A feel-good report from Texas

[Jane Austin]

Mr. JaneAustin is off on a motorcycle ride to Marfa, TX and Big Bend. He's with college and high-school friends of forty years, and he just emailed this:

<div class="excerpt">Sitting at dinner with friends tonight in the Paisano Hotel in Marfa Texas I had one of the most beautiful political experiences of my life - I got to sit quietly with my teeth in my mouth while my Independent and Recovering Republican friends railed on about the Bush administration and demanded Universal Health Care and a livable minimum wage.

As a brilliant moon shone down on the high desert, I heard my RR buddy talk gleefully about the Freeway Blogger signs appearing on all the overpasses in Right-Wing Arlington Texas demanding that they Throw The Rascals Out and my Independent friend of four decades tell me his wish list for the Democratic Congress. He and his wife are voting Straight-Ticket Democratic on Tuesday…first time ever.
</div>

[babylonsister]

1. As a resident of TX, YAY! Great news! nt

[angry_chuck]

4. I felt so alone

in 2004 when I voted for Kerry in Austin. There in the undergrad library at UT Austin I wasn't alone, or in Travis county even. The Statesman said Travis county voted 54% Dem, however, the problem was that the average for all the other counties in TX was around 60/40 Repubs. Maybe a shift this time? It is hard to beat smooth talking frat boy Perry, he just woos the good ol' boys you know...

[Midlodemocrat]

5. Austin is pretty blue, though, no?

We have some pretty vocal DUers in Austin and that's what I thought they had said.

[Jane Austin]

6. These friends aren't from Austin.

They're from Arlington-Ft.Worth and the area south of Houston where NASA is, which is where one of them worked for 30 years.

[angry_chuck]

9. Travis County was the only blue

It is one blue county of almost 900,000 people in a solid red state of almost 23 million. Still it is almost never more than 60% for any one Dem candidate.

[PDittie]

22. No, there were a few more

El Paso county, a couple in the Valley -- Hidalgo, Webb I think -- and Jefferson County in SE Texas. All went Democratic in 2004.

The City of Houston was 51-49 Bush-Kerry two years ago; my own precinct in West U voted 79% for John Kerry. It's out in the 'burbs of Harris County -- outside Loop 610, outside Beltway 8 -- where they vote 70%+ GOP. And the vast rural areas.

There are many more Democrats throughout Texas than is commonly believed (even by longtime Texans). And more importantly there are many former Republicans voting D in this cycle, particularly in rural Texas, where they are outraged over the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Of course we'll see on Election Day what happens, but I am very encouraged by the early voting numbers.

[Jane Austin]

7. Did you know that the cities of Elgin, Taylor and Bastrop

went for Kerry last time?

The farmland in between is red, but the towns aren't.

[angry_chuck]

11. The internet is bringing all people

closer to a public forum for free expression that is not restrained by the typical dogmas of other mediums. Similarly the interstate system of Texas is growing together between Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Eventually it will be the Texas Metropolitan area, instead of just Dallas/Fort Worth. Will that change Texas blue? Maybe the whole US will become united in red, white, and blue and transcend the divisions of liberalism and conservatism that divide and conquer us today. A man can dream right?

[babylonsister]

10. You are not and never were alone; check out the TX forum here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=180

[angry_chuck]

14. I remember standing in line at the gas station

in november of 1999 in a little town north of Austin. Two rednecks in front of me were talking to each other, querying each others' preparedness for the coming disaster of Y2K. This nonsensical rabble was rampant at that time and I thought nothing of it; that is until one man made what struck me as an exceedingly audacious claim. He said, in less course language, " would not be happening if Clinton was a Republican." Such a claim is so wrong, and oblivious, on so many levels, it is not worth refuting, but is worth reflecting upon...Gas was 98 cents per gallon that day; today when I filled up it was $2.63. Bush and his republibuddies say they want to help the little poor tractor man. So many naieve Texas farmers want to buy into that good ol' boy mentality of thinking that their interests are what is being weighed in the decision making process when in actuality the only decision is how best to become more filthy rich and power entrenched. How else could so many elect a man and his buds who have empirically proven to not give a sh** about real Texans and all Americans that are not super rich?

Can you understand how I feel isolated and alone? I know there are other people who see what the corporate masters want to accomplish but when the enlightened ones are so few and far between the whole process seems mute. The only anything will change is to continue to speak out.

"All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." ~ Edmund Burke

[efhmc]

18. Never feel alone. There are loads of us here and some of us are never

quiet. I live north of Austin in a very rw area and every time I fill up (I have a w with a slash through it on my gas tank lid), I sing my little "I hate bush song". People stare but no one has attacked me yet.

[angry_chuck]

21. slowly

people take time to come around. It is hard to think when so many people are yelling.

[amitten]

12. Why are you so angry, Chuck?

Just wondering...:hi:

[angry_chuck]

15. I feel like the foundation of everything

that I have been taught about what it means to be a good American is being twisted and deficated upon by a small hegemony of greedy individuals who, at the core, are the root and cause of all problems afflicting humanity in total. These people are lying to all of humanity and cause problems to further their ambitions of elitist domination of the masses. I feel like so many good decent people have been lied to and cheated that someone out there is deserving of a big time a** whooping and that by voicing our collective anger at these few the masses can transcend the menial and petty conflcits of division which exhaust our creativity and stifle our potential to become truly great. What does freedom and liberty mean to you? We deserve the truth and nothing less shall suffice. I am not a deeply religious man and I do not mean this in any way but a real literal sense; the time of reckoning is at hand. Humanity is faced with a choice either to move towards progress into the light or to stagnate and fall to the deplorable depths that this small, greedy few so lustily envisions in shich to enslave us all. Does that make you angry too?

