It’s time to admit that I’m a member of the Democratic Party. There…I said it and I feel much better. The three or four people who read my column are probably saying, “I’m not surprised.” Others would probably be shocked to think that right here in the middle of Tea Bag land there exists even one member of that “other” party. Still others may be apoplectic over the fact that someone would mention the D-word, much less admit to being a D-word.
It is complicated being a Democrat. The strength of the Democratic Party is its diversity. We Democrats come in all shapes, sizes, colors and creeds. Politically we run the gamut from liberal to conservative. We look out for the little guy. The Democratic Party is the party of inclusion. The weakness of the Democratic Party is its diversity. Wherever you find two Democrats discussing an issue (if you can find two Democrats in Erath County) you’ll hear at least three different opinions. The Democratic Party is the party of confusion.
To simply say I’m a Democrat does not begin to describe my political philosophy. There are many kinds of Democrats. There are your Yellow-Dog (Liberal) Democrats who would "vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican." Then there are your Blue-Dog (Conservative) Democrats. These Democrats are more bipartisan and even occasionally cross over and vote Republican. I used to be a Blue Dog Democrat. I voted for Ronald Reagan …twice. I haven’t voted for a Republican since, but, then again, there hasn’t been a Republican like Ronald Reagan since.
In recent years, I’ve moved a little to the left, politically, somewhere between a Blue and Yellow Dog. If you mix blue and yellow you get green, so I guess that makes me a Green Dog Democrat. I thought I was very clever coming up with the term Green Dog, but when I googled it I got 1.6 million hits. I even found reference to Orange-Dog Democrats. I have no idea what they’re about, but we Democrats certainly are a colorful bunch of curs. Regardless of my Democratic colors, Tea Baggers will always consider me a bugged-eyed, frothing-at-the-mouth liberal. I’m not, but that’s okay. If they want to hang a liberal sign around my neck, I’ll wear it proudly.
I’ve rambled on for four paragraphs now and haven’t yet begun to talk about my usual topic: education. What does my being a Democrat have to do with education? In a word… nothing. Education should not be a partisan issue. It doesn’t matter if you are conservative or liberal, or a Republican or Democrat (of any color), education is an issue we should all agree on. The future of our state depends on a first class public education system.
Many fellow Texans seem to agree. A survey, conducted in July by the non-partisan group The Texas Poll, found that 90% of Texans agree that public schools need more funding from the state. This number is up from 88% from a similar survey conducted a year ago. The same survey found that 85% of Texans say that the Legislature did not make education a priority in their last session. (Please excuse my lack of professionalism, while I take a moment to insert the word “Duh!” at this point.) The survey also found the 75% of Texans say that Lawmakers should not have cut funding to public education at all.
Given that Texas is 50-60% Republican, I’d say that the Texas Poll survey supports my assertion that support for public education crosses all party and ideological boundaries.
I have admitted to being a Democrat, at the risk of great public scorn, to make a point. If there was one good, pro-education, Republican candidate out there, I would vote for him or her in a New York minute. Unfortunately, I don’t see one; certainly not our two current legislators. Both our State Senator and Representative voted to cut $5.4 from public schools and also voted away many teachers’ rights. They say they were being “fiscally responsible,” and had to cut school funding to cover a $27 billion dollar deficit. It’s a lie.
Both our lawmakers helped create this massive deficit (they blame it on the economy; another lie) so that they would have an excuse to cut school funding. Why do they want to cut school funding? Money. I have said it many times before, the name of the game is privatization. Public schools have been set up to fail so that lawmaker can funnel public funds to private schools to line private pockets. (By the way, a charter school is just a private school on the public dole.)
Unfortunately, the outlook is bleak. If Republicans are running the show in the next legislature, the devastation to public schools will be catastrophic. It only there were a few good Democrats to stand against them. Hmmmmmm.
