(This is a response to the post I made on Monday updating the Craddick D's. It's definitely worth a read. - promoted by Phillip Martin)
In response to a previous post on the Craddick D's, I'd like to offer a different perspective. Tom Craddick is the single biggest roadblock to a more progressive agenda ever seeing the light of day in Texas! For example, if you believe in health care for kids and the elderly, more funding for public and higher education, progressive and reasonable tax policy that benefits the middle class, and a cleaner environment, then your single biggest obstacle is Tom Craddick. When a member votes for Craddick, he or she votes for the person who is the single biggest roadblock to our core democratic values. What they do afterwards is almost irrelevant, because they just empowered the guy who will NOT allow good, meaningful things to happen. They can vote all day to fully restore CHIP, but when they start the session voting for the guy who will block it, then the game is rigged before it ever begins. The end result is a partial restoration of CHIP (which Craddick had to do anyway since his R's were getting killed at the polls on that issue). I would argue that for a handful of the biggest issues facing the state, the single biggest vote you cast is the vote for Speaker; in many ways it's the only one that matters since it dictates so much of what will inevitably happen on the House Floor. You can't exactly say, "I voted for Hitler, but damn if I didn't fight him all the way after that". Give me a break.
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