Now that the 2016 presidential election cycle is over, and Donald J. Trump Is our new President-Elect, Texas Democrats need to turn our attention to the 2018 mid-term statewide elections. Wendy Davis, Congressman Henry Cuellar, and one of the Castro brothers should run for statewide office (Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and Controller) and an African American should run for United States Senator.
The Democratic candidate for Senator in 2018 should run on the message “Dr. No Has Got to Go”.
Nothing
What has Ted Cruz done for everyday, hardworking Texans since he was elected to the United States Senate other than vote no on everything, help shut down the federal government and attack President Obama and propose never confirming a new Supreme Court Justice to replace former Justice Scalia? Nothing.
- What has Ted Cruz done to help Texas teachers, our children and their schools? Nothing.
- What has Ted Cruz done to help Texas doctors, nurses, health care workers and our hospitals? Nothing.
- What has Ted Cruz done to help reduce congestion on Texas highways and air pollution in our state? Nothing.
- What has Ted Cruz done to help improve transportation and infrastructure funding in our state? Nothing.
- What has Ted Cruz done to help fight climate change, increase the use and development of clean and renewable energy technology and reduce our nation’s dependency on foreign oil and fossil fuels? Nothing.
- What has Ted Cruz done to help homeowners and the housing industry in our state? Nothing.
- What has Ted Cruz done to help make life better for women, children, single parents and families in our state? Nothing.
- What has Ted Cruz done to help reduce and eventually eliminate income inequality in our state and across the nation? Nothing.
Public Safety
What has Ted Cruz done to improve gun safety to help better protect our children in school and all of us in our workplaces and homes? Nothing.
The Second Amendment was never intended to help protect criminals and illegal gun owners.
Legal gun ownership is a constitutionally protected right but the government is also responsible for helping to protect us and ensure public safety.
Taxes on the sale of bullets should be increased and that new revenue be used to help cities prevent gun related crimes.
Ted Cruz has done nothing to help protect a woman’s right to choose, end childhood hunger in our state, end the school to prison pipeline or reform our criminal justice system. Nothing.
Our state needs a Senator who will focus on:
- helping to create good paying jobs,
- increasing the minimum wage,
- growing the Texas economy,
- expanding access to opportunity and shared prosperity, and
- working with local law enforcement agencies and community leaders to help keep our neighborhoods safe.
Public safety must not become a divisive issue. We all have a right to be safe in our homes and businesses and so too do our children when they are out and about.
Trade
Trade must not also become a pejorative. Trade is a cornerstone of the Texas economy. It is an essential ingredient in the Texas growth strategy for rice farmers, ranchers and the overall agriculture economy of rural Texas. So too is comprehensive immigration reform.
Texas is a port state dependent on export and import trade through the ports of Corpus Christi, Galveston, Freeport and Houston as well as through our international airports in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston. So too is our trucking industry, railroads. and energy industry dependent on global trade
Military
Fair and Free trade matters in Texas and is both an economic and national security issue. We have a strong military that must be modernized to protect our people at home and abroad and to help protect our economic interest around the world.
The foundation of our nation’s military might is our economic strength, and that strength is built on fair and free global trade. A system built on the sacrifice of the Greatness Generation who won World War II and is maintained to this day by diplomats and our men and women in uniform.
Through their sacrifices our veterans have earned the right to be cared for and the Veterans Administration must be fully funded and modernized to do so.
Budget
Texas needs a Senator who will make caring for our veterans their number one budget priority along with middle class tax relief, simplification of the federal tax code, elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), corporate tax reform to stimulate economic growth, raising the payroll tax cap to strengthen and save Social Security and implementing a plan to reduce our nation’s long term debt including sending a federal Balance Budget Amendment, a No Budget No Pay Amendment and Congressional Term Limits Amendment to the states for ratification.
Congress should legalize, regulate and tax marijuana and use that new revenue to help reduce the national debt and invest in the effort to help find a cure for cancer.
Texas needs a Senator who will support a regular budget process in Congress and hearings for all Supreme Court nominees.
The Lone Star State
We need a Senator who understands the importance of our cities and universities to economic growth in our state and equal access to those opportunities for all Texans in our diverse and growing state.
Texas is one state, The Lone Star state; urban, rural and suburban. We are a people committed to Freedom, Opportunity and Prosperity.
We believe in helping our neighbors and helping those who need a helping hand to get back up after having been knocked down by the hardships of life or a natural disaster.
Forward Together
The Alamo is not just a symbol of our state, it is a reminder of the selfless sacrifice once again needed to help bring our nation together to help move us Forward Together.
Our state-and our nation-need a Senator from Texas who will work to help bring us together and not just vote no.
Texas, we deserve a Senator who will be focused on helping us (our children, families and businesses) and not on running for President in 2020.
Texas must be the priority for our new Senator.
♦ Hon. Carroll G. Robinson, Esq. is a former Democratic candidate for Congress and General Counsel of the Texas Democratic Party who has served as an At-Large Member of the Houston City Council as well as a Houston Community College Trustee. Robinson is also an Associate Professor who teaches at a School of Public Affairs and has taught at two Texas law schools.
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