TAKE BACK OUR TEXAS! by Craig Rogers
190 years ago, a group of ragged, unruly, unorganized Texians stood up to a bullying, cruel dictator who had previously used the military to disband his Congress. Sound familiar?
I want to remind you of those brave Texans. David Bowie, Jimminy Crockett, Col William Barstool Travis. Heroes one and all. Leaders of a proud Texas.
And as you think of the State leaders we have today, who have no integrity and no moral compass, I want you to remember that they are an aberration. They do not represent the true Spirit of Texas. Because the True Spirit of Texas is progressive.
No, that Spirit is not within them. But you can find that Spirit in our leaders of the not too distant past.
Leaders like Lyndon Baines Johnson. All LBJ did was:
- signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
- Voting Rights Act of 1965,
- Passed Medicare and Medicaid,
- and the War on Poverty-which created:
- Head Start,
- Job Corps
- food stamps
- HUD.
- Signed the Clean Air Act,
- Water Quality Act,
- and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which eliminated national-origin quotas.
LBJ had the True Spirit of Texas. He was a Texan. He was one of us.
And where did Roe v Wade come from? It was a Texas law suit. Ms. Roe and her female lawyers had the True Spirit of Texas. They were Texans. One of those attorneys, Linda Coffee, a Univ of Texas Law School graduate, is still with us today. They are one of us.
Sam Rayburn, the longest serving Speaker of the U. S. House of Representative, had the True Spirit of Texas.
He fought the isolationists before WWII to keep the recently enacted draft alive in 1941. The Isolationists wanted to end the draft, which Mr Sam had fought to enact just a year before because he could see the storm clouds coming. Ending the draft in 1941 would have caused us to lose 2/3 of our Army on the eve of Pearl Harbour.
He pushed through the Lend Lease Act before WWII to provide ships and weapons to England.
When FDR was having trouble funding a secret new program, he went to Mr. Sam for help. Mr. Sam secured $1.6 billion to fund the Manhattan Project.
When civil rights legislation was stuck in a committee and couldn’t get out, Mr Sam, the Speaker of the House, changed the US House rules to get it out of committee and to the floor for passage.
Sam Rayburn had the True Spirit of Texas. He was a Texan. He was one of us.
Barbara Jordan, a US Representative from Houston gave the famous opening statement in the Richard Nixon impeachment hearings. She was also the First black person to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National convention. She was also the first woman!
Barbara Jordan had the True Spirit of Texas. She was a Texan. She was one of us.
Molly Ivans was a nationally syndicated political journalist and best-selling author whose biting commentary appeared in hundreds of newspapers all over the Country. She was transferred from town to town for being too sharp in her criticism of political leaders. She found a home in Austin where she pronounced the Texas Legislature was the “National Laboratory for bad government.” And she once famously said that if a certain North Texas Republican congressman’s IQ “gets any lower, we’ll have to water him twice a day.”
Molly had the True Spirit of Texas. She was a Texan. She was one of us.
I have always, until the last few years, been proud to be a Texan. My accent always announces my heritage. I feel qualified to say what counts as the True Spirit of Texas. My family came to Texas as sharecroppers over 120 years ago. My mother grew up picking cotton. And I am the Truest of Texans-I have lost money on oil wells AND cattle.
So when I say the True Spirit of Texas is progressive, I know of which I speak. So today, on the anniversary of the Texas Revolution, I implore you to remember our proud progressive heritage. And I urge you to help revive the True Spirit of Texas. So that when I see my all time favorite bumper sticker, I can be proud again. That bumper sticker, hanging on the bar in the Josephine Street Café in San Antonio said simply: “The trouble with America? Too many Americans, not enough Texans.”
Thank y’all!
