We Need to Focus On Texas’ Problems, Not Politics

Democrat Dan Barrett’s remarkable win in Fort Worth’s House District 97 has boosted Democratic hopes for the 2008 election cycle and has Democrats all over Texas talking excitedly about winning back a majority in the Texas House of Representatives.

Predictably, the discussion resulting from the Barrett win has been centered on how this race relates to the thinning Republican majority and what lessons Democrats can use in other races. For instance, could Barrett’s win be evidence that the public has become sensitive to the leadership crisis paralyzing the Texas House?

Yet thus far, this discussion has largely been limited to the goal of winning a Democratic majority. While this discussion is necessary and the goal is appropriate, both are incomplete. As the only person in the last 100 years to have presided over both the Texas House and Senate, I can tell you that a successful Democratic strategy cannot be predicated on winning a majority alone. Rather it needs to buttress our broader goals for Texas and safeguard them against the many pitfalls along the path to power.

With regard to strategy, perspective is everything. It is all too easy to focus too narrowly on seemingly obvious goals; this leads to thinking such goals are an end rather than the means. Members of a minority party often think wistfully about all they could accomplish if only their party was in the majority, and the combination of frustration and conviction can lead to focusing solely on how to win it.

As a lifelong Democrat, I believe winning Democratic majorities is a good goal, but I know it isn’t the only one. Winning a Democratic majority is a means to an end. Our ultimate ambition is to move Texas forward by improving, among other things, our economy, schools, and health care systems and this ambition requires more than winning a Democratic majority; it requires power.

Texas’ style of governance does not lend itself to an autocratic style of leadership. The power of the Speaker’s gavel derives from the trust and confidence of the members. If these elements are eroded, the ability of the Speaker to govern, as well as the House as a whole, is diminished. Over the past two legislative sessions, it has become increasingly apparent that the current power structure in the Texas House needs changing.

This is evidenced by the increasing number of Republicans (and the return of a few Democrats) who have come to perceive the current style of leadership as a roadblock to progress. Whether this sentiment has permeated into the electorate, and whether it means they will elect more Democrats is unknowable, but of course there is always more than one way to skin a rabbit.

With regard to achieving our most ambitious goals and mustering the necessary Democratic power, what Democrats need is a strategy that will affect such change whether Democrats take control of the House or not. It seems to be an oft forgotten insight that power can be wielded both in the majority and in the minority. Texans need only look to one of their very own, Lyndon Johnson, and study the manner in which he led a Democratic minority in the U.S. Senate.

More to the point, it is important to realize that to a certain extent these goals are independent from one another, i.e., electing a new Speaker does not require Democrats to be in the majority. Rather, Democrats working with moderate and dissatisfied Republicans are entirely capable of assembling a coalition to elect a new Speaker if that is the will of the House.

Recognizing this opportunity to capitalize on one of our goals despite the success of another is good strategy, but failing to preserve this opportunity could result in a thorny outcome for Democrats. To be clear, we are not just talking about improving Texas; the issues we face include over 5.6 million Texans without health insurance, Texas schools rank among the lowest in the nation, and our universities continue to raise tuition to compensate for lackluster state funding. We certainly need to take back the Texas House to address these issues, but I have been asserting for quite some time now that before we can address these issues productively, we have got to address the substantial problem of our lack of bipartisanship.

The mudslinging in acrimonious races and negative attack ads are an extension of that problem. Consider for a moment the districts in which Democrats have the greatest chance of winning this year; they include the very same districts currently represented by moderate Republicans. While Democrats should run hard in these districts, if they run negative campaigns and marginalize these incumbents but ultimately lose, the votes necessary from moderate Republicans to elect a new Speaker could be lost.

This consideration is all the more important after the 2007 House vote to decide whether to elect the Speaker by secret ballot. This dramatic vote, which was a proxy vote for electing a new Speaker, revealed rather poignantly that not all House Democrats can be relied upon to support a moderate Republican for Speaker. Therefore, the simple reality is that as long as Democrats are in the minority, the ability to work with and garner support from moderate Republicans will be essential to electing a new Speaker.

Yet, regardless of whether a new Speaker is elected, if the House fails to focus on the serious issues confronting Texas, it runs the risk of becoming irrelevant. The power of being of being the majority party is often accepted as the simple answer, but it really isn’t. I’m all for electing a Democratic majority to the Texas House, but the above considerations must fit within our overall strategy of moving Texas forward. The strategy for winning back the Texas House cannot be predicated on winning a Democratic majority alone.

My point is that the trick to winning back the Texas House is not focusing on winning back the Texas House. Democrats need to produce results, not just solutions, and we do this by offering Texans levelheaded leadership. We don’t display such leadership by campaigning on the Republican Party’s faults; this only serves to define us in the negative. We offer real leadership by focusing on Texas’ problems, not politics.