No reason to fear

For decades, Republican politicians have issued dire warnings about what would happen if Democrats controlled federal and state governments.

The argument today is that Ds will turn our capitalistic economy into a socialist bastion, that they would tax us to the hilt and pour all that money into socialist programs run by the government. Or … they’ll repeal the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, snatch our guns from the homes of “law-abiding citizens” and render us defenseless against the tyrants in D.C.

Those two jump out at me. Has any of it happened? No. It hasn’t. Not even close.

MAGA members of the GOP fear Muslims because they believe Sharia law will become the law of the land. Can’t happen. The Constitution prohibits any form of state religion.

We’ve just come out of a decisive midterm election. The Republican majority got thumped in D.C. and in many states across the nation. I’ll include Texas in that discussion. I’ll just state right here that there will be no “massive change” in our national character. Democrats love the country as deeply as Republicans. There just is going to be a bit of a change in our national focus. That’s my belief as an American patriot who leans a bit left of center.

And as a center-left taxpaying patriot who loves the U.S.A., I do not fear for one second the change most Americans have said they want.

Midterm shock shakes the world

The shock of the midterm election result is continuing to be felt around our Planet Earth and if the worldwide reaction is like what I have seen already, then American voters will need to stand and take a bow for exhibiting extraordinary wisdom and courage.

Just think, no one had to fire a bullet to have their voice heard. All they had to was cast a ballot.

A friend from South Australia sent me a message of congratulations. He is an astute follower of U.S. politics and the trends we follow. His message included this:

A health academic here, Dr. Tracy Westerman put it beautifully thus: Perhaps this is what these years have taught us: that a nation sometimes has to see the very worst of itself before it finds the will to choose something better. Americans looked cruelty in the face, and they refused to accept it as normal. As James Baldwin wrote, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” America faced it. This isn’t the end of the fight, but it’s the beginning of the end.

No squeakers here

I suppose one could argue that a series of razor-thin margins in a state as big as Texas could produce talk of fluke, of a political anomaly … and it might induce talk of voter fraud.

Not so in Texas this midterm election year.

Think for a moment of what occurred. Texas Democrats, who had been shut out of statewide office for more than 30 years, stormed back into power with a ferocity few of us saw coming.

At the top of the ticket, Democratic U.S. Sen.-elect James Talarico disposed of Ken Paxton with a cushion of 1.2 million voters. Gov.-elect Gina Hinjosa  beat three-term incumbent Greg Abbott by a 700,000-vote  margin. Each of the statewide races went for the Democratic nominee by equal or similar numbers. The closest margin I saw was for agriculture commissioner, which went for the Democrat by about 300,000 ballots.

The Texas House of Reps also flipped from Republican to Democrat. Did you see that coming? Hah! Neither did I.

Democrats have been preaching essentially the same mantra since they lost the governor’s office in 1994. Legislate with kindness, grace, compassion. So, the call went out. It fell onto the laps of pols who didn’t care. Now they do. The evidence can be seen in people’s homes. Heating bills are way up. The cost of food, fuel and housing is up. We’ve gone to war with Iran. We used bombs and missiles to rid Venezuela of its sovereign leader.

Sigh …

I welcome the change.

Congratulations, Democrats, however …

You are likely aware of the glow emanating from my puss after the midterm blowout that shifted control of Congress from Red to Blue.

What’s more the midterm massacre occurred in Texas, too, as Democrats seize many statewide seats and took command of the Legislature’s House of Representatives. This message should go mostly to Texas Democrats, but others of you are welcome to ponder my message. It is …

That tossing out the other party is one thing, governing remains a task that could present a learning curve that is pretty damn steep. Two generations of Texas Democrats have been out of power in Austin. They have raised a considerable ruckus for the past 30-plus years about the shortcomings of GOP legislative policy.

Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, Lt. Gov.-elect Vicki Goodwin, now the ball is in your hands. A new Texas House speaker will be chosen sometime in early 2027. Democrats will assume committee chairmanships. The Ds will control the legislative flow for the first time in many folks’ memories.

Governing is very much a team sport. My hope is that Texas Democrats will heed the presence of Texas Republicans as they craft legislation in the coming legislative session. The good news: Donald Trump has been effectively de-fanged and de-clawed as a result of the election. Given his proven track record of promoting criminals, kooks and creeps in this election cycle, his threats now will ring hollow.

Man, that new day that dawned after the election looks brighter than I ever imagined. May the new power brokers in Austin and Washington keep it shining brightly.

This one caught me by surprise

Allow me this bit of candor relating to the electoral wipeout we all witnessed Tuesday night.

My phone alerted me to a text message that arrived in mid-afternoon on midterm Election Day. A former colleague who remains a good friend wanted to know my take on the upcoming election. My answer, which I provided in a phone call to my friend missed the mark by a mile.

“I would feel better about the outcome,” I said, “were it not for what happened during the 2016 presidential election.” I told him my wife and I attended an election watch party with friends in Amarillo. We all expected Hillary Rodham Clinton to emerge as the next president of the U.S.A. It didn’t happen, despite every pundit in America calling it a slam dunk that Hillary would win. The polls had her leading Trump narrowly.

What we did not see coming was the Electoral College flim-flam that occurred. Trump lost the popular vote but earned enough Electoral College votes to secure victory. It was legal and all done according to the Constitution.

OK, Trump wasn’t on the ballot this week. But I told my friend I feared he might try something to gum up the works and toss the election into a cocked hat. I do not underestimate Trump’s ability to rig a result that doesn’t go his way.

I said it was possible James Talarico could win the Senate seat over Ken Paxton, but I didn’t suggest it would.

What’s more, I also told my friend that Greg Abbott could win re-election despite poll data that showed him trailing Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa.

