Grassroots action can do wonderful things. Voters in Don McLeroy's district in Texas are organizing an ad campaign and are looking for contributions to help air radio ads opposing McLeroy's candidacy: as they say, "The ads will target moderate republicans who realize that to compete globally in the 21st century Texas needs smart students who are well educated, critical thinkers," which is exactly the right approach to take. We need to mobilize the sensible conservatives and get them to realize that their continued entanglement with raving nutbags has been a formula for short-term electoral success and long-term disaster.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Rise up, Texans!
Category: Creationism • Politics
Posted on: February 9, 2010 7:28 AM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: charley
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February 9, 2010 7:50 AM
I've got a spare bicycle. Is that enough?Posted by: llewelly
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February 9, 2010 7:53 AM
I guess it's better than nothing, but really, they need to get so far away from the crazed reactionaries they'd be much better off in something with warp drive ...Posted by: moorezw
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February 9, 2010 8:12 AM
We also have Amie Parsons running for Tincy Miller's spot in District 12!
Amie is an atheist libertarian who's running against two Republicans- she supports state/church separation, removal of lobbyists from the state curriculum review process, and vocational choices for Texas students.
http://lpdallas.archose.com/node/1466
Posted by: Walton, Marquis of Carabas
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February 9, 2010 8:15 AM
It's reassuring that there are some sensible people in Texas.
Posted by: moorezw
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February 9, 2010 8:18 AM
By the way, if you live in Texas, go here to find out what Board of Education district represents you.
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/
Posted by: jordin
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February 9, 2010 8:39 AM
I wish I hadn't looked up who my Board of Education representative was...ugghhh. I've heard of this quack but didn't realize it was the people that surround me in my neighborhood that put her there.
Denton, TX
76210
Denton County
Texas State Board of Education Member
SBOE District 14--Mrs. Gail Lowe
District Address: 11 CHRIS AVENUE
LAMPASAS TX 76550
Phone: (512) 556-6262
Posted by: PeteJohn
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February 9, 2010 8:40 AM
I think the GOP as a whole needs this kind of thing. It seems that as time goes along GOP has become synonymous with "Frighteningly insane right-wing loons who want no government interference but willingly submit to corporate interests and a mythical sky-daddy." Rolls off the tongue.
This is the party of Lincoln. They need to start acting like it.
Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes
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February 9, 2010 8:50 AM
I will be donating AND voting in that election. I'll send an e-mail to my FB homies with a link to that site. Thanks, PZ!
PS You get up pretty early in the morning.
Posted by: rachel.wilmoth
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February 9, 2010 8:51 AM
@#7, PeteJohn:
This is the party of Lincoln.
*Was* the party of Lincoln. As far as I can tell, the GOP 0f the 21st century has no desire to bear any resemblance to the party of Lincoln. They seem quite happy with being not only the Party of No, but '"Frighteningly insane right-wing loons who want no government interference but willingly submit to corporate interests and a mythical sky-daddy."' as you (correctly, IMO) put it.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM
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February 9, 2010 8:57 AM
This is the party of Lincoln. They need to start acting like it.
They gave that shit up when Nixon adopted the Southern Strategy.
Posted by: James F
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February 9, 2010 9:00 AM
Remember, folks, there is no Democrat opponent to McLeroy - so this race gets decided March 2 in the Republican primary. His sole opponent is Thomas Ratliff, a sensible candidate.
As Ratliff says on his web site, "I do not believe, as my opponent does, that the Earth is a mere few thousand years old, nor do I believe, as my opponent does, that dinosaurs and mankind lived at the same time."
Big improvement!
Posted by: truthspeaker
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February 9, 2010 9:03 AM
I'd settle for the party of Goldwater.
Posted by: James F
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February 9, 2010 9:10 AM
Texas Freedom Network has a nice rundown of the SBOE candidates. There's another critical race in District 5: Ken Mercer, a McLeroy crony, is facing opposition in both the GOP primary and the general election.
Posted by: David Marjanović
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February 9, 2010 9:28 AM
Goldwater…
Goldwater…
When he didn't want to nuke Vietnam, he was fairly sensible, it seems. From PZ's quote list:
Today he would vote Democratic, like Michael Reagan does.
Posted by: otrame
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February 9, 2010 9:56 AM
It's reassuring that there are some sensible people in Texas.
Of course there are some sensible people in Texas. Hell, I live in Texas.
...
Oh, wait....
Posted by: Free Lunch
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February 9, 2010 10:06 AM
Old news. The GOP is the party of Jefferson Davis now.
Posted by: truthspeaker
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February 9, 2010 10:32 AM
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't vote for a Goldwater (or an LBJ or a Humphrey), but he would be a candidate I could respect, sort of like John McCain used to be.
