I agree, but also think many voters are attracted to a certain personality almost as much as ideology. There's a desire for candidates who are authentic, who are fighters and don't act like politicians. That's why some Republicans will vote for someone like AOC or Bernie. We need someone like that to run against Dan Patrick. Many independents and Republicans are fed up with him.
I am so fed up with Dan Patrick. That guy, more than even Paxton, gets my goat. He won't do it, but I would love to see Talarico run against Patrick. Talarico clearly wants real results for real people. Lt. Gov. would be a lot of power in Texas to sheperd progressive reform through the Senate. Also, it would just be so great to have a progressive Christian go against a Christian Nationalist.
Interesting article. Honestly, if the Dems are going to generate consistent growth and support in TX, it will be way less about ideology, and way more about pragmatic solutions that have a true chance of being implemented. We have lost credibility with the muscular and working class - and they don't given a damn about acronyms and tags. They are also proud Texans by and large, who believe Texas has a lot to offer - of course TX can do better in areas, but the prevailing opinion is that it is worse (crime, schools, COL) in blue states . . . Grounding ourselves in that reality and then creating a pragmatic message that talk to, not at, voters. PLEASE!!
Joe, it's a good point that too many Texans believe the Republicans propaganda about blue states. Texas could, and should be, a lot closer to California in income distribution and GDP. The size and makeup of the economies are similar, with oil industry, high tech, highly regarded research university systems and medical centers, a long coast line, several major cities etc. There's no doubt that Californians are far wealthier, and live safer, more prosperous lives than Texans. A side by side comparison of GDP, income distribution, crime stats, cost of living, unemployment, education levels, and personal debt would reveal how far Texans have fallen. The thing that worries me the most for Texas right now is the possibility that there could be a major hurricane landfall in Texas, with absolutely no help from the state or federal governments. Those irresponsible clowns in the lege can't even coordinate emergency communications systems between state and local agencies. That was the primary lesson learned after 9/11 in NYC! It wa shocking to learn after the Kerr County flood that they had utterly failed to do this. I also worry about a public health emergency like a pandemic. Texans would literally be on their own. No leadership, no public outreach, no vaccine, no mass casualty response. The political leadership in Texas would go to ground, and be thankful that God seemed to be killing off mostly black and brown people, just as the Trump 1.0 administration did early in the Covid-19 pandemic. It wasn't until they realized that white rural MAGA people were dying too that they started Operation Warp Speed, but by then, it was too little, too late to save 1m Americans. The white supremacists in power in Texas would be super happy if the white/nonwhite ratio got larger through a natural disaster, and I have no doubt that they are ruthless and unscrupulous enough to sit back and let people die.
100%. I even warned readers not to jump the gun and blame Trump for the response, although the national narrative took hold anyway, because I knew that the local response was ultimately going to be most to blame. I've been paying attention to Texas politics long enough to know that everything in this state is barely hanging on, and in rural areas where Barney Fife is running the show, God help them if they get a disaster like we saw on July 4th.
Interesting perspective. Yes, the emergency response and infrastructure needs big improvement in TX and the floods this summer highlighted the lack of response and oversight. However, I totally hate to say it, but your facts are selective per Cali vs TX. I run a consulting firm and have conducted comp studies for decades. For sure California household income is higher than Texas, but so are the Taxes and the Cost of Living. We bake in 15-20% increase in pay for jobs in California, and it makes up for less than half of the 37% increase in Cost of Living in California. So, incomes are higher, but standard of living is clearly lower in the Golden state. And, the schools in Cali are truly terrible - the average SAT scores for private schools are 400 points lower than the average SAT scores for Public school districts across North Dallas and Fort Worth area. The influx of thousands of businesses and over 1 Million in net gain residents is consistent with the fact that Cali is not a superior place to live right now. . . . . I wish it was. I love Cali. 20 of top 50 safest cities in America are in Cali and TX.. Both states have safe and unsafe places. And, Cali infrastructure truly SUCKS - wild fires, lack of water retention capability . . . I say this not to defend TX at all. I say this to ground in comparative reality - we can't "create castles in the sky" as they say. We can't look to Cali, or Chicago, for a model for TX - TX needs a Democratic party that is grounded in facts and issues that matter - not in "look how much better Cali is". The Democratic party needs to look no further than TX, Texas pride and TX solutions that matter to everyday Texans. And, not Demonize everyone you don't agree with my friend.
