On The Record: Edmund Cogburn

For this episode of On The Record, we speak with Edmund Cogburn, SDEC Parliamentarian for the Texas Democratic Party.

How did you get started in politics? Did you come to it in your youth or later on?

I started my involvement in politics at the University of Texas as part of the Young Democrats. I went into the Army and was not involved with politics until I got back in 1956 to San Antonio. A friend asked me to hand out cards for Charles Grace, a liberal Democrat running for office.

My friend passed out cards in a Ralph Yarborough election. Yarborough ran against Price Daniel and came close to winning but did not quite make it. I always supported Ralph Yarborough.

What would you say are the primary issues concerning Harris County?

I live in Houston now, and the issues here are generic to those all over the U.S., but I am concerned about civil liberties for all, Medicare, Social Security, health care for everybody and jobs for everybody. Many of these are the same concerns I had when I became involved in politics in San Antonio.

I am concerned about the government taking change and doing something about the issues so people can afford to feed their families.

Who are some of your political heroes?

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the greatest president we ever had. He was very energetic in helping the American people. He put forth many good, decent programs that helped and gave hope to those in the Depression.

I was born in the middle of the Great Depression in 1932. My dad was a school superintendent, and his salary was cut in half. He left and got a job at the Works Progress Administration, a program to get people work and draw a paycheck when they are out of work. My father got help when he needed it.

Roosevelt instituted the Civilian Conservation Corps where young men could work outdoor construction and receive compensation. This was all by Roosevelt. He gave people jobs to earn money.

We went to World War II and the he created the G.I. Bill, which gave money to soldiers so they could go to school.

He did the things necessary to win World War II and created the United Nations.

What are you looking forward to in the coming cycle?

I hope we carry Harris County. Our candidates have the potential to win.

We have many good candidates in Harris County, like David Mincberg for county judge and Bradford for district attorney. I hope to do what Dallas did on 2006. Harris County needs all kinds of forethought in programs to protect the environment.

We need people interested in a vision of the future.

What advice would you give to young people just getting into politics?

Young people should vote in the Democratic primary and participate in precinct conventions. The precinct conventions help you become involved in the Democratic Party, which builds a liberal progressive Party that answers the need of the people.