Posted by: abb3w
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February 9, 2010 10:41 AM
Oh, and there are several other challenges going on from the Democrats; EG, Judy Jennings trying to take the seat that Ms. Nutbar is abandoning, Rebecca Bell-Metereau (and several other Democrats) going after Ken Mercer.
Those interested might want to follow the TFN Insider blog.
Posted by: otrame
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February 9, 2010 10:48 AM
I doubt if Goldwater and I would have agreed on very many things, but he was what I call a "real" Republican and a "real" conservative. As thruthspeaker says, I could respect him. Especially when he said gay people should be allowed to serve in the military. He believed that every citizen had a right to serve their country.
As for John McCain, I did rather like him. Even though I thought his "deregulation" push was very wrong, I believed he was simply mistaken, that he honestly thought it was for the best. Unlike most high-level Republicans, he had a great sense of humor and was perfectly willing to make fun of himself. (citation: his early appearances on the Daily Show) Then he decided that becoming President was more important than anything else. He sold out. It's too bad.
Posted by: Summer Seale
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February 9, 2010 11:48 AM
I definitely support moderate conservatives who are against this religious zealotry. It not only is needed to fight back against the insane Creationists and other illiterate bastards who are running so many of our policies, but it is also good for the country.
I'm not against having a loyal opposition. Sometimes we need a loyal opposition to debate in an active manner. But these debates should be based on facts, not fantasy.
I would be overjoyed to see the Republican party start to throw out the crazies. Unfortunately, I am extremely pessimistic about that particular fight. I don't really see it happening for a long time, aside from maybe a few local elections here and there.
But, given the alternatives, I'll take what I can get.
Posted by: Peter H
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February 9, 2010 11:53 AM
There just might be hope for Texas after all. Baby steps - but steps toward a constructive and productive goal.
Posted by: James F
|
February 9, 2010 1:26 PM
otrame #19,
Your comment reminds me of one of my favorite Pharyngula comments ever, from Longtime Lurker:
Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes
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February 9, 2010 1:32 PM
By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl caaaaaalllling!
Posted by: Sven DiMilo
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February 9, 2010 1:51 PM
best version evar
Posted by: PeteJohn
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February 9, 2010 2:16 PM
Damn right he did. I actually had a rather high opinion of the guy in 2000 before he got Swiftboated before that was a word. I think after that he just was willing to do whatever it took for his party to give him a shot. He was once an independent minded guy, it seemed, but he sold his soul to Karl Rov... I mean the Devil. The Sarah Palin-as-VP was the last straw. He unleashed a useless bag of garbage on the American people, a waste of space who thinks mayoral experience, a few months as Chief Eskimo of the Alaska Icebox, and being a hockey mom qualifies you to be anything other than head pencil salesman at the Bic Mechanical Pencil factory.
Posted by: Summer Seale
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February 9, 2010 2:43 PM
#25
The unfortunate thing is that many Americans feel that way - that people who are educated are "bad" and want to do the country harm. The Republican party is currently the party of the ignoramus. It's sad to see because, much as I could disagree with William F. Buckley, few people ever approached his level of learning. He was a man who could make jokes on the fly in Latin on TV. He wasn't an idiot. The whole "Tea Party" movement appears to thrive on idiocy right now - it's their actual calling card. If you're educated, you're "bad".
Infuriating, insulting, and untenable. The GOP needs to get educated leaders back into a position of power. They need to tell the rest of them the way that the world works. They need to explain how civilizations improve with learning.
The "Tea Baggers" cite the founding fathers? Very well: all educated elites. They knew history, geography, literature, philosophy, arts, sciences of the day. They understood the value of an educated mind and used it. And I can bet you that they would certainly be horrified to see their names associated with a movement of uneducated louts who want to throw science textbooks out of the classroom and put "God's law" into the Constitution.
I think that some conservatives understand this, but they are now far too afraid to speak out. Supporting the few that do is a good way to fight against this crap.
Posted by: https://openid.org/cujo359
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February 9, 2010 2:45 PM
John Pieret has a couple of articles up about Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau and Tim Tuggey, who are both running against Ken Mercer.
Posted by: otrame
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February 9, 2010 3:09 PM
I wonder if any of them have read the original constitution. Don't they know the founding fathers did their very best to avoid letting uneducated idiots like them even vote? Some of that was changed later but that was the original intention of the electoral college.
Posted by: redmjoel
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February 9, 2010 6:51 PM
There are sensible people living in Texas. Just not in District 9, the largest city of which is Wichita Falls.
Posted by: Peter H
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February 10, 2010 10:12 PM
"The "Tea Baggers" cite the founding fathers? Very well: all educated elites. They knew history, geography, literature, philosophy, arts, sciences of the day."
And several of them were able to get along in Greek, Latin & sometimes Hebrew, at least in an "armchair" sense. They were not to be taken in by the glib literalism espoused by today's fundies.