I hope you understand clearly why I no longer predict election outcomes.

All told, it was a stunning outcome. I’m just bummed that I wasn’t dialed in.

Unpacking these stunning results

Gang, we have a lot to unpack and analyze from Tuesday night’s stunning midterm election, so I believe I’ll take it on a little at a time.

That said, I’ll start with the obvious, which is the Democratic victory in several statewide races.

It has been a minute or two since Democrats won anything statewide in Texas. The midterm results made up for a whole lot of lost ground. James Talarico is heading to the U.S. Senate, pummeling Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Gina Hinojosa is the first Latina elected governor, ending Greg Abbott’s reign at three terms. Vicki Goodwin knocked off GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to take the reins of power in the Texas Senate. Down-ballot races fell to Democrats.

Did anyone really see any of this coming? I didn’t think so.

What we likely learned from last night’s bloodbath is that Texans are sick and tired of corruption in government. For too long, Texas GOP voters gave their peeps a pass on these matters. Paxton is as dirty a pol as one can find. He got indicted his first year as AG; he was impeached by members of his own Republican Party; several top aides quit, citing allegations of corruption, including bribery; his wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, divorced him on “biblical grounds,” and we all know that means.

So long, Ken.

We also learned that Donald Trunp’s touch doesn’t turn everything to gold. It turned endorsees this year to crap!

It’s a new day in Austin. And in Washington. Texas Democrats now must govern. May they learn quickly how to do what their forebears did so well in the old days.

Blue wave washes over GOP

Ladies and gents, it appears that the blue wave many of us thought and hoped would arrive has done so in epic fashion.

The U.S. House of Representatives has has turned from narrowly Republican to solid Democrat. The U.S. Senate is on the way to following the House’s trek from R control to D.

But for Texans who have an interest in public policy, here’s even grander news: The wave has carried Republican officeholders away. GOP candidate Ken Paxton, a deeply flawed and completely undesirable candidate, has been swept away by Democrat James Talarico in the race for U.S. Senate. You want more? Democratic nominee Gina Hinojosa defeated GOP Gov. Greg Abbott.

Very close to home, U.S. Rep. Keith Self, a GOP House member who represents me in Congress, is in danger of losing his seat to a Democratic challenger. So, the blue wave is lapping quite close to Collin County.

The Republican vise grip on elective office in Texas has been broken! I checked the returns in all the statewide offices on the ballot today and saw that Democrats were leading in every single one of them … including the lieutenant governor’s contest with GOP incumbent Dan Patrick fighting for his political life.

Some friends and family have asked me: How’s your evening going? They know my answer. It has been a glorious way to welcome a new era in Texas politics.

I won’t wait for all the national figures to roll in. Gotta get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for me. My first order of business will be to look at the results of what looks like a stunning rejection of the policies followed by the lame duck in chief, Donald Trump.

Not a single bit of this could happen to a more deserving individual than the incumbent POTUS.

Keeping my powder dry

Given that this blog is mine — and mine alone — I am able to make decisions on when to post items.

That said, I am going to wait a while tonight for the election returns to come in before posting a comment on their results. I could wait, I suppose, till tomorrow morning. I want to be fresh with my comment, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. We’ve got a white-hot US Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton. A Talarico victory would make huge history in Texas, as Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 was the last Democrat to win a US Senate race in Texas.

Bear with me. I’m gonna wait this one out. Oh, and I’ll also have plenty to say if the Ds take control of both congressional chambers.

I am keeping my powder dry.

Now he weighs in on ending the Vietnam War

Our draft dodger in chief now says he could have won the Vietnam War in a week. How? I guess by saturating North Vietnam with Agent Orange, the agent known to have killed thousands of people exposed to it.

Whenever this moron speaks openly about Vietnam, and the war that took 58,000 American lives, it’s good to recall the measures he took to avoid suiting up for duty in that conflict.

He got some foot doctor to diagnose him with bone spurs in his feet. Question: Have you ever seen Donald gimping around on a cane, or a walker, or crutches, or any device to help him lessen the pain from the alleged spurs? Neither have I.

This idiot has no business even mentioning the Vietnam War out loud, within earshot of anyone who can hear him.

He also has said the Iran war would be over by now. It isn’t. The Iranians, who allegedly lost their “battlefield readiness” in the initial round of missile attacks and aerial bombardment, remain a threat to the U.S. forces.

So … Donald, here’s one final demand from an American patriot who did serve in Vietnam: Shut the f*** up!

Lessons to learn from midterm election

That ol’ finish line is approaching rapidly as the 2026 midterm election campaign draws to a raucous close.

The polling places will open Tuesday morning and Americans who haven’t yet voted will line up to cast their ballots. Let’s hope it goes smoothly. But … I have a question to pose to many of my fellow Americans, the millions of y’all who thought you making a constructive statement of protest when you elected Donald Trump to the nation’s highest office.

Will you learn to think more critically when a politician offers you a nip of snake oil? That’s what Trump offered us in 2016 and in 2024. Many of us took the bait. It got us a whole lot of chaos, confusion, controversy and even a bit of political cannabalism.

We’ve got a chance Tuesday to make some amends to the mistake many of us made. The entire U.S. House is up for grabs. Word now is that there’s an excellent chance it will flip from Republican to Democratic control. The Senate presents a steeper hill. One-third of the Senate is on the ballot. Many pundits and prognosticators say Democrats have a good — and growing — chance of claiming the majority.

Whatever the outcome Tuesday, I sincerely and fervently want the new men and women in charge of Congress to rediscover the art of governing. It’s not enough to throw the rascals out who’ve controlled Congress and created a wasteland of broken promises. We have to return to the “regular order.”

If we don’t learn the lesson, then we’re worse off than any of us ever imagined.

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