Demonize? Not at all. Texas is my home, and I worry a lot about the decline in the state caused by the corrupt and unscrupulous Republicans who are managing the state for their own personal gain, at the expense of the majority of Texans. California is a wealthier state than Texas, with the wealth spread around more. I wish wealthy corporations and individuals were taxed more in Texas, and more wealth transferred down the income distribution to working class Texans for schools and health insurance. I'm not sure why you would compare private schools in CA to public schools in N. TX, which is not an apples to apples comparison, and N. TX schools are not representative of Texas schools in general. For example, the top HS in Frisco ISD ranks in the 400s out of 18k high schools nationwide, or in the top 0.01% of American high schools. That result is not because the state of Texas supports public schools, but because wealthy Frisco residents funded the school district with local property taxes and bond issues, before the city was inundated by conservative SoCal Republicans who want to take advantage of good schools, but not pay for them. Most public schools in Texas are deeply neglected. Californians get state Medicaid supplements, and many other public benefits from the state that Texans do not get. So a correct analysis of CA cost of living would have to include public benefits in addition to salaries, and compare public to public schools.
Yankee - let's start with the fact that I want Dems to get traction and win more in TX. With that baseline in mind, we can't ground ourselves in untruth. The fact is: California's poverty rate was 18.9% in 2023 according to the California Poverty Measure (CPM), a rate that was the highest in the nation, largely due to the state's high cost of living. That is a fact. In addition, California public schools are perhaps the worst performing in the nation on any standard measure. Another fact - Medical underpays doctors and is about bankrupt - I have a cousin who just moved his neuro surgery practice out of Modesto where he was the only neuro surgeon in the area that would take Medical . . . Now, I do believe we need nationalized health care. I am originally from Canada and do think it is a crime that we do not have universal access in the USA. Both sides of the isle have failed us on that. And, that is something that the TX Dems could create a solution around - a pragmatic approach to universal health care access in TX. But if we are seriously looking at California as the template - we will and should lose. Dems need pragmatic policies that talk to making Texas better, not California.
I agree with you that both sides of the aisle have failed us, and the Republicans in Cali famously wrecked their formerly excellent public schools. Most of their off the hook cost of living is due to insanely expensive housing, which could be fixed. I wouldn't advocate Cali as a model for other states, but they do some things right. It is still a functioning democracy, unlike Texas. They still have a social safety net, unlike Texas. The State is activist in monitoring the environment and managing emergencies, unlike Texas. When the Trump administraton succeeds in their plan to break the economy, children aren't going to be starving in California, but they will be in Texas, and state officials will just look the other way.
I appreciate this article as a DSA member from NYC. I do appreciate the label Eitenne Rosas has. but i would like to disgress that he is not a registered member of DSA within our organization membership. I can try to confirm again but he is not affiliated with the organization from my understanding and he will have to request an endorsement from his nearby chapter if he wants the DSA endorsement. Again this is no offense to him and what he want to identify but i would like to digress that i do not wish for him to associate himself with our organization as he hasn’t participated in any of our organizing nor membership.
Not even 1 cup of coffee in and I've learned something new and been encouraged, so it's already a good day. I'm a newby-ish escapee from the Dark Side. My mission now is to get people off the couch and into a polling place so we can sweep the trash out of our government and build a Texas that works for Texans and respects the inherent value and dignity of every person in this state. I'd like to see that and then say as Texas goes, so goes the nation. Blue Wave!!!
Well, I became a Texan by choice but except for the friendships and that I am not running from a fight, I would be gone for sure. Maybe because of my age and how definitions have changed, I cannot see myself choosing where I am on your list because I do not think I fit any. I take some from both liberal and progressive but I have a history of working for issues and candidates. I do not always pick a candidate based on their platform but on their trustworthiness and their care of the people. Nor do I see Greg Casar and James Talerico as being the same yet under your scale they are pretty much the same.Just scatter shooting here.
