Column: Yes, Texas Democrats and Republicans are cooperating — and no, it’s not the apocalypse
I’m not one who likes to pooh-pooh gainful employment, but I would really hate to work in tourism and hospitality in Texas right now.
The state’s Republican leaders and their policies have been instrumental in shaping the narrative surrounding the current national culture war. As a result, all of the wonderful things about the Lone Star State — such as its diversity, its leading academic institutions, its wine country — are constantly being overshadowed by unflattering headlines about draconian laws that take aim at pregnant people, trans children, minorities, etc.
This week’s headlines about Texas politics are different.
Opinion Columnist
LZ Granderson
LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports and navigating life in America.
We now turn to the impeachment of Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, one of the state’s top Republicans (and culture warriors).
More than half of the Republicans in the Texas House joined Democrats in May and impeached Paxton on a variety of charges — with a vote of 121 to 23 — which removed him from his official duties. Even the state Senate, widely seen as more in line with the attorney general, voted on Tuesday to keep the trial against him moving ahead.
Unemployment is low. Poor counties are receiving billions in federal dollars. Will voters remember that when it’s time to cast ballots?
To understand how incredible that is, think back to the summer of 2021. That’s when more than 50 Democrats in the state Legislature actually fled Texas to prevent a quorum that would have let Republicans pass restrictive voting laws. The standoff between the two parties lasted 38 days, the longest in Texas legislative history. And it wasn’t the first time Democrats had resorted to this tactic.
That’s how deep the division in Texas runs. That’s the kind of partisanship that Paxton’s impeachment had to overcome.
The Republicans running the state love to talk about population growth, but they ignore the minority groups responsible for it.
He actually petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the 2020 election and still was reelected. So the impeachment trial, which began Tuesday, doesn’t reflect some kind of consensus from the Texas electorate that Paxton had crossed a line. It reflects a stance taken by the state’s Republican leaders. Allegations of bribery, obstruction of justice and other abuses throughout the years have brought forth 20 articles of impeachment.
Beyond Texas, bipartisanship and decorum have been dying a slow death since the “birtherism” against Barack Obama that fueled the ascendance of the MAGA movement. The Trump years were brutal for the old core of the Republican Party. A lot of it has to do with the counterproductive notion that compromise is a sign of weakness.
The PR fiascoes of the Dodgers, Target and Bud Light have all shown there’s no neutral position in today’s culture wars.
Democracy doesn’t exist without compromise. It also doesn’t exist if voting isn’t widely accessible to the electorate. But when winning elections becomes more important than governing, concepts such as compromise and voting become speed bumps on the road to power. That mentality led us straight to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Paxton not only attended the rally before that riot, but spoke at it. His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, attended as well.
Fatalities along the Rio Grande are disturbing, but it’s not at all clear they’ll affect the outcomes of coming elections.
Even though former President Trump has defended Ken Paxton, Republicans in the Texas Legislature have apparently just had enough of his antics.
None of this means the impeachment hearings are going to result in his permanent removal. But it does mean the evidence is compelling. So compelling that in a state where elected Democrats are known to flee just to thwart Republicans, this time the red and blue came together to defend Texas.
Texas didn’t align with my progressive views. But as a writer, I find my imagination returning to my upbringing there, and I want to be part of the state’s story.
In normal times, this is how democracy is supposed to work. But we haven’t been normal for a long time.
Case in point: U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has introduced impeachment articles targeting President Biden and four other top officials. Greene is the same woman who recently appeared on Alex Jones’ InfoWars show and said the tens of thousands of people trapped at Burning Man because of flooding had been “brainwashed” into believing “that climate change is the cause of all of it.”
“I believe this is the left’s new lie that they’re going to put on the American people,” she theorized.
Meet the faces of the California exodus to Texas
Meanwhile, Georgia is developing a multimillion-dollar climate plan, and Gov. Brian Kemp, also a Republican, has pledged to make the state the “electric mobility capital” through production of electric vehicles.
So in what alternate reality is Greene living?
Here’s an idea for lawmakers who fear critical race theory and don’t want to be plagued with white guilt: Teach about heroic white abolitionists as well as white enslavers.
That’s the sort of backdrop that makes this week’s scene in Texas such a welcome sight. Paxton wasn’t impeached because of Democrats. He was impeached because an investigation was conducted and politics took a back seat to principles.
Given that the Republican governor will most likely be the one selecting Paxton’s replacement, should he be removed, it’s unlikely progressives in the state will be celebrating the new person. But given Texas’ role in restricting abortion rights, the attempts to overthrow the 2020 election and attacks on the LGTBQ+ community, it is important to know there is still a line that many members of the GOP won’t cross.
The incumbent governor refuses to budge on pot legalization. His rival Beto O’Rourke wants to legalize it and expunge convictions. Nov. 8 will test where voters stand.
Paxton’s impeachment isn’t the kind of thing to put in a tourism pamphlet. But it does have the potential to be a turning point for the state’s reputation, if not its politics. It should be a moment that elected officials can build on — a time when what’s good for the people conflicted with what’s best for the GOP, and when members of both parties chose to serve the people.
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