Maybe Major has some links to support his post. You still haven't given us your opinion on what Dewhurst did.
Your alleged expertise regarding the intricacies of this issue further illustrates my point. I would like everyone to quit clouding up this travesty with the underlying redistricting controversy. The foundations of a representative, democratic government are much weightier than the underlying details of this bill. The issue is simple - elected representatives who run across state lines for fear of losing a vote that, whether popular or not, is a perfectly legitimate, legal one, are selfish cowards who are thumbing their nose at all taxpayers, at the constitution, and at the entire democratic premise upon which our legislative process stands. I have written my representatives and will continue to do so, suggesting that some legislation be written to force these 'public servants' to act as their name implies. These people should not only be ashamed of themselves, but they should be held to face a jury of their taxpaying peers in court.
Tell us what is illegal about what they've done. You can call it cowardly, p***y, or whatever, but illegal? I don't think so.
I never said it was illegal. Calm down your emotions and re-read my posts. I said that I have contacted my representative asking him to please push to have a law invoked that makes such a breach of public duty illegal, as it well should be.
So, you want us to ignore the issue at hand. Agreed. Including the issue of minority representation. They are thumbing their nose at YOU (and the other Reps) while representing the taxpayers who elected them by using a rule in the constitution to exercise their rights under the legislative process you mention. Ditto. I feel exactly the same way about the behavior of the Republicans through this whole mess. It is the Reps who have wasted 3.4 million on this effort to subvert the traditions of redistricting and it is the Reps that will pay for it in the next election cycle.
And I have contacted MY representative to have them push to make it a law that redistricting is ONLY done in the timeframe specified by the constitution.
Sorry, took the quote mistakingly out of context. My emotions are quite calm, thank you for your concern. However, you may want to check your's.
So, you want us to ignore the issue at hand. Ignore in the sense that it's intricacies and details are not as important as the appallign behavior that it has spawned. Agreed. Including the issue of minority representation. Are you implying that minorities are better represented by representatives who flee to NM rather than fulfill their representative duties at legislative sessions? Maybe in the philosophical sense, this handful of egos believe that they are better representing their constituents, but that is literally impossible if they are not performing their jobs. And regardless, they are the MINORITY. By definition, they lose in a democracy sometimes. The quorum is not a tool to allow the minority to get its way, no matter how you attempt to reason that it is. They are thumbing their nose at YOU (and the other Reps) while representing the taxpayers who elected them by using a rule in the constitution to exercise their rights under the legislative process you mention. The constitution says that a legislator representing a miniority can prevent legislation from being passed by escaping the jurisdiction of the state and failing to report for their taxpayer-funded, sworn duties? No, it obviously does not. It says that laws cannot be passed without the presence of a quorum, and it assumes that legislators will not take it upon themselves to act in such a selfish manner as these democrats have done, an assumption that our forefathers would be disgusted to find can no longer be made. Ditto. I feel exactly the same way about the behavior of the Republicans through this whole mess. It is the Reps who have wasted 3.4 million on this effort to subvert the traditions of redistricting and it is the Reps that will pay for it in the next election cycle. Amazing that the "traditions of redistricting" are so much more important to democrats who have publicly lost control of this state's electorate, even more important apparently than the "traditions" of a democratic government and the "traditions" encompassed in their oath of office.
what did dewhurst do?? i didn't know my opinion was asked for! andy -- thanks for the debate. you're not going to change my mind on this...i think it's a joke. if the legislators went elsewhere in the state to avoid this, they would be rounded up and brought back...so to skirt that law and this responsiblity they go out of state. bush league. i think it's an absolute joke. but apparently i can't change your opinion that fleeing out of state to avoid a vote is not a good thing. so... CASE CLOSED
On both sides. The Reps have as much fault in this fiasco as the Dems. The minority party, not minorities like African Americans or homosexuals. You are right that it is not a tool to allow the minority to get its way, just a tool to ensure that the majority cannot ram anything they want down the throats of the minority. The minority party just wants a say in the process, a say they will not receive since the senate tradition of the blocker bill was suspended, along with the tradition of redistricting once each decade. They are performing their jobs by going to NM in order to see that the interest of Democrats is represented. I will believe this tripe when you produce some evidence that you know what the "forefathers" were thinking. I have always been taught that the quorum rule was partly there so that if the majority got too egregious, the minority would have a legislative tactic to use. First, as I have repeatedly stated, I am not a Democrat, I am an independant. The "traditions of redistricting" are important to me because RICK PERRY IS WASTING MY MONEY ON THIS POWER PLOY. I do not give money to either the Reps or Dems because I do not want them using MY MONEY, which Perry has decided to do with these special sessions. This should not be brought up until 2011 and every dollar spent on it is money that has been taken from me in higher insurance rates. I take home less money this year than I did last in part because Perry and DeLay have decided to waste my money on this garbage.
He bypassed the traditional Senate rule that requires a two-thirds vote to debate any bill. That's what provoked the Senators to bolt. Notice no one left during the original Special Session. I asked for your opinion at 12:26 this afternoon, then again at 12:57. And yes, you had posted in between those times.
mostly i just ignore your posts, you freaky tree-hugger! why was that done?? i'm not following...assuming the democrats had not already left, he could have had quorum and presumably the vote to debate...i'm not following the timing here.
i've looked at it before...i think you know that you and i have some strong disagreements on issues that are really important to me. i can't imagine us being in lockstep in the same political party. i don't think you'd want to be with me on that!
That's what I meant - sorry for wording it awkwardly. I believe by the definition of a democracy, you cannot have any representation, much less proper representation, if your elected representative is permitted to dodge duty upon a his political whim. A democracy cannot function if representatives have an option not to participate when they're voicing the minority opinion. This is a discussion board, not my doctoral thesis, so I apologize for my lack of evidence. I don't think it's too farfetched, however, to theorize that the forefathers of this democratic government assumed that the representatives elected by the taxpaying public were aware of the duty they owed to their constituents, and that they would respect the solemnity of that duty enough that they would not act in the fashion which we are currently witnessing. I don't think you've provided any evidence that the forefathers intended for legislators to be permitted to skirt the bounds of their state's constitutional jurisdictions when they're not getting their way, either, unless you continue to flaunt this exotic notion of "quorum" power, which has never been historically used to subvert the democratic process in such a blatantly illegitimate manner. I am admittedly not up to snuff on the ins and outs of redistricting since I just moved to Texas in 2000, but I was curious as to how Delay's name continues to be thrown about as the demonic root of this evil. Do we have phone calls and letters proving that he is trying to sabotage the state's representative layout, or is it just another attempt to demonize a politician in power as elitist and bigoted?
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/04/25/3ea8e323e54de Tom DeLay is an arrogant ass. This is merely further proof.
this eloquently sums up my feelings exactly. yes, people can filibuster...but this is running away from quorum...and fleeing to another state to escape jurisdiction to do so. that's taking it up a notch or two.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't the Democrats been largely in control in Texas politics for years until recently? Wouldn't it come to reason that as a result of that, the districts as they are currently drawn up are, therefore, advantageous to the Democrats, who drew up the maps? And if it's the case that the majority of Texas is now Republican, as most public offices seem to indiciate, that any redistricting that is approved will likely result in more Republican seats, so that the Democrats would be upset no matter what? I thought that's what gerrymandering was all about. Why didn't the Republicans flee to Colorado in years past when the Democrats added seats through redistricting?
I don't think we are that far apart except on one issue. I also don't think one needs to be in lockstep with another in order for both people to want to find reasonable compromises on the best way to run government. That is what the Middle Party is all about.