[babylonsister]

17. In a large nutshell, you encompassed most of the opinions on this

this fabulous forum, and I thank you for that! And we've been angry for years, but maybe the tide is turning.

[angry_chuck]

20. let's all keep our fingers crossed that you are right

We need a change of direction so badly. If you don't breath for too long...

[seabeyond]

25. makes me angry chuck. i hear ya. i am in the panhandle of texas

my children were in a private christian school so i was and am around a lot of good fundy folks. we are members of country club and i know a lot of hard working sucessful good ole boys..... neither group, if they see the lite would support what has happened to this nation, would not be a part of it,.... but both groups, with people i love have fell under the spell. it promotes hate and anger, and that is not a world i want my children to adopt.

i told my boys way back in 2004 election, walking away from a school that use to be so full of love that turned to hate and anger,... this is not our lesson to learn. we already know. it will not be our pain. when these peoples eyes openthere will be a lot of painandwe willbe there with love for them. just taking longer than what i thought it would

[Jane Austin]

2. I should have mentioned

that the men-friends are Marine and Air Force veterans, the kind of straight-arrow, upright people who the Republican party has attracted over the years.

Both are great dads, both super-responsible. Probably paid their taxes early. *g*

I guess the difference between them and the ones who never see the light is that both are really, really bright.

[SharonRB]

3. Great story

I hope it repeats itself all across the country on Tuesday and gives us vote totals they can't hack.

[Jane Austin]

8. A friend of mine near Daytona, FL

had three different people volunteer to her this morning that they are voting straight Dem this time.

She didn't have any idea of their political preferences before this, but people seem to be going out of their ways to blurt it out this year.

Heard it from a dog club friend of mine last week, too. Her husband is in real estate and is a life-long Republican.

They are both voting straight Dem.

The real estate guy is shocked by the deficit and the perilous financial situation we're in. With my friend, it's more about universal health care and common sense issues like that.

[Jazzgirl]

13. I live in Arlington and haven't seen any blogger signs!

I can't believe I missed them. Did he say where they were?

JG

[Jane Austin]

16. I'm sorry, but I don't know where he saw them.

He's a photographer and he's all over the metroplex, so there's no telling where he saw them.

[judaspriestess]

19. YeeHaw

San Antonio always goes democratic, I hope the rest of Texas goes back to blue!!

GO SPURS GO!!!

[alittlelark]

23. It is a beautiful moon. I'm glad you were able to

SPEAK TRUTH. Our strength is the fact that we speak the TRUTH.... and not in a F*ed up religious way.

[Felinity]

24. Greetings from North Austin

My boyfriend and I voted on Friday at 5 pm. We waited in the HEB parking lot for 20-30 minutes to vote; when we were done, the line was longer than when we got there. This was a very working class area (Lamar & Rundberg) and I don't think there was much Republican love to be found there.

We both voted straight Democratic, then voted Libertarian where there were no Democrats running. I think there is a lot of that going around. My boyfriend was a lifelong Republican until we came up empty on the WMD's in Iraq; now he's as liberal as my own bleeding heart.

A word of hope for the rural areas is that the condemnation of ranch land for this crazy tollway project (to be owned and operated by foreign interests) is really pissing folks off in the hinterlands--if it weren't for Kinky and Strayhorn spoiling the Governor's race, I don't thing Perry would get elected. My friends mother, a life-long Republican in her 70's, voted for Kinky because she hates Perry, but could not vote for a Dem.

I keep praying that Republicans will just stay home and assuage their internal conflicts over the loss of integrity in their party. If not, I believe many will bite the bullet and enter protest votes.

[eridani]

27. Another note on early voting in Texas

Email from an Austin voter--

You won't hear it in the news, so here it is!

Today is the last day of early voting in Texas. And my email is silent. Dead silent. Working in politics, I normally get 500 real (not spam) emails a day.

Because EVERYONE IS AT THE POLLS!

I stood in line today behind 100 people and waited an hour. And the line was HAPPY ABOUT IT. People were like doing little dances and DIVING to the next open booth like it was the only open stall in a crappy bar bathroom bad they had to go THAT BAD.

When I left, it was no shorter. And they were all still happy.

Last election, the number posted on the wall for the total how many voted for the day didn't get above ten.

Yesterday we'd already hit last time's number--and usually whatever that is TRIPLES on the last day.

It's a well-known fact that if numbers are up, Democrats win in EVERY category. It just hasn't happened in over 20 years.

I called David Van Os (whom I work for) to half-apologize half-gleefully report that I was out for that amount of time, since I'd left something unattended.

D: "Where did you vote?"
S: "Fiesta." (he used to live in this city that's all he needs)
D: "OH, YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!"

[Texasgal]

28. I tried to go on my luch hour

on friday and the line was too long. It was very encouraging!

I'll have to go tuesday with everyone else now!

[texpatriot2004]

26. Awesome. nm