Once upon a Time in Texas: A Liberal in the Lone Star State (Focus on American History Series)

Rating:
Summary: Shaggy Dogs Do Exist
Review: How is it that Texas politics could give the country Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush, Ralph Yarborough and Phil Gramm? When Ann Richards became governor, the prison system, the juvenile justice system, and the mental health system were all to some degree under the control of federal courts because of state defaults. After her administration, all those systems were back under state control, employment was up and crime was down--yet, she got voted out. Why?

If questions like this hold no fascination for you, pass on this book...unless you are up for a string of hilarious shaggy dog stories involving the movers and shakers and noisemakers of Texas. The acid test for humor is whether you will laugh out loud when nobody else is in the room. This book passes so clearly that you might want to take it in small doses if you are prone to aches caused by belly laughs.

The reason why a first rate academic press would publish a memoir full of political anecdotes is because those anecdotes illustrate important strategy and tactics in the struggle to drag Texas toward the 21st Century. Where is it writ that you cannot learn important things and have fun at the same time?

Rating:
Summary: Texas in the Rearview Mirror
Review: There are a lot of reasons to read about the recent political history of Texas. To understand the current winners in American politics and where they want to take us, you've got to understand their financial, cultural, and political lineage. Dave Richards' book about Texas from 1954 to the present is a story of the dominant conflict in America today, the war between the extreme right and the moderates. It's a cautionary and instructive tale.

Richards is one of the lawyers who changed Texas from a one-party, racist fiefdom to a two-party political moiety with a less tilted playing field for Hispanics, Blacks, students, women, nature-lovers, and other ordinary people. In 1954, Richards came of age in a segregated Texas with a poll tax and no Republican party. Conservatives voted in the Democratic primaries, maintaining the white, racist, oil-field culture's hold on the state. He and his cohorts, a coalition of Hispanic and student labor, labor unions, Blacks, and women, determined to redistribute the power. With the aid of new federal laws and the fortunate appointment of a new crop of federal judges, the populist, progressive coalition were able to solve problems that had throttled Texas for a hundred years: unrepresentative voting districts, disenfranchisement of students, censorship of the press, disenfranchisement of Blacks and Hispanics, and unequal public school financing.

There have been lasting effects of the effort to remake Texas. There is no longer a poll tax, there is a Republican party, there is desegregation, and women, Hispanics, and Blacks hold office at every level of government.

But Nixon promised to turn the Supreme Court so far right we wouldn't recognize it, and with the Reagan and Bush appointees the federal courts are no longer reliably part of the solution. The Dallas east Texas oil field crowd has prevailed again, despite all the coalition building; to read Richards' book is to follow how and why.

One familiar trick, the disenfranchisement of voters who are putative "felons," played so effectively in Florida in the year 2000 presidential election, was first pulled in Texas in 1982. That time, the trick was played long enough before the election that Richards was able to get a federal injunction requiring the withdrawal of the "felons" list and prohibiting the secretary of state from doing anything that would interfere with or violate the right to vote.

Look for this trick to return to your polling place soon. For other Texas tricks, read Richards' book, and prepare to hire good counsel, or give otiose assent to the current winners.

Rating:
Summary: Once Upon a Time In Texas
Review: This book is well-written and compelling reading. It provides a overview of the politics in Texas from the time of the "Shivercrats" in the 50's through the upheaval of campus protests in the 60's to the current landscape where Republicans occupy the majority of statewide offices. The author is an attorney who was engaged over his career in Texas in a number of lawsuits seeking equity in voting rights for minorities and in funding among public schools, among other social justice issues.

The autobiographical structure of the book provides an engaging contrast between the (potentially dry) discussion of litgation and the personal growth and escapades of the author and his rowdy and adventurous friends. The legal points are explained in terms that non-attorneys can easily grasp and the outcomes of the cases demonstrate that progess can be made, bit by bit, in dragging civilization forward to a more progessive place if you are clever and persistent and sometimes just downright lucky. It is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the political history of Texas, or for students of public affairs seeking insight into the realities of how policies are made and changed.

It is also a very enjoyable read for anyone wanting to get a feel for Austin during its best years -- when the music was great and the living was laid back. Some of the anecdotes made me laugh out loud, which is one of the greatest compliments a book can elicit from me. The fact that there is much to be learned from reading it, and that it is a delightful read to boot, earned it a 5-star rating.