By Texas Author Carol Sewel 8th in a Series
The start of the 82nd Legislative session got off to a rather disappointing start with the election of Joe Straus as speaker. As I sat in the gallery observing the opening day ceremonies and election of a
speaker I was struck by the collective disappointment of those of us who traveled to Austin to let our voices be heard. Many were even disillusioned by the lack of responsiveness of their representatives as they refused to change their votes.
The ability to even lobby our representatives is a new thing as it used to be against the law for us to do so. The speakers race was just between the legislators and had nothing to do with the citizens who elected them. But thanks to a rather recently filed lawsuit by the
Liberty Institute citizens are now allowed to have input on candidates for speaker.
This suit was to give us a voice in this process and it should have.
To fully understand how this election transpired we have to go back to the first of last year when Speaker Straus started seeking pledges from members. The pledge system is a non-binding system to give those running an idea how many supporters they have. At the time it was first instituted that seemed reasonable and innocent enough.
In early 2010 the Republican members believed that after the November election their numbers would only increase to 79 members. So when asked to support Speaker Straus for re-election he was the only likely candidate and since they wanted to keep the committee assignments they had or get better assignments they signed pledges. Hopefully they have learned a lesson on committing to someone so early.
What a shock it was when after the 2010 election they had a huge majority of 100 Republican members. Believing that with that majority there should be a choice of candidates two conservatives decided to challenge Speaker Straus.
A House Republican Caucus with a secret ballot vote was to be held on Monday afternoon. Several of speaker Strauss supporters tried to stop this meeting. When
they couldnt they maneuvered the agenda with an open public vote that ensured Speaker Straus was the caucus selection.
This process revealed the weaknesses of some of our Republican elected representatives. As humans we can rationalize anything we do or are considering doing. As a result there is now a call going out to State Representatives to eliminate the pledge card system.
No one can say how well this will go over as this system has been institutionalized and several staffers have responded with we have always done it this way."
I believe that many Republicans rationalized that a good committee assignment would help them serve their constituents better. In the past we have all been guilty of that kind of thinking. However in this political climate voters were looking for elected officials who will stand firm on their principles.
Voters want their representatives to stand by the will of their district and not on a non-binding pledge to the Speaker.
Character and integrity were clearly exposed in this process as pro-life pro-family pro-marriage anti-homosexual agenda members voted for a Speaker who is supported by all the pro-abortion groups and the gay and lesbian lobby. When they were asked to stand for their core values they failed us and all who support traditional values.
With a 101 Republican majority there should be a true conservative Republican speaker instead of a peoples speaker implying he is neither Republican nor Democrat. Obviously he missed the whole point of the 2010 election results. The people did not want the Democrats in the majority and they do not want compromise in the guise of bipartisanship.
Now it is time for us to move on and learn to live with Speaker Straus and hold his feet to the fire on everything he promised. We the people want true conservative ideas put forth to solve the problems that face our state. We want to:
- Ban Sanctuary Cities
- Increase Border Security
- A Strong Voter ID Law
- Stronger Eminent Domain Laws and
- A repeal of Obamacare.
Therefore we must stay engaged and watch each members actions and votes. Within the next three weeks Speaker Straus will be picking committee chairs and handing out committee assignments. Our first assignment is to bombard his office with calls for him to appoint true conservatives as committee chairs.
Next we need a clear call to action outlining the areas we want to see addressed within the first 45 days. We need to make sure our representative knows how important these items are and hold him accountable for his actions to push these legislative items to be heard and voted on right away.
To move forward successfully we will need to let go of the disappointment and feelings of betrayal and realize that the war is not lost. This was just the first battle. The Revolutionary War lasted eight long years and most of the battles fought were lost. General Washington kept his distance from the British throughout the war because he knew he did not have the men or equipment to win the battle. Through it all he and his loyal men never gave up and through the intervention of Divine Providence at key times during the war they finally won.
It will take several election cycles to clean out the establishment Republicans replacing them with true public servants" or citizen representatives. We have just begun to fight.
Ronald Reagan once said that When you turn up the heat they will see the light."
So let us take heart and turn up the heat.
Carol Sewell is the author of We the People: Know the Past Understand the Present Secure the Future" with foreword by David Barton.
