We’re Democrats! We Love You!
Okay, today I’m going to tell you a story.
We Democrats have a caucus system in Texas. You attend your state senatorial district convention where you get elected to the state Democratic convention. Once you are at the state convention, you elect members of the State Democratic Executive Committee, the governing body of the state party. You do other stuff, too, like elect national delegates in Presidential years.
So, in years past, people signed-in at their senatorial convention on sheets of paper that made two copies. One stayed with the chairman of the senatorial convention, another one went to the state party to make up the delegate list. The state party’s copy was so messed up that you could hardly read it.
In order to achieve a balance of all voices, we have “add-on” members to the State Democratic Executive Committee. For example, Young Democrats get a male and a female member of the SDEC. LGBT, Disabled Democrats, Veterans, African American, Hispanic, etc. get two seats each. For the most part, these people are also elected at the state convention. If you don’t have a readable list of people of who is disabled, LGBT, young, etc, that makes things as messy as a two year old with finger paints.
So, since we live in the technology era, it was decided by some really bright people that Democrats could sign up online for their senatorial conventions and then the Excel sheet from each senatorial convention could be sent back down to each convention. It made perfect sense and it worked like a $20 hammer on a greased nail. We could finally read email addresses and phone numbers!
Except for one thing.
This morning I looked at the list of disabled people attending the state convention and holy cow! there was like 450 of them. We usually have about 30 people at our caucus. Then I kept looking and some people I knew for damn fact weren’t disabled, were listed as being disabled.
So, I email my friend Glen Maxey who is generally knowledgeable about this stuff and I say, “Since when is Joe Smith, Sally Jones, David Frontage, and a whole mess of other people, including a couple of State Representatives, become disabled?” He emailed back, “Look at the LGBT list! 75% of the people coming are LGBT.” He was right.
When Glen first noticed this odd thing, he called a couple of the people he knew weren’t LGBT and asked why they checked the box for the LGBT caucus.
Come to find out, we’re damn Democrats. We are accustomed to checking the boxes of things we support. So some people just checked boxes. Veterans caucus? Hell, you support veterans whether you’re a veteran or not. You support disabled people, check that box! LGBT Caucus? Hell, I’ll watch them get married and throw a party for them afterwards! I’m a damn Democrat. I support everybody!
And that is Reason #4,519 why I love Democrats. We pretty much just wanna hug ya.
Oh that is just wonderful reason. Totally agree with you. By the way, did Glen dance on the table when Celia Israel won the special election to fill Austin’s District 50 seat in the Texas House? IIRC, he promised to do it naked!
1Love of others is the best reason ever to check every box! Loving the Texas Democrats for that.
2What a wonderful story JJ! I’ll tell it again to myself at bedtime so I can sleep with a smile on my face 🙂 Way to go Texan Dems!
3Well, I din’t see no caucus for Fat Old Ladies with Flat Feet. I consider that serious discrimination. Maybe we could be under Disabled. I always use that excuse any time I really don’t want to walk clear across the parking lot. My grandson said “Grandma, you’re not disabled.” I said “I’m disabled enough.” I didn’t add that sometimes I consider having him for a grandson makes me feel disabled. I’m sure he feels that way sometimes.
4p.s. I’m not THAT fat. I’m just what Daddy used to call “pleasingly plump”. Just for the record.
5Best description of the two parties:
“I’m a Republican because I love America.”
“I’m a Democrat because I love Americans.”
See what happened there?
6Then being a Democrat must mean not reading all the words!
7Just speaking for myself…….
I’ve always considered “Republican Party” to be an oxymoron. Those people are no fun at all.
But “Democratic Party” is just three or four good Democrats in the same room. A party is inevitable.
8austinhatlady: “I did not promise to dance nekkid if Celia won. You are remembering this askew. I promised to dance nekkid if we raised enough money to program these online tools, including the one for folks to register for the conventions. I did crawl up on a table, and shake my booty, but not nekkid. Other donors had upped the ante to keep my clothes on.
Now, on the issue of Celia Israel winning. That, too, was worthy of a nekkid table dance. But I decided on that victory night to let the hundred or so young people who make that victory possible to do all the dancing.
9I’m a Democrat because I also like people who aren’t like me.
Well, that’s one of the reasons.
10Great choices, Glen Maxey, and great work for the Democratic Party. Thank you!
Kool, great distinction, MaryK!
We have many Democratic contenders and months to go, before the November battle. In tho proceeding months we need to educate, register and insure the Democratic vote is counted.
Democratic Party it is all about messaging. Do NOT allow the Kochroaches to buy our government and destroy all life with their fracking greed. Keep the message simple: greedy, irresponsible old white dudes without a clue need to be smacked down harder than moron Cliven Bundy.
Vote Democratic Party, or see some worse crap than the Dubya criminals delivered.
11***HUGS!!!***
12Yep, I’m a Democrat all right. I’m still a little disappointed that Glen weaseled out of the nekkid dancing, but I don’t regret the money I sent. Blue is my favorite color.
13Ralph, will never forget the time a Republican told me that he was in a huge hotel on travel where a state Democratic party was having their convention and he could see what was going on (open doors, wow, what a breath taking idea!). There was an Emcee who said something over the microphone, then the official state host said a few words (very,very few) before the dinner and as soon as the tables were cleared everybody actually partied!!!! He was shocked! This was just never done at an R state convention.
I was both impressed by his candor and actually felt sorry for him. What a grim, grimy grey life it must be with nothing but constant ear beatings at their state convention. To this day I’ll bet he could not understand what he’d been missing!
14Maggie, that’s a great story. I’ll just add that I don’t believe mean people can ever be happy. And if I had to describe Republicans in one word it would be mean.
15And I just remembered a Democratic Convention story too.
About 25 or 30 years ago the state convention was in Houston and some worthy Democrat rented the hotel suite that George H. W. Bush listed as his residence in Texas while he lived in Washington. They filled the bathtub up with ice and beer and invited everybody to a party at the Bush residence. Hundreds showed up over the course of the evening.
I just love being a Democrat.
16Ralph, my Republican “informant” couldn’t get over the live band at the convention. And all the dancing and singing! Apparently R’s don’t have live music at their once a year state things. Could be that any really good sizable band that might be booked is a union (horrors!) band. Hence the lack of bright music. What a sorry bunch!
17You only have separate Senatorial conventions in counties with more than one state senate district. In senate districts which are multi county you have county conventions and hold the Senatorial convention when the state convention meets. This is a matter of convience. If you had a county convention for all of Harris county you would need the Astro dome as a meetning place.
18The Democrat Party has forever been known as the party of BRATS AND BEER. The Republican Party? Whine and cheesy!
I once posted a bulletin in my fav watering hole. To whit:
When you are dead, you don’t know you are dead.
It is only difficult for others.
The same is true of stupid.
Liberal Dems thought it hilarious and true.
Conservative types thought it blasphemous that the dead should be made fun of.
Nothing more needed be said.
19MaryK, perfect. Y’all, I bet we’d get more folks to the polls if we had live music and good food out in the parking lot.
20That is a great story. I just love it.
21This also explains Democrats general success in recounts. We don’t just fail to follow directions, we tend to assume we know how it oughta be done.
22