A Tale Of Two Parties

Gather round the campfire kids, and let’s put our Nostradamus hats for a moment and make a bold prediction: If Texas goes anything over the next twenty years the way Indiana did it will long be a Republican stronghold.

Come back in time with me to 2002. The Indiana House Of Representatives was controlled by the Democratic party by a margin of 52-48. Republicans controlled the Senate by a comfortable margin of 32-18. Keep in mind that “back in the day” a lot of times people voted less for the party and more for the person, which explains to some extent the way things were.

In 2004 a hero rode into the governorship and proceeded to steer the state into fiscal responsibility and through a housing crisis over his eight year tenure. His ideas were fresh and unique and the Democrats absolutely hated it. Mitch Daniels had arrived and a reckoning came with him.

The Democrats, and particularly a foul man named Pat Bauer, tried and failed at nearly every turn to usurp Mitch and his crew. All is fair in love and war. Bauer, a narcissist piece of shit who really didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground, took on the role as champion of the Democratic party in Indiana and proceeded to have his head handed to him.

When Daniels was elected in 2004, the Republicans took back the house by a slim margin of 51-49. With majorities in both houses Daniels would push forward with his very first idea – leasing the Indiana Toll Road to an Australian firm for $4 billion dollars.

Bauer and the Democrats went insane. I’ll never forget Bauer on television blathering “that’s not how we do things!” But it was now. Suddenly Indiana’s finances were shored up and in fact the state was suddenly sitting on a budget surplus.

Even through the housing crisis, Daniels and the Republican leadership continued to gain momentum. With Indiana sitting on rainy day money and being fiscally astute they were able to weather the years 2008-2010 much better than several other states. They continued to get minor gains in the house and senate. Daniels visited large foreign corporations and brought jobs to Indiana. It’s amazing how large of a Honda plant you can build when you have plenty of cornfield space to do it.

And then came the 2011 legislative session. Pay attention Texas, here is where you come in. Bauer and his dwindling band of Democrats in power were in such trouble that they did the only thing they could do to try and stop the Republicans – they packed their bags and went to a hotel in Illinois to deny the house a quorum to vote on state business.

In some respects this worked, Bauer was able to negotiate a few bills off the agenda with the promise that Democrats would return for the vote trouncing they were going to receive on the remaining legislation. But the party was not looked upon well for their cowardly legislative maneuver. Voters noticed.

Which brings us to today. Republicans now dominate the House, crushing Democrats by a 71-29 advantage. From 2002 that’s a staggering gain of 23 seats. It might take a hundred years for Democrats to gain that body back. They have lost ground in the Senate as well, where Republicans crush them 59-41.

This didn’t happen overnight, but happen it did. Hang in there Texas – stick with what works, believe in the goals, and slowly but surely you’ll put the Democrats out of business.