Burnt Orange Report

Editorial: The Year of Change

By Phillip Martin

"Our responsibility, as people who are active in politics, is to change the minds of the disinterested and show them that government can be good again."

Change is hard. People work hard to keep the jobs they have, and even harder to seek new and better employment. Family members get sicker, and many constantly struggle to get better. Parents worry about an increasingly dangerous world of sex, drugs, and crime, while children awkwardly yet inevitably grow into society’s newest generation.

We experience countless changes in a year, and the changes in our personal lives often dwarf our cares and concerns for changes in our social and political lives. For people like me – and for many of you who are reading this – the question of how to motivate those who aren’t habitually engaged in politics is daunting, even after a year like 2005.

Since the 2004 November elections, President Bush has proposed a failed social security plan, overseen a horrific search and rescue operation in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and threatened to veto a bill that would ban torture. Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff has been indicted for leaking the name of a CIA agent to the press, and Tom Delay has been indicted for criminally conspiring to send illegal corporate contributions into the 2002 state elections here in Texas. Meanwhile, in our own backyard, Governor Perry and the legislative leadership failed three times this year to solve the public school finance crisis that continues to plague our state.

Despite the cronyism that has permeated state and national politics, there is no guarantee that people will vote for change next year. Our responsibility, as people who are active in politics, is to change the minds of the disinterested and show them that government can be good again. Government – when in the hands of responsible leaders – can make change easier for that person who is struggling to find a job, or for those parents that worry about their child’s education, or for that family in need of quality, affordable health care.

How do we inspire change? My idea is pretty simple, and I'm sure it's borrowed from others before me, but I felt it merited mention as we embark on this year of change. Here it is:

Educate. Energize. Elect.

First, we must educate the general public about our policies and our candidates. For the last three years, we have talked to Texans about the problems facing public education in Texas, and why our plan will bring real improvements to our schools. As a result, we convinced a bipartisan majority of state lawmakers to sign on to our education plan. We must educate the people of Texas about all of our policies and show them a viable alternative to the current slate of government leaders.

Secondly, we must energize grassroots efforts throughout each and every community in Texas. We are not the party with the most money, and we're not going to be for some time. We are, however, the party that appeals most to people my age, many of whom are eager to work on political campaigns for little-to-no money – if they believe in the cause. We must energize students and communities and remember that government doesn't belong to a small group of folks in the back room; it belongs to everybody.

Finally, we must elect leaders that will fight to change the way we do things here in Texas. Some changes should move us back to the way things were, like when the state funded fifty percent of public education. Other changes should move us forward, to a Texas that is willing to admit we aren't the greatest state in the union – in terms of education, in terms of health care for children, in terms of equal civil rights for every person – and improve ourselves accordingly. We must elect strong, viable leaders and build a majority willing to embrace the changes necessary to make Texas great again.

Educate. Energize. Elect. So long as we commit ourselves to those three goals, and put aside the one thing that can drown them all – our own, selfish ego – I believe we can bring more people to the polls and change Texas for the better. That's what I'm going to do, anyways.

How about you?