Burnt Orange Report

About Byron

By Byron LaMasters

I've meant to do this for a while, so here it is. This post is similar to a post on my old livejournal page entry, here. It will remain permanently linked on the index page under the "about us" heading under Byron L.

My name is Byron LaMasters. I'm 20 (21 on 7/20/03), and I consider myself a "pragmatic progressive Democrat". Both of my parents are from Illinois, but I was born in San Antonio, so I'm legitimately a native Texan. I'm proud of the label most of the time, but I can't say that I'm proud of the leadership of my state. I grew up (since I was four) in suburban north Dallas. My dad is a doctor, and my mom is a teacher. My dad is basically a libertarian Republican, while my mom is more of an independent Democrat. They might argue with those labels, but they're fair enough. When I was younger, I sided with my dad. I remember him giving my mom a hard time for voting for Bill Clinton in 1992, and again in 1996. I voted for George Bush in my elementary school's mock election in 4th grade in 1992 (although Ross Perot was the "cool" candidate to vote for). In 1996, I remember joining my dad in his interest in Steve Forbes (remember in 1996, Forbes was the "flat tax candidate", as opposed to 2000 when he ran as the "flat tax, religious wingnut candidate"). In 1998, however, I was in high school, and had become an avid reader of the New York Times. When I finally learned more about the two major parties, and learned about politics independent of my parent's biases, I found myself agreeing with the Democratic Party about 95% of the time. I remember quietly cheering for Democrats in the 1998 midterm elections (I was 16), and opposing impeachment later that year. I remember shaking hands with (now, Senator) Chuck Shumer in 1998 outside Yankee Stadium when my family visited New York that year.

I've been involved with Democratic Party politics since I turned 18 in 2000. I first volunteered for the Regina Montoya Coggins campaign that year (she ran against Rep. Pete Sessions). I was inspired to get involved upon hearing that Pete Sessions said in a town hall meeting that he "didn't represent the gays" (Yes, I'm openly gay, and have been since my senior year in high school.). At the time, Sessions 5th district included the Oak Lawn area of Dallas which has a large gay population. I got involved and volunteered probably 20-30 hours a week for the Coggins campaign. While I didn't admit it at the time, politics was the primary reason that I quit football my senior year in high school. She lost, but I learned a lot in that campaign about voter registration, voter education, etc. I also co-authored a pro-Gore opinion piece for my school paper. You can read it here.

After the 2000 election I was angry, and got involved in protests in support of the recount. I founded "Trust the People-Dallas" to protest Bush's "selection" by the Supreme Court. The webpage is still online, here if you're interested. While I lost interest in the site and organization eventually, the effort earned me lots of friends and contacts in Dallas politics that have meant a lot to me. I won a citizenship award my from my high school for my involvement, as among other things, I co-founded a "politics club" at my high school, and registered those in the senior class who had turned 18 by Election Day. I remember asking to take Election Day off from school (it was excused), as I volunteered from 5 AM until 7 PM for Regina Montoya Coggins and other Democrats.

I decided to go to college at UT-Austin in the fall of 2001 and major in government. I immediately got involved with the University Democrats. The leadership was mostly seniors, and I had the opportunity to run unopposed for Public Relations Director the Spring Semester (2002). I then ran for President for the fall 2002 semester, and won. I served through May 2003, when I declined to run for re-election. The job was rewarding, but also stressful at times. I think that I did my best. My best memory of the experience was introducing former governor Ann Richards at our October 2002 GOTV rally. The worst, was probably the next week when we went from losing "victory party" to losing "victory party" on election night. The current President, Haley Greer, is doing a great job. I currently serve as President Emeritus, and I'm a Junior at UT. I'm also involved in the Texas Young Democrats, and serve on their board as a regional director and as the vice-chair of the college caucus. I'll write more about my experiences as University Democrats President, but this ought to do for now.

As for religion, I was raised Presbyterian, and I currently consider myself a non-practicing Christian (meaning I go to Christmas and Easter services, and maybe a few more with my parents throughout the year - I have never felt alienated or uncomfortable in the church, yet it is not at this time a significant part of my life). I grew up in suburban north Dallas in a traditional family. I was an only child. As I said, I consider myself a pragmatic, progressive Democrat. By that, I mean that I will usually vote for progressive Democrats (that are electable) in the primary when I have a chance (although in Texas oftentimes our choices are limited), and I vote straight ticket Democrat in the general election. I have never voted for a Republican. I experimented in voting for some Greens in the 2000 election (although I did vote for Gore), but I have not since, and I have no plans to in the future, as I believe that Ralph Nader, and the Green Party are partially responsible for Al Gore not being our President today (I'll go into my feelings about this some other time), and I am still unwilling to forgive them for it. I tend to call Greens, "Grepublicans" as I believe that the Green Party, and Republican Party have similar goals... getting Republicans elected, and hurting Democrats.

