| In early September, a colleague and I were fortunate enough to spend a day with Chris Bell as unofficial chauffeurs. It was such a high to ride along with the man that I believed represented the Democratic party's only hope for a change in Texas politics in 2007, since I had long given up on the dream of attaining a legislative majority. In the next County over that very same day, Rick Perry was presiding over the grand opening of the 121 toll road.
Recent Republican efforts to essentially zig-zag our state with such toll roads truly embody the Texas GOP's politics. I was laughing with a friend the other day about how 121 can be seen as a perfect metaphor for Republican policies of fast-tracking, undermining, and underachieving.
For example, four months after its grand opening, the highway's construction is less than 50% completed. Furthermore, for several Counties at a time, this road stretches without the faintest sign of a toll booth. And yet somehow Texans who claim to have never driven on the road are allegedly receiving bills from the Texas Turnpike Authority asking them to pay for passing through the 121 tolls. In fact, I even received one of such bills, and though it was only for $0.80, the fact is that I was charged for a service that doesn't even exist.
Here in Denton County, you can expect such wacky government. Republican officials have cut funding for school programs and libraries and have invested in wasteful, expensive, building projects. They hang tight to that last bastion of Republican Neo Conservatism that has in the rest of the country been recognized as a hypocrisy of fraud, greed, and intolerance.
That is why in November, while the nation celebrated the Democratic revolution that had swept Congress, most of Texas, including this area, felt that victory was bittersweet. For we knew that this generation of the Republican base would take a final stand here in Texas, and the task of overcoming it in the coming years will be extremely difficult. We are truly living in the Red, and that what makes our task so important. I believe it is imperative that we always keep this discussion going, moving forward in deliberation and cooperation, to find unity in those values that unite us, to create strength through the marketplace of ideas. As a new writer for BOR, I look forward to contributing to this ongoing conversation, and hope that my perspective from in the Red will be of some benefit to you. |