On your last poll where you asked how does this make you feel? My answer was not there. I felt great full that someone explained all this to me. Again, I have said many times. I just started to learn on 11/0/2016. I quickly learned what is progressives, from my INDIVISABLE friends. I do fall in that vain. The last thing I learned was PSL movement. Many of my Democratic Party friends were not happy of them joining us because they had their own Presidential candidate.
Are those the same as your Democratic Socialist group? I don’t think so but many people do. Anyway, I’m still learning…. I just want everyone to love everyone. And do the best they can. ☺️
If I was in NY, I would be voting for Zohran Mamdani! The other two candidates are not the type of Democratic Party Candidates I would want because they behave like elitist!
I get what you’re saying, and I think that there has been a lot of negative education when it comes to certain groups for various reasons, not just in Texas but all in America.
To answer your question Eva. No PSL is not associated with DSA. PSL is a completely different organization with different goals to achieve their desire. They prefer more aggressive tactics in comparison to DSA. I think of the entire country, if you had to designated what constituents the organized "leftists" it would be DSA as we are the largest organized electoral group that constituents a definition of leftists used in other countries. Not the American left which is a different story.
I am so happy to read that. Before trump, I would get insulted to be called leftest or Liberal. I called myself a conservative Democrat. Mose people would laugh at me. So I really had to learn. Now I just call myself a Progressive Democrat because LBJ shaped my life so much. I was in the first class of Head start and I feel that did so much for me. I came from parents who earned $7000. a year in 1970 when my dad died. So that became less. Mom raised 4 of us on less. We didn't qualify for what is called snap today but we were taught to take advantage of everything we could. I feel that I grew up in the perfect time. Praying that it gets better.
I hope so to but it feels so scary to see all the fascism. But the one thing i tremendously despise the most that i think everyone can relate to is the democratic politicians that capitulated to this fascism regime. They have really contributed to our rising fascism.
Great article, I've found that the lines between progressivism and the DSA platform is blurred and sometimes hard to discern. I'm really happy to see that the broader democratic party seems to be shifting left to a more progressive platform and away from the same moderate republican-lite democrats that we've had forever.
I'm running for City Council in Mesquite TX and I've been really surprised by how progressive the average person that identifies as a Democrat tends to be. I also have found that the progressive and DSA platform both appeal to certain republican voters as long as its framed as being pro-worker and working families. A significant portion of signatures on my petition for the ballot were from solid red voters, so the labor-based policy has potential to garner wider support if done correctly but identifying as a socialist is not going to be the way for most of these people.
. New tax laws that took effect on Monday include sweeping cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
Biggest cuts in program history
SNAP dates back to 1939 and became permanent with the Food Stamp Act of 1964.
Today, more than 40 million people receive benefits. But the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new rules will remove roughly 2.4 million people from the program each month over the next decade - the largest cut in its history.
Families who remain eligible are projected to lose between $72 and $231 a month, according to the Urban Institute.
Progressive values are great. Too bad the DSA has adopted an islamofascist ideology wrt Israel. I’ll be looking at any candidate in Texas for their views on intifada and the war in Gaza before I offer my support.
Your commentary regarding about our organization when you know nothing about DSA is unwelcomed. Thats like saying Zohran Mamdani who is a DSA member mind you adopts this. We are not your radical nightmare to be afraid its the fascist republicans that are litrally adopting their christofascist regime of what your afraid of
Kindly refrain your misguided commentary. Its astonishing to me that you all make assumptions about what values our organization has and yet we do not the same to you. We never said anything in regards to “intifada” considering the litrall definition of the word is “shake it off” and this isnt a war in gaza. Its a genocide .-.
I agree, but also think many voters are attracted to a certain personality almost as much as ideology. There's a desire for candidates who are authentic, who are fighters and don't act like politicians. That's why some Republicans will vote for someone like AOC or Bernie. We need someone like that to run against Dan Patrick. Many independents and Republicans are fed up with him.
