Tom Delay

I recently realized that my political views have in a subtle way become very independent. They are some what in flux as I am learning and thinking about what I think and believe a great deal. I take a more conservative stance on some issues, and a more liberal one on others...which I guess makes me a moderate, I declared myself to be an independent. Moderation is a huge change for me considering my background. One of the people that has encouraged this moderation is House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Sugar Land).

In Delay you have someone that I truly despise, a career politician, a seemingly and increasingly corrupt politician (read the link, which like most stories will probably be dismissed by Delay and his conservative allies as "the partisan liberal media" trying to attack him)...the more I read and the more I learn the more I believe that Delay is not only capable of ethics violations, I would be shocked, knowing the ruthless, dog eat dog partisan way that he operates, if he isin't guilty of even more.

This is a man that bullied the Texas Legislature into a rare mid-decade redistricting plan, and was open and proud of the fact that it was a purely partisan attempt to elect as many Republcan congressmen as possible, with absolutely no reguard to the representation rights of voters in communities that have been literally torn apart in a congressional represnation sense. "We're trying to elect as many Republicans as possible"...the opposition did everything they could to stop it but it passed and has so far survived legal challanges (but faces many more).

The worst victim of course, is Austin, punished for it's liberal voting patterns. Austin is now offically the largest city in America that is not truly represented in Washington. Lloyd Doggett is the only legistator based in Austin, and his "fajita district", one of three, streches all the way to McAllen. The rest of the city is split between four other districts, one that streches to Houston and the other to New Mexico. I'm surpsied Delay didn't just push for a resoultion authorizing the President to use military force against the city. It's so bad that I couldn't tell by looking at the state map, which district I live in. It happened to be Doggett's, other parts of the city are represented by people who don't know or don't care about Austin. It wasn't until I moved to Austin (from San Marcos) last summer that I realized how absolutely wrong this is...and I'm not even a Democrat. Honestly I find the divisional, polarized, obsessive, rampant partisan nature of our Government for which Delay is the poster boy, increasingly infuriating.

Delay cares only about his party...not about his Country, not about the people he represents. Really, I think he just cares about his self-righteous self. Good job Tom, your the number one reason that his person from an extremely conservative background and community no longer will even consider idenfifying himself with your party.

And now Delay is being snowed under with reports that he's broken countless ethics rules...and I hope they bury him.

That's my political rant of the week.

- Jordan