I consider myself rather liberal on social issues. I support abortion rights in all cases (I see it as a women's health issue. I don't necessarily encourage abortion, but I believe that it should always be an option.) and gay marriage (Although gay marriage is an issue that should be pushed a little bit at a time. Vermont-style Civil Unions and non-discrimination laws ought to be the priorities of gay rights advocates for now). I support legalization, and government regulation of marijuana (legalization of other drugs ought to be studied, although I don't necessarily advocate their legalization), lowering of the drinking age, and age of consent to 17, ending all publicly funded "abstinence-based sex education", and requiring all public schools to teach sexual education in a comprehensive manner. I strongly support public funding for NPR, the arts and humanities, museums, libraries, etc. I oppose private school vouchers, school prayer, required moments of silence in school, displaying the Ten Commandments in courtrooms, an anti-flag burning amendment, and funding of faith-based programs. I support a moratorium on capital punishment, not because I see it as inherently immoral, but rather because I believe that it is unfairly applied. I have mixed feelings about abolishing capital punishment. I also have mixed feelings on gun control. I've evolved from being very pro-gun control and pro-gun registration, to being much more libertarian on the issue. I support the assault weapons ban, and automatic trigger locks on guns, but beyond that, I basically hold libertarian views on the issue. I've essentially evolved to Howard Dean's view on the issue, and he has an 'A' rating with the NRA. Scary. If law abiding citizens want to buy lots of guns, I'm all for it. Laws limiting the number of guns that an individual can purchase in a month (week/year/day, etc.) are silly. As for order, I have participated in anti-war protests, but I think that the people that try to get themselves arrested are just plain stupid. I believe that civil obedience, while well intentioned, often has a negative effect in shaping public opinion.

On an economic level I consider myself slightly more moderate, but still center-left. I support rolling back all of Bush's tax cuts, a nationalized health care system (I strongly support the CHIP program), public preschool funding for all children, and free college education at state universities for students who have a B-average or better in high school. I agree with Republicans that local school districts that are doing a good job, ought to have more flexibility in how they spend their money. I support a state income tax in Texas to solve our budget crisis. I support a federal balanced budget amendment (with a clause that would allow for a deficit with a 2/3 majority), NAFTA, WTO and expanding free trade, but with strict labor and environmental standards. I support a living wage. I support the Kyoto Protocol, and believe that the government should offer strong incentives to automakers to make vehicles that use significantly less gas. We must become energy independent in this country. I strongly oppose drilling in ANWR, but the government ought to create incentives to generate alternative sources of energy.

I consider myself a multilateralist on foreign policy. I believe that the United States ought to fully fund our share of the United Nations, and work through the UN and NATO to solve international disputes that do not directly threaten our national security (like Iraq). I generally supported Clinton's intervention in Yugoslavia and Bush's intervention in Afghanistan, but opposed Bush's war in Iraq. Click here for the statement that I made in my capacity as University Democrats President regarding the war in Iraq. We should work within the United Nations to rebuild Iraq. The United States ought to engage in a Marshall Plan type rebuilding of Iraq and Afghanistan. I support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and generally consider myself pro-Israel (although not as pro-Israel as many of my Jewish friends would probably like). However, I also consider myself anti-Likud, anti-Shas and anti-Sharon. I think that the approach that Sharon's government has taken has failed miserably. Even so, I hold Yassir Arafat in even lower regard. Peace in the Middle-East will require three leaders (American, Israeli and Palestinian) committed to peace in the region. Several years ago, Barak and Clinton came very close to that goal, but neither Sharon nor Bush share their predecessor's commitment to peace. Their needs to be new, forceful leadership among the Palestinians for peace to be achieved as well. Hopefully, we'll see that happen soon.

At this point, I support Howard Dean for President. Having said that, I do have some reservations about him, and I will discuss them in future entries. I would be fine with Edwards or Kerry as the nominee, and I have been very impressed with Wesley Clark. I think that Clark would make an excellent Vice President or Secretary of State for any Democrat. If Clark runs for President, I would take a serious look at him. I think that Gephardt is old news, even though I think that he's come up with some good ideas, I have a hard time forgiving him for complete lack of any unified message from congressional Democrats in the 2002 campaign. Joe Lieberman is a decent Senator, but we won’t beat Bush by running Bush-lite. I like Bob Graham as a Senator, and I could see him as a good candidate for Vice President. The rest are a bunch of spares, and aren’t really worth taking too seriously.

So, I decided to take a test to see where others saw me as standing. I think that its relatively accurate, but take it for what it's worth (far left = -10, far right = 10). I do have a tendency to take these often, and the numbers fluctuate from (-3) to (-6) depending on how I answer the questions. I'm thinking of starting to take it every couple of months and track my political compass over time:

The Political Compass:

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.97

And here's what I scored on the Libertarian Party Quiz:

World's Smallest Political Quiz:

According to your answers, your political philosophy is left-liberal.
Left-Liberal
Left-Liberals prefer self-government in personal matters and central decision-making on economics. They want government to serve the disadvantaged in the name of fairness. Leftists tolerate social diversity, but work for economic equality.

Your Personal Self-Government Score is 90%.
Your Economic Self-Government Score is 20%.

And here's what I got on Politopia:

I am a Southerner - an egalitarian - "which means that you advocate an increased role for the government in the economic realm. You are more or less pleased the government's role in the personal realm".

And the Pew Research Center:

I am a liberal Democrat.

Liberal Democrats:
COMMENTS: Extremely tolerant on social issues. Champion individual rights and a range of liberal causes. Despite steadfast support for Democratic candidates, many Liberal Democrats prefer to call themselves Independents. Most favor having a third major party.
DEFINING VALUES: Pro-choice and support civil rights, gay rights, and the environment. Critical of big business. Very low expression of religious faith. Most sympathetic of any group to the poor, African-Americans and immigrants. Highly supportive of the women's movement.
WHO THEY ARE: Most highly educated group (50% have a college degree). Least religious of all typology groups. One-third never married.