I am so fed up with Dan Patrick. That guy, more than even Paxton, gets my goat. He won't do it, but I would love to see Talarico run against Patrick. Talarico clearly wants real results for real people. Lt. Gov. would be a lot of power in Texas to sheperd progressive reform through the Senate. Also, it would just be so great to have a progressive Christian go against a Christian Nationalist.
Agree. I think Patrick is vulnerable even tho he has tons of money. Vikki Goodwin is running against him but I've not seen an outpouring of support.
Have you met the Democratic Candidate running for Lt. Governor?
Agree with your premise but not sure about those two candidates.
Interesting article. Honestly, if the Dems are going to generate consistent growth and support in TX, it will be way less about ideology, and way more about pragmatic solutions that have a true chance of being implemented. We have lost credibility with the muscular and working class - and they don't given a damn about acronyms and tags. They are also proud Texans by and large, who believe Texas has a lot to offer - of course TX can do better in areas, but the prevailing opinion is that it is worse (crime, schools, COL) in blue states . . . Grounding ourselves in that reality and then creating a pragmatic message that talk to, not at, voters. PLEASE!!
Joe, it's a good point that too many Texans believe the Republicans propaganda about blue states. Texas could, and should be, a lot closer to California in income distribution and GDP. The size and makeup of the economies are similar, with oil industry, high tech, highly regarded research university systems and medical centers, a long coast line, several major cities etc. There's no doubt that Californians are far wealthier, and live safer, more prosperous lives than Texans. A side by side comparison of GDP, income distribution, crime stats, cost of living, unemployment, education levels, and personal debt would reveal how far Texans have fallen. The thing that worries me the most for Texas right now is the possibility that there could be a major hurricane landfall in Texas, with absolutely no help from the state or federal governments. Those irresponsible clowns in the lege can't even coordinate emergency communications systems between state and local agencies. That was the primary lesson learned after 9/11 in NYC! It wa shocking to learn after the Kerr County flood that they had utterly failed to do this. I also worry about a public health emergency like a pandemic. Texans would literally be on their own. No leadership, no public outreach, no vaccine, no mass casualty response. The political leadership in Texas would go to ground, and be thankful that God seemed to be killing off mostly black and brown people, just as the Trump 1.0 administration did early in the Covid-19 pandemic. It wasn't until they realized that white rural MAGA people were dying too that they started Operation Warp Speed, but by then, it was too little, too late to save 1m Americans. The white supremacists in power in Texas would be super happy if the white/nonwhite ratio got larger through a natural disaster, and I have no doubt that they are ruthless and unscrupulous enough to sit back and let people die.
100%. I even warned readers not to jump the gun and blame Trump for the response, although the national narrative took hold anyway, because I knew that the local response was ultimately going to be most to blame. I've been paying attention to Texas politics long enough to know that everything in this state is barely hanging on, and in rural areas where Barney Fife is running the show, God help them if they get a disaster like we saw on July 4th.
Interesting perspective. Yes, the emergency response and infrastructure needs big improvement in TX and the floods this summer highlighted the lack of response and oversight. However, I totally hate to say it, but your facts are selective per Cali vs TX. I run a consulting firm and have conducted comp studies for decades. For sure California household income is higher than Texas, but so are the Taxes and the Cost of Living. We bake in 15-20% increase in pay for jobs in California, and it makes up for less than half of the 37% increase in Cost of Living in California. So, incomes are higher, but standard of living is clearly lower in the Golden state. And, the schools in Cali are truly terrible - the average SAT scores for private schools are 400 points lower than the average SAT scores for Public school districts across North Dallas and Fort Worth area. The influx of thousands of businesses and over 1 Million in net gain residents is consistent with the fact that Cali is not a superior place to live right now. . . . . I wish it was. I love Cali. 20 of top 50 safest cities in America are in Cali and TX.. Both states have safe and unsafe places. And, Cali infrastructure truly SUCKS - wild fires, lack of water retention capability . . . I say this not to defend TX at all. I say this to ground in comparative reality - we can't "create castles in the sky" as they say. We can't look to Cali, or Chicago, for a model for TX - TX needs a Democratic party that is grounded in facts and issues that matter - not in "look how much better Cali is". The Democratic party needs to look no further than TX, Texas pride and TX solutions that matter to everyday Texans. And, not Demonize everyone you don't agree with my friend.
