Blogtrek

The Texas Democrats

It was an absurd sight. ALL of the Democrats in the Texas legislature running off to the next state like some sort of fugitives to prevent the Republicans from ramming through a redistricting plan that could increase substantially Republican representation in the House next year. To me the foremost thing that it says is that you can't require any more for a quorum to conduct business than you require for a bill or item to pass. For if not, then a group of people greater than an anti-quorum (1 minus a quorum) but less than the bill-passing requirement can run off into the woods and kill the item. Most quorums are a majority, but the Texas legislature has 2/3, making the legend of the Texas Democrats possible.

Could this lead to Bush's defeat next year? It could happen. Texas is now shown to be the laughing stock of the nation, so much so that it affects Bush the President. The economy does not pick up and things in Iraq don't do too well. In the meantime, the US congress considers doing what the Texas legislature did, and the threat of that causes people to examine Bush and his administration more carefully, perhaps unlifting a major scandal. Or maybe the Texas Democrats would secede from the Democratic party and form a third party getting a huge share of the vote. Either of these two scenarios will defeat Bush. Not likely, but look carefully at the consequences of the Legend of the Democrats who Ran.