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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (12007)	10/13/2003 4:10:36 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793801

I just summarized the Texas Republican platform to my husband. It made him very happy, and now he feels hope again. ;^)

To: LindyBill who wrote (12007)	10/13/2003 11:01:26 AM
From: FaultLine	Respond to of 793801

Hi LB, But the problem is that I'm not sure they realize what their party is becoming. The heart and soul of Republican grass roots activism can be found pretty easily: it's in Texas. The New Model radical right took over the Texas Republican party a decade ago and elected George Bush governor. They have since taken over the entire state and propelled one of their own to the presidency and another to leadership of the House of Representatives. They bring a messianic fervor to their task, and after successfully taking over the second biggest state in the union their sights are now set on the entire country. This is not a fringe group. It is the biggest, most active, most energetic, and most determined segment of the Republican party today. About a decade or so ago, Religious Right organized a "stealth" campaign to work from the bottom up, taking every possible office: city councils, school boards, commissioners, and the nominating apparatus for as many states as possible. Slow and steady would win the day as all the levers of power slowly came under their control. If this were just a lunatic fringe we could all have a good laugh over their manifesto and then go out for a beer. But you can't dismiss it so easily. Texas-style conservatism has already put George Bush, Tom DeLay, and Karl Rove in charge of the country, and it is very much the future of the Republican party. And for all the conservatives reading this: I know this doesn't necessarily represent what you believe. But whether you like it or not, this kind of thinking does represent a very strong, very fast growing segment of the leadership of your party, and this is why liberals think the Republican party is just plain scary these days. We know that this is their agenda, we know that they really truly want to do this stuff, and we know that they are steadily gaining influence. Yup, whether you like it or not, this kind of thinking does represent a very strong, very fast growing segment of the leadership of your party. Good luck. --fl

To: LindyBill who wrote (12007)	10/13/2003 12:20:20 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793801

This Texas Republican Party platform and its contrast with California is interesting. These folks have had control of the Texas party, I think, from the middle 90s, though folk who live in Texas now would know more. I do recall reading about serious struggles within the party and I think some of them were over whether Kay Bailey Hutchison would get the senatorial nomination or not. These people opposed her. They have now gained control of the party apparatus and she, no doubt, has made a rather tense peace with them. These are clearly the same folk who can't get anyone elected in California but can get the party nomination for their folk, save, of course, the recall stuff. So, I guess the first order comparison is their ability to get their folk elected in Texas but not in California. But to do that comparison seriously it would be important to look at the way the Bush people managed their relations with them and what has happened since he left the governorship. My impression on the first is that (a) they considered them folk to manage rather than soul brothers/sisters and that knowledge was reciprocated; (b) an obvious part of the management style of the Bush people was to try to avoid contradicting them on issues which concerned them deeply and to be a bit more aggressive about this than the Reagan people were. Somewhere in there is a fascinating analysis someone needs to do with the tensions in the Bush family background--establishment east coast republican lineage--with these born agains. It is clearly a major aim of the Bush people to let as little space as possible get between themselves and the born agains. But there is the family background bit and, also, the need to keep the tent large enough to get reelected. To what degree does this sort of thinking in the Texas Rep Party reach out nationally? Well, it clearly is DeLay. And the degree to which this platform can be publicized as DeLay's aims for the country, the better for folk like me.