Demonize? Not at all. Texas is my home, and I worry a lot about the decline in the state caused by the corrupt and unscrupulous Republicans who are managing the state for their own personal gain, at the expense of the majority of Texans. California is a wealthier state than Texas, with the wealth spread around more. I wish wealthy corporations and individuals were taxed more in Texas, and more wealth transferred down the income distribution to working class Texans for schools and health insurance. I'm not sure why you would compare private schools in CA to public schools in N. TX, which is not an apples to apples comparison, and N. TX schools are not representative of Texas schools in general. For example, the top HS in Frisco ISD ranks in the 400s out of 18k high schools nationwide, or in the top 0.01% of American high schools. That result is not because the state of Texas supports public schools, but because wealthy Frisco residents funded the school district with local property taxes and bond issues, before the city was inundated by conservative SoCal Republicans who want to take advantage of good schools, but not pay for them. Most public schools in Texas are deeply neglected. Californians get state Medicaid supplements, and many other public benefits from the state that Texans do not get. So a correct analysis of CA cost of living would have to include public benefits in addition to salaries, and compare public to public schools.
Yankee - let's start with the fact that I want Dems to get traction and win more in TX. With that baseline in mind, we can't ground ourselves in untruth. The fact is: California's poverty rate was 18.9% in 2023 according to the California Poverty Measure (CPM), a rate that was the highest in the nation, largely due to the state's high cost of living. That is a fact. In addition, California public schools are perhaps the worst performing in the nation on any standard measure. Another fact - Medical underpays doctors and is about bankrupt - I have a cousin who just moved his neuro surgery practice out of Modesto where he was the only neuro surgeon in the area that would take Medical . . . Now, I do believe we need nationalized health care. I am originally from Canada and do think it is a crime that we do not have universal access in the USA. Both sides of the isle have failed us on that. And, that is something that the TX Dems could create a solution around - a pragmatic approach to universal health care access in TX. But if we are seriously looking at California as the template - we will and should lose. Dems need pragmatic policies that talk to making Texas better, not California.
I agree with you that both sides of the aisle have failed us, and the Republicans in Cali famously wrecked their formerly excellent public schools. Most of their off the hook cost of living is due to insanely expensive housing, which could be fixed. I wouldn't advocate Cali as a model for other states, but they do some things right. It is still a functioning democracy, unlike Texas. They still have a social safety net, unlike Texas. The State is activist in monitoring the environment and managing emergencies, unlike Texas. When the Trump administraton succeeds in their plan to break the economy, children aren't going to be starving in California, but they will be in Texas, and state officials will just look the other way.
I appreciate this article as a DSA member from NYC. I do appreciate the label Eitenne Rosas has. but i would like to disgress that he is not a registered member of DSA within our organization membership. I can try to confirm again but he is not affiliated with the organization from my understanding and he will have to request an endorsement from his nearby chapter if he wants the DSA endorsement. Again this is no offense to him and what he want to identify but i would like to digress that i do not wish for him to associate himself with our organization as he hasn’t participated in any of our organizing nor membership.
Not even 1 cup of coffee in and I've learned something new and been encouraged, so it's already a good day. I'm a newby-ish escapee from the Dark Side. My mission now is to get people off the couch and into a polling place so we can sweep the trash out of our government and build a Texas that works for Texans and respects the inherent value and dignity of every person in this state. I'd like to see that and then say as Texas goes, so goes the nation. Blue Wave!!!
Well, I became a Texan by choice but except for the friendships and that I am not running from a fight, I would be gone for sure. Maybe because of my age and how definitions have changed, I cannot see myself choosing where I am on your list because I do not think I fit any. I take some from both liberal and progressive but I have a history of working for issues and candidates. I do not always pick a candidate based on their platform but on their trustworthiness and their care of the people. Nor do I see Greg Casar and James Talerico as being the same yet under your scale they are pretty much the same.Just scatter shooting here.
