Did you vote for a “progressive” agenda in 2014? Did Texans support the progressives, like the candidates of Progress Texas and Battleground Texas?
Of course not. Texans soundly rejected the progressive agenda of the Texas left.
Well, not all Texas Republican officials, it seems. Speaking last night at a debate on the question of the Texas House speakership, a GOP lieutenant for Joe Straus described the incumbent speaker’s 2015 agenda for the 84 Texas Legislature like this:
“Speaker Straus — I know you don’t believe this, I know you don’t agree with this — but he’s gonna be there to provide progressive and forward-looking solutions,” Straus spokesman and Dallas State Rep. Jason Villalba told the audience.
When given the opportunity to correct his “Freudian slip,” Villalba doubled-down by saying, “That’s something that’s important for Texas. I don’t know why progressive is a bad word.”
Well, Texans know why it’s a bad word – because it represents a dangerous ideology.
A progressive agenda, that’s what the current speaker of the Texas House says he wants to accomplish in 2015. Worse, his team doesn’t understand why a progressive agenda is a bad thing. They apparently missed the Wendy Davis campaign.
Villalba was right on one count: Texans most assuredly do not agree with the “progressive” agenda.
By historic margins, Texans voted for conservative reformers in 2014.
Remember, more than 94 percent of GOP voters have cast a ballot for strict, constitutional limitations on government growth. But that’s been killed by Joe Straus, because it would thwart the “progress” provided by bigger, more costly and intrusive government.
Texans have demanded real tax relief, but when the Texas House had historic revenues, it was Joe Straus’ team that went the “progressive” route and spent it all. Instead of broad-based tax relief, the Straus Team gave special breaks to their cronies.
Of course, the “progressive” agenda has long opposed pro-life initiatives. Joe Straus holds that line, saying he does not consider the pro-life position to be “serious” public policy, and that it exists only as “campaign fodder.”
Texans want bold, conservative reforms, while Joe Straus is offering a “progressive” agenda.
Every Republican legislator who votes for Joe Straus as speaker does so endorsing his clearly stated desire for passing a progressive agenda, while obstructing conservative reforms.
That’s not what Texans demanded at the ballot box in 2014, but it is what some GOP lawmakers apparently intend to deliver in 2015.
