Some of my favorite Texas political bloggers such as Vince’s Capitol Annex and Eileen’s side-splitting In the Pink Texas are wound up over the House speaker’s race. But EFD — not so much.
In fact, other than what state legislative matters I have to watch for in the course of my work as a writer, I could care less than little about the new Texas Lege session.
In times past I would be excited, jazzed, etc., over the start of a new session and all the political intrigue that went along with it. Now, not so much.
My prodigious apathy over the Texas Legislature dates back to the 2003 session when the Republicans took over. Since the body of the Lege had historically been GOPs in a Dem’s clothing for as long as I can remember, I was hoping that the rabid partisanship that defined politics during the late 20th and early 21st centuries would somehow miss the Texas Legislature. But miss it, it didn’t. And the trifling matters such as school finance, water issues and highways all had to wait in order for puppet-master Republican congressional whip Tom DeLay to engineer redrawing congressional districts. Then came the Democrats leaving for Oklahoma and I would have been just as happy had the Republicans followed suit.
The Texas Legislature has thus seemed like a wretched case of body lice during the last few years except for the fact that one may sometime get rid of lice. I do not relish the stupid legislation and the silly political maneuvering that may come from this or any future Texas Legislatures until it can be shown that they are doing at least a smidgen of work in the best interest of the state rather than in the best self-interest or best special interest.
Of course, I will follow what’s going on with the Lege in the news and on the blogs of my favorite bloggers. But until the Lege shows me something in the way of governing, I will continue my orgy of apathy.