On your last poll where you asked how does this make you feel? My answer was not there. I felt great full that someone explained all this to me. Again, I have said many times. I just started to learn on 11/0/2016. I quickly learned what is progressives, from my INDIVISABLE friends. I do fall in that vain. The last thing I learned was PSL movement. Many of my Democratic Party friends were not happy of them joining us because they had their own Presidential candidate.
Are those the same as your Democratic Socialist group? I don’t think so but many people do. Anyway, I’m still learning…. I just want everyone to love everyone. And do the best they can. ☺️
If I was in NY, I would be voting for Zohran Mamdani! The other two candidates are not the type of Democratic Party Candidates I would want because they behave like elitist!
I get what you’re saying, and I think that there has been a lot of negative education when it comes to certain groups for various reasons, not just in Texas but all in America.
To answer your question Eva. No PSL is not associated with DSA. PSL is a completely different organization with different goals to achieve their desire. They prefer more aggressive tactics in comparison to DSA. I think of the entire country, if you had to designated what constituents the organized "leftists" it would be DSA as we are the largest organized electoral group that constituents a definition of leftists used in other countries. Not the American left which is a different story.
I am so happy to read that. Before trump, I would get insulted to be called leftest or Liberal. I called myself a conservative Democrat. Mose people would laugh at me. So I really had to learn. Now I just call myself a Progressive Democrat because LBJ shaped my life so much. I was in the first class of Head start and I feel that did so much for me. I came from parents who earned $7000. a year in 1970 when my dad died. So that became less. Mom raised 4 of us on less. We didn't qualify for what is called snap today but we were taught to take advantage of everything we could. I feel that I grew up in the perfect time. Praying that it gets better.
Thanks for sharing that.
I hope so to but it feels so scary to see all the fascism. But the one thing i tremendously despise the most that i think everyone can relate to is the democratic politicians that capitulated to this fascism regime. They have really contributed to our rising fascism.
Great article, I've found that the lines between progressivism and the DSA platform is blurred and sometimes hard to discern. I'm really happy to see that the broader democratic party seems to be shifting left to a more progressive platform and away from the same moderate republican-lite democrats that we've had forever.
I'm running for City Council in Mesquite TX and I've been really surprised by how progressive the average person that identifies as a Democrat tends to be. I also have found that the progressive and DSA platform both appeal to certain republican voters as long as its framed as being pro-worker and working families. A significant portion of signatures on my petition for the ballot were from solid red voters, so the labor-based policy has potential to garner wider support if done correctly but identifying as a socialist is not going to be the way for most of these people.
Thank you! Good luck on your race in Mesquite, when is that election? My aunt and uncle live out there, I’ll tell them to vote for you. 😁
Thank you, I appreciate that! It's this November 4th!
the Pain will soon begin
. New tax laws that took effect on Monday include sweeping cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
Biggest cuts in program history
SNAP dates back to 1939 and became permanent with the Food Stamp Act of 1964.
Today, more than 40 million people receive benefits. But the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new rules will remove roughly 2.4 million people from the program each month over the next decade - the largest cut in its history.
Families who remain eligible are projected to lose between $72 and $231 a month, according to the Urban Institute.
'The numbers are in: National Guard deployed to DC to fight crime has picked up 500 bags of trash along 3.2 miles'- the independent
Progressive values are great. Too bad the DSA has adopted an islamofascist ideology wrt Israel. I’ll be looking at any candidate in Texas for their views on intifada and the war in Gaza before I offer my support.
Your commentary regarding about our organization when you know nothing about DSA is unwelcomed. Thats like saying Zohran Mamdani who is a DSA member mind you adopts this. We are not your radical nightmare to be afraid its the fascist republicans that are litrally adopting their christofascist regime of what your afraid of
Kindly refrain your misguided commentary. Its astonishing to me that you all make assumptions about what values our organization has and yet we do not the same to you. We never said anything in regards to “intifada” considering the litrall definition of the word is “shake it off” and this isnt a war in gaza. Its a genocide .-.