteland

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

During the catastrophic regimes of Bill Clements, George Bush Jr and Rick Perry --Texas came to be called the gulag state. What the GOP has in mind for the rest of the nation, was very nearly accomplished in Texas. Under criminal and incompetent GOP management, Texas was very nearly reduced to third-world status --an outcome resulting from Bush/Perry neglect and disdain for public education, the only education that those not born to wealth have a chance of acquiring. The 'elites' would deny you even that!

As a result, justice in Texas is applied inequitably. Minorities --primarily black and hispanic --are disproportionately represented in the Texas gulag system and under represented in the State legislature, the various city councils, and the state judicial system where 'justice' is often dispensed inequitably.

For example, blacks represent just 12% of the Texas population but comprise 44% of the total incarcerated population. Whites make up about 58% of Texas' total population, but only 30% of the prison and jail population.
Clearly --the GOP does not care about minorities. Neglect of this type is never 'benign'. At some point, when a vast majority of minorities are determined --statistically --to have been 'targeted' the word 'genocide' may be accurate and appropriate.

A recent Pew study fingers a trend that had been embraced by Bush's Texas --the rapid outsourcing of prison construction and management throughout the US. Over this period, CRIME RATES HAVE RISEN.

It was under the incompetent rule of then Governor George W. Bush that Texas became known as the gulag state of Texas for having turned a social problem into another GOP 'profit center', scam, get rich quick scheme. It became just another way in which GOP blood-suckers would continue to feed at the public trough. As a result, convicts are no longer people but a source of cheap, slave labor. Guilt or innocence is of no concern to robber barons of corporate Texas, corporate AmeriKa. It is an Orwellian nightmare of waste, graft, and fascism in which no one is held to account.

To be expected, the GOP blames its many victims. That is typical, symptomatic of the U.S. right wing. It was predicted by both Carl Jung, psychologist, and Hanah Arendt who founded the New School in New York. Jung said that some 30 percent of every population is certifiably psychotic and utterly without empathy. Hanah Arendt, who covered the war crimes trial of Herr Adoph Eichmann, arrived at some conclusion with respect to 'evil'. She described 'evil' as 'banal'. In both Jung and Dr. Gustav Gilbert 'evil' is always caused and/or accompanied by an 'utter lack of empathy' [see Carl Jung and Gustav Gilbert].

It is interesting that those studied seemed invariably to seek out an external validation, perhaps to assuage their increasing anxieties. For example, Republicans adored Ronald Reagan as Nazis adored Hitler. A Republican attending the GOP National Convention in Houston in the early 90s, swooned of Reagan: "...he made us feel good about ourselves"! During the Third Reich, Hitler had done precisely that for psychopaths and bigots!

The various governments of the United States are exempt or above similar criticisms. The most obvious example is the U.S. genocide against the many native populations that had settled the North American continent several thousands of years before the continent was known by Europeans to exist.

Many of these people had created advanced civilizations. The Mandans, for example, had built large cities from stable populations! The same is true of several western tribes who built permanent CITIES in the American west. Many ruins of these impressive cities still exist. I visited one and explored it. People still live in it though its construction most certainly pre-dates the arrival of the Spanish. It's called ACOMA. Literally a city in the sky, it looks like something from an Edgar Rice Burroghs story. The residents have a school, 'high-rise' adobe homes, an impressive church dating to the Spanish occupation.

And all of this was accomplished with no help whatsoever from 'Europeans'.
Another example of great intellect among the Native Americans is CHIEF JOSEPH BRANT of the Mohawks. He attended Moor's Charity School for Indians in Lebanon, Connecticut, mastered English and translated English works for distribution throughout his community. He read western history and literature and became an interpreter for an Anglican Missionary.

Another famous Native American Chief went to London. On 13 June 1892, the American Sioux Indian Chief, Long Wolf, was buried at Brompton Cemetery. On one of my many soujourns to London, I made it a point to find the cemetery on Brompton road where I paid my respects to the great Native American chief who is buried there.

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