Members of Party A are in control of everything in your state- They've got the Governership, the Lieutenant Governorship, all other statewide office, the Supreme Court, majorities in both houses of the legislature, both seats in the United States Senate, and they received 60% of the vote for the US House.
Party A does not have a majority in the US House delegation.
The lines for your state were drawn by three FEDERAL judges.
Members of Party B in both the State House and the Senate have fled the state in order to block quorums.
Party B's members used what amounts to illegal campaign contributions to flee.
But that's not all there is. Party B (Democrats) claims that the Republicans are being controlled by Tom DeLay, so that he can become more powerful in Washington. They also claim that they are standing up for Texans' rights. That claim, however, is proven completely untrue when the day after they fled, the Austin American- Statesman ran a photograph of Austin- area Senator Gonzalo Barrientos speaking to a consultant for the national Democratic Party. You can beleive that they were talking about football scores if you want, but it is clear that they were talking strategy.
Now the Democrats are calling the Republicans racist. Anyone that knows the Democrats, knows that this is a classic smear they use. Whenever you disagree with someone, say that you saw them marching with the KKK, and you've won. This is extremely disappointing, as it takes attention away from legitimate debate, and I am sure that the Democrats are not guiltless when it comes to racism. No American should stand for such nonsense.
Another thing that liberals in Texas claim is that the Legislature should have taken care of redistricting in 2001. They would have. Had the then- Democrat controlled House done something.
What, then, is my solution for bringing the Democrats back? Simple. Gov. Rick Perry should call a press conference and announce that if the Democrats aren't back in Austin in four hours, he will declare all of their seats vacated. "What if they don't beleive him?" you may be asking. When he announces this, he should pick a random runaway senator and declare his or her seat vacated right there at the press conference.
But we shouldn't stop there. Everyone that went to Albequerque or Ardmore needs to be kicked out of office. Democrat or Republican, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again. Otherwise, whenever either party doesn't like something, they might decide to spend a month in Mexico.
