“Someone’s always playing corporation games
Who cares, they’re always changing corporation names.”–Bernie Taupin/Martin Page
I’ve always found political Rorschach tests to be fascinating. I suppose it’s the political scientist in me coming out. For the uninitiated, a Rorschach test is also called an ink blot test. It is something psychologists sometimes use to determine conscience thinking.
The shrink shows you an ink blot that really just looks like an abstract painting and you tell them what comes to mind. Everyone will say something different because everyone is coming into the session with their own thoughts and feelings. I’ve never had them or used them myself, but I also don’t work as a therapist. I just play one here.
So, unless you tell me you see an axe murderer, I really don’t have the expertise to tell you anything. The most important lesson we learned in our counseling masters program was to know our own limitations. I can help if Sally is having problems with Sarah. I can’t help if there are deep seeded issues with Sally or Sarah. I can refer them to a specialist.
Well, the subject in this case was the picture of Democrats flying away from Texas to Washington D.C. Depending on your perspective, they are either heroes or villains. There really is nowhere in between. Naturally, your conception of them largely depends on your conception of the GOP and governor’s agenda.
This time around I seem to be cast into the role of Solomon. I’m not sure how I’m going to split this baby, but I’m sure going to try. We can start with the governor and lieutenant governor. This is as simple as it gets. They aren’t even hiding their true intentions and they took an entire session and absolutely wasted it.
The thought occurred to me as we were traveling earlier this week. It took us an hour and a half to drive three miles on I-45. Wreck? Nope, just road construction (or destruction). On the next day, we had to detour off the highway at another point because it was being “repaired.” Then, on the way home another portion of another highway was shut down for repairs.
It would be silly to lay this at Greg Abbott’s feet, but it serves as a tremendous symbol of what is going on. Basic things like getting from here to there and heating or cooling our homes seemingly hang in the balance while the governor and lieutenant governor worry about who goes to what bathroom, whether Cletus can legally shoot off his big toe without a license, or whether they can bring Jim Crow back.
Then, there’s the other side. Precedent is always important in politics and you don’t want to make the precedent of fleeing when you don’t like what is going on. The GOP will surely use it once the state turns blue. Make no mistake, the state is turning blue eventually. It probably would have this last time around without all the chicanery from the right.
That’s what makes this situation so hard. I don’t like what they did, but I understand why they did and certainly believe in the aims. The question is whether the gamble will pay off. If they prevent horrible voting legislation it might be worth it. Then again, it might not. Only time will tell I guess.
halloffameindex 