Democracy Begins at Home

Before we try to create democratic governments abroad, perhaps we should first preserve it in Texas. Don’t see much Republican support for that, however. Tom Delay wants the state’s congressional delegation to reflect that Republicans hold all statewide positions. This assumes the people of Texas are not bright enough to pull more than one lever on a ballot.

With a planned district that looks like Elbridge Gerry’s salamander after having been sentenced to the rack, one goal is to deny the more Democratic Austin meaningful representation.

"I don't care if Austin is divided eight ways as long as Doggett is gone," says Alan Sager, chairman of the Travis County Republican Party.

For those Conservatives that decry the liberalism run amok in our nation’s college faculty, Mr. Sager has taught constitutional law at the University of Texas in Austin.

Rick Perry, the Aggie with the perfect hair that replaced Dubya, has called a special session to do his master Delay’s bidding. With the Texas Rangers (and perhaps the Department of Homeland Security and any remaining divisions of the U.S. Army) staging a likely lock-down at the Texas, if not the Austin, border, expect a different kind of fireworks this time. It may be up to the state Senate to save the day (Although a populist rally led by supporter Willie Nelson would work wonders.)

Josh Marshall has the best collection of coverage on the involvement of the Department of Homeland Security in the tracking of the runaway legislators.