UPDATE: Don't Care?...

Texas Party Identification (Gallup)
2002
Republicans 52.4%
Democrats 39.6%

2006
Republicans 50.0%
Democrats 42.0%

2008
Republicans 41.0%
Democrats 43.4%

In just two election cycles the Democrats have:

• Closed the GOP margin in the Texas State House from 14 to 2 seats!
• Gained the advantage in Harris County (Houston)! -- the nation's 3rd largest county, that's larger than half the states in the United States of America.
• Total control of Dallas County!
• Beat an incumbent GOP state senator for the 1st time in a decade!
• Carried Harris County, Dallas County, Travis County (Austin), and Bexar County (San Antonio) in the 2008 presidential election -- the first time since 1964 for Democrats to accomplish that.

Just a point of privilege:

Tina Benkiser, the current chair of the Texas Republican Party, could find herself the national co-chair if Ken Blackwell is elected national chair, this very morning. With this kind of record in Texas, do we really want Benkiser in any other party position, ever? Well, maybe receptionist.

Jared Woodfill, the current party chairman for Harris County, is under seige. Yet, just this past Tuesday at the quarterly executive committee meeting (the local every 3-month convention), he produced a shameful display of self-centered politics for the express purpose of thwarting an effort by many precinct chairs to amend the bylaws and establish a steering committee to enact an effective plan for the party going forward. Woodfill turned the meeting into a personal campaign rally!

Don't Care About Texas Politics? You'd BETTER!

If Texas politics isn’t important to you, it should be! The state of Texas and its political status should be the absolute top priority for the RNC and every freedom-loving American. What happens in Texas in the next two or three election cycles will determine the governance of this nation – thus, the course of the world – for the next generation.

Yes, my friends. It’s that critical. And, of course, I’m going to explain why.

After the 2010 census, there is a very real possibility that Texas could gain at least three more electoral college votes. This is in the face of the certain loss of a congressional seat for California for the very first time in the history of that state. It is because of human movement that this is happening. Not because of illegal immigration. But because legitimate United States citizens are leaving the terrible economic conditions and crushing, liberal government of the state of California for the lands of (relative) liberty – states like Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

The same pattern is continuing from the other side of the continent and the northeast of America. This trend has been happening for decades as the Americans from states like New York, New Jersey, the Rust Belt, and Michigan flee bad economies and stifling tax policies. The electoral college power has been dwindling in the Northeast and Midwest. Nevertheless, the region is increasingly liberal. The result? Liberals moving to "red" states.

Claver-ism #18: Just because someone crosses the Red River (the northern border of Texas) that doesn’t make them a "red" voter.

With changing demographics and an impotent Republican Party apparatus, there's a very strong possibility that by the 2012 presidential election Texas will be "blue". Game over!

Imagine: The Democrats controlling the entire northeast and New England; the industrial mid-west including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois (of course); making inroads into Dixie via Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida; firming up support in flyover county like Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas; maintaining control of California, the Great Northwest, and claiming new strongholds in Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado; and, for the cherry on top, taking Texas! This isn't fiction. It’s on the verge of happening.

Listening to a presentation on this past Tuesday from David Benzion of Hill Research Consultants, a GOP polling firm here in the Houston area, it was revealed that their polling indicates that Texas could follow in the path of Colorado in the very near future. Just a few short election cycles ago Colorado was clearly "red". Not anymore. In Dr. James Dobson country, the governor is a D, the two senators are D’s, and every member of the House delegation save two are Democrats. Benzion pointed out HRC sees very similar patterns in Texas that were seen in Colorado before they were swept under by the "blue" tide.

Just today, Gallup has released new polling data that essentially calls Texas a "toss-up" competitive state, now! By their data, the Democrats have a two-point advantage. By their statistically analysis, there are only 5 strong GOP states in the entire Union, now, and Texas ain’t one of them. Are you getting a little nervous? You should!

In the midst of all of this, the Lone Star state is being hamstrung by a GOP party leadership that is impotent, and driven by self-centered ambition. There is some type of disease in the political atmosphere. It appears that the worst cases of the epidemic are attacking the Republican Party of Texas. The symptoms of the disease are an inept, incompetent, failed party official seeking a higher office (or, attempting to maintain their current position) within the party for the very purpose of ushering in the complete death and decomposition of the GOP.

As always, I’m just writing it "straight, no chaser". Texas is in a world of hurt. Thus, this nation is in a world of hurt.

If the Republican Party is unable to address the in-migration and the rapidly changing racial demographics of the southwestern states and this nation, good-bye, liberty. Good-bye, constitution. Good-bye, republic. And the admonishment of Mr. Franklin would have not been heard.

2009©Claver T. Kamau-Imani

Am I Free, Now?

Am I Free, Now?

There is no doubt about the unprecedented, historically mind-blowing events of this day, January, 20, 2009. The first African American was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America. Incredible!

As someone who grew up in a home of civil rights and Christ, I cannot ignore the stunning accomplishment of Mr. Obama. My father, a civil rights and political activist in Beaumont, Texas, where I grew up, is so very proud. He should be. My feelings on the matter are quite clear. I praise God that my father, my mother, and all those that went through "the struggle" and are still alive were able to witness this event. Yet, I praise God that I live in a country that allows me to oppose the new president with all the breath in my body because of his party and his policy positions. This I will do and you can be confident of that.

And with this historical day a greater question must be posed: Am I free, now?

Now that we have our first Black president, am I free to vote for whomever I desire without taking into consideration that person’s race? That didn’t seem to be the case in 2008. Anyone that dared oppose the Obama candidacy was labeled a pejorative – and, in my case, even on a live radio show. I must admit, I was pretty bold to establish a conservative talk radio show on an urban/black, liberal, Democrat, pro-Obama radio station. The very things that happened, the very names I was called (if the truth be told) I expected to happen.

And is anyone buying the myth that Blacks didn’t vote for Obama because he was Black? Of course not. We see the exit polling. We know the facts. And because of these indisputable numbers, we are fully convinced that Obama’s election is NOT the fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream.

Am I free, now? May I now vote for someone and with a party that agrees with my values and principles? May I now vote for a candidate that stands against abortion? Chances are that if I vote for an African-American Democrat candidate, I’m voting for the continued abomination of abortion that is devastating the Black community.

Am I free, now? I ask my fellow African Americans, may I vote for someone that agrees with me that a marriage is between one man and one woman as defined by the Bible? Chances are that if I vote for an African-American Democrat candidate, I’m voting for someone that supports the homosexual agenda of redefining marriage and, thus, literally attempting to openly defy God and have that defiance ratified by governmental action representing the very entity that this nation is.

Am I free, now? Is it okay for me to vote for a candidate that I agree with when it comes to the reduction of governmental scope, intrusion, and power? How about a candidate that holds a position that the lower the tax burden on our citizens the easier it is for the citizens to garner wealth? Chances are that if I vote for an African-American Democrat candidate, I’m voting for someone that believes in the ever-increasing power of government, wealth redistribution, socialist tenets that are self-destructive and unjust, and the abridgment of guaranteed liberty as promised within our nation’s Constitution.

I could go one, issue after issue. I think you get the point by now. Black voters have not been free since the 60's to vote as they believe. They’ve existed on the political plantation of the Democratic Party – openly and not-so-openly forbidden to step off the plantation or run the risk of being socially ostracized.

Now, I ask them: Are YOU free? I AM!

2009©Claver T. Kamau-Imani