The Texas House voted Wednesday to move forward with a new congressional map – as Democrats continued to seek ways to resist.
The vote for the map on a second reading was 88-52. The vote on a third and final reading was also 88-52.
The Texas House voted Wednesday to move forward with a new congressional map – as Democrats continued to seek ways to resist.
The vote for the map on a second reading was 88-52. The vote on a third and final reading was also 88-52.
I hear this a lot, and part of me understands the sentiment. But it’s important to keep in mind that these are state level politicians, not national. Representing their districts is a part time job. Most of them have jobs like attorney, doctor, business owner employing other people, etc. To stay absent would mean not only leaving these responsibilities, but it’s also leaving their spouses and kids. On top of that the state government started imposing $500/day fines. Then they sued and froze the accounts of Beto O’Rourke’s fundraiser to help them meet their expenses (that was just overturned by a judge this afternoon).
When it became clear that other states were willing to redraw their maps to cancel out Texas’s naked power grab, it changed the calculus. They achieved the objective of drawing attention to the issue and they got other states to commit to action so that even if Texas redraws the map, it won’t matter on a national level. They’ve already paid significant personal cost. How much should they be expected to pay? Should their families/clients/patients/employees also suffer?
I don’t know that there’s a right answer. Maybe this is the sort of tough call that defines real rebellions from performative ones. I do think that it’s easy to criticize from a distance because for most of us the principles and ideas are abstract. But for them the costs are already being felt in concrete ways.
Democrats can not say that democracy is under threat and then make excuses for why they NEED to help kill democracy.
We are getting tired of these exuces
It’s been 50 years of this now, somehow the dems’ hands are always tied.
We don’t believe the excuses anymore
Speaking in a more meta-context, this is exactly it in the political world. In playing politics, you gotta play the political game. There are plenty of things to criticize the dems for, but man do most people in semi-recent history tend to oversimplify things. It’s just not as simple as throwing a filibuster at ‘the other side’ every now and then, you’ve gotta consider political capital, optics, legal maneuvers, precedence, etc. If you run up on the congressional floor and decide to filibuster all on your own with no support, you’re just a jackass wasting everyone’s time, likely harming your own cause in the process. Politics isn’t speeches back and forth with some money thrown around, it’s about building and wisely wielding social power. That includes knowing how to build solidarity with others in other constituencies.
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Excellent reply
I will always appreciate the nuanced take on things. No matter the subject. So often people are so vapidly polarized on seemingly every topic under the sun, so it’s refreshing to see this. Thank you.
Are these not desperate times?
Nothing that exists, does so without first passing through the framework of nuance.
If you’re not willing to sacrifice your freedom so that many more may have it, it’s just a performance rebellion. They get credit when they start being behind bars for their convictions. The rest of us aren’t getting that luxury. We’ve already seen that concessions don’t get us anything in return. Every inch you give them is another inch they’ve taken.
Chairforce One really showing up to critique texas state dems. These aren’t US senators. This is the minor party in state house where as far as I know they haven’t held majority in decades.
The stunt worked about as well as it could. they got media coverage and Newsom displayed a counterplan.
I for sure ain’t paying their fees. I doubt some billionaire did either.
Lolol. That’s a new one for me. Yoink!
Maybe if you stopped sucking Dem dick so hard we could actually get something done besides a one week delay. Thanks for all your help, it’s done so much. Cus you’ve been out there fighting and raising awareness, not just jerking yourself off in an echo chamber online, right?
I’m not claiming I did anything, which is the correct response when you’ve done nothing. Not acting like I’m fucking V for Vendetta when I caved at the first sign of resistance.
Find me in 5 years so I can laugh harder at you. We’ll see where the Dems are then.
Thank you major general of the chair force for your salient movie to reality comparison. I’ll report back in 5 years so you can jack yourself off about how right you were, that’s whats important here.
What are you doing?
This is a Tu Quoque argument and is a type of ad hominem attack. It does nothing to counter his argument that the Democrats are useless and tries to redirect the discussion into an attack on him instead.
It’s a fallacy.
Not acting like I’m rebelling when I’m not actually doing anything. Wanna try again? Remind me how that vote went again? They’re rebellion amounted to… what exactly? Oh yeah, a week delay.
So yeah, you get credit for the things you do. They did next to nothing. They aren’t rebellion leaders. That title belongs to someone else, not them.
The math is simple: when presented with obstacles that would hurt them personally, they surrendered. They were all talk until there were consequences and then backed down. That’s not any definition of rebellion leader I’ve ever heard.
Sorry you may have forgotten to include what you are specifically doing to help move the needle. That’s probably the most important bit here to show how you are leading by example
Again, I’m not claiming anything for myself. I’m saying you get a title when you earn it and they haven’t.
But go ahead and be an obtuse dickwad. WHaT aRe YoU dOInG?!? Hurr durr
Correct, you’re as useless as you claim others to be.
Only an obtuse dickwad would cry about others while doing absolutely nothing themselves
It’s a convenient argument for people who like the status quo, since they don’t have to do anything to get everything they want, but can use it as a cudgel against anyone who wants better.
The obtuse dickwad thing to do would be blindly defending public servants for failing to do their constitutionally mandated duty, and acting like a random civilian has the same obligations in a democracy. What are YOU doing about this? It seems like you’re making excuses for fascists and running cover for the collaborators.
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