Portrait Of A Very Red Congressional District

The image above is of my own congressional district -- the 13th Congressional District of Texas. The Cook Partisan Voting Index lists this district as one of the two most Republican-leaning districts in the United States (tied with Alabama's 6th Congressional District at a +29). The district has been represented by a Republican for the last 18 years -- Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon). The GOP has such a strong grip on this district that the Democrats didn't even field a candidate in 2012.

It is a very large district, with only two cities of any substantial size -- Wichita Falls (2010  population 104,553) and Amarillo ( 2010 population 190,695). It covers 41 Texas counties and 40,000 square miles -- and is more than 350 miles in length. Here are a few other facts about the 13th District:

Population...............698,612

Male...............354.390 (50.7%)
Female...............344,222 (49.3%)

19 & under...............201,344 (28.8%)
20 to 34...............140,327 (20.1%)
35 to 54...............179,938 (25.8%)
55 to 64...............82,094 (11.8%)
65 & over...............94,969 (13.6%)

Median age...............35.8

Whites...............424,728 (60.8%)
Hispanic...............177,215 (25.4%)
Blacks...............38,535 (5.7%)
Native American...............5,459 (0.8%)
Asian...............11,982 (1.7%)
Other/Mixed...............40,693 (5.8%)

Born in Texas...............475,620 (68.1%)
Born in another state...............160,496 (23.0%)
Born in U.S. territory...............6,487 (0.9%)
Born in another country...............56,009 (8.0%)

Civilian labor force...............329,906
Employed...............308,973
Unemployed...............20,933 (6.4%)

Housing units...............299,861
Occupied...............252,387 (84.2%)
Vacant...............47,474 (15.8%)

Median household income...............$45,739
Mean (average) household income...............$59,705
Under $10k...............16,086 (6.4%)
$10k to $25k...............50,924 (20.2%)
$25k to $50k...............69,943 (27.7%)
$50k to $100k...............75,834 (30.1%)
Over $100k...............39,600 (15.7%)

No health insurance...............134,606
(20.2% of non-institutionalized population)

11.3% of all families live in poverty
18.3% of families w/children under 18 live in poverty
20.9% of families w/children under 5 live in poverty
31.7% of households headed by single female in poverty
41.4% of households headed by single female (w/kids under 18) in poverty
36.3% of households headed by single female (w/kids under 5) in poverty
15.1% of all people live in poverty
21.8% of all children under 18 live in poverty
12.7% of 18 to 64 year olds live in poverty
9.6% of those 65 and older live in poverty

82.8% of those over 25 have a high school degree or GED
19.6% of those over 25 have a 4-year college degree

If you would like to see a profile of your own congressional district, go to census.gov/mycd.

Dem's Failure An Opportunity For Greens

If you've read this blog for long, then you've heard me describe the Texas Panhandle as the reddest part of Texas. You may have wondered why I would say that since Texas has a lot of really red territory -- places where a Republican candidate is virtually assured of winning. But in those other areas, the Democrats do run a candidate against the Republicans (even if that candidate has little chance of winning). That doesn't always happen here in the Panhandle.

For example, consider the District 13 seat for the United States Congress -- currently held by right-wing Republican Mac Thornberry. This district covers all of the Panhandle and a good part of North Texas (a very large district over 300 miles long). In 2010 the Democratic Party did not even field a candidate for that seat, and they have failed to do so again in 2012.

This is not really surprising since the state Democratic Party leadership has virtually written off West Texas and the Panhandle, and is not willing to invest any money in any races there. Just like in the past, they are concentrating only on the urban areas of Texas and South Texas (where Democrats already hold seats). It's a plan destined to make sure Democrats remain a minority party in Texas, but it's what the leadership has done for years now (and a primary reason why Democrats hold NO statewide elected offices).

But the gutless timidity of the Democratic Party has presented an opportunity for the Green Party. Even though there is no Democratic candidate in Congressional District 13, it will be a three-way race -- and there will be a progressive running for the seat. The Green Party is fielding a candidate for the District 13 seat -- Keith F. Houston of Randall County.

I have no illusions about Mr. Houston's chances of winning -- he's a long shot at best. But strange things happen in politics. If Democrats turn out in large numbers and vote for Houston because there's no Democrat on the ballot, if Libertarians eschew the Republican and vote for their own candidate, and if too many Republicans stay home because they can't stomach the eventual Republican presidential candidate, then a political miracle could happen.

And District 13 is not the only race where Democrats have failed to enter a candidate. There are at least five statewide offices where there are no Democrats running against the Republican incumbent. In two of those races there are Green Party candidates. That should be good enough to get the Green Party enough votes (a minimum of 5%) to stay on the ballot for 2014. My friend and fellow blogger Perry over at Brains and Eggs has written an excellent post on this, and I urge you to read it.

Rep. Thornberry - Servant Of The Rich

The 13th Congressional District of Texas is the northernmost district in the state of Texas.   It is largely a blue collar district, but it doesn't vote like it.   Being 81% white and in the middle of the Bible Belt, the district consistently votes against its own economic interests and for the social values of the Republican Party.   In fact, this district is tied with the 6th Congressional District of Alabama for the title of "Most Republican District in America" (according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index).   Democrats didn't even bother to field a candidate in the 13th District in the last election.

It should come as no surprise then that the district's congressman, Mac Thornberry, has been chosen to carry the water for the party's effort to get even more tax breaks for the richest Americans (even above the massive tax breaks given them last month).   Thornberry's first action in the new Congress was to introduce a bill to abolish the estate tax.   He mislabels it as the Death Tax Repeal Act.

Thornberry (and the other Republicans) would like for their constituents to believe this is a tax that affects a large portion of American citizens.   That is just not true.   The tax exempts the first $5 million in cash and property.   The truth is that the tax would only affect the richest 2% of all Americans (and would help the Wall Street tycoons far more than it would help the residents of the 13th District -- most of whom don't have anywhere near $5 million dollars to pass on to their children or other inheritors).   It would, however, increase the federal deficit that Republicans promised to lower.

In trying to defend this outrageous giveaway to the richest Americans (the only Americans who don't need help in this recession), Thornberry has said that abolishing this tax would create 1.5 million jobs.   Of course he doesn't say how it would create those jobs or where he got those ridiculous numbers.   That's because there is no reason to believe that abolishing the estate tax would create a single job.

It has been shown time and time again that reducing taxes are a very poor way to create jobs.   Businesses don't hire people because they get to keep more tax money, but because they need more people to produce their goods or deliver their services (regardless of what the tax rate is).   And abolishment of the estate tax would be an even worse job creator that lowering other kinds of taxes, since it doesn't put more money into a businessman's pocket -- it only transfers money from one person to another.

This is just more "trickle down" economic nonsense, and can only be defended by Republican lies.   It this was a real job creator, then it should have been creating jobs (since it was suspended for 2010 as a part of the Bush tax cuts for the rich).   The only thing Thornberry's new bill shows is that, like most other Republicans, he cares more for the rich than for the ordinary citizens in his district.

Adding to this notion is the fact that he is also co-sponsoring the repeal of the new health care law.   While he doesn't like the rich to have to pay their fair share of taxes, he doesn't mind denying health care to ordinary people.   He doesn't mind letting the insurance companies deny coverage because of "pre-existing conditions", or suspending coverage because a patient needs expensive medical treatment, or refusing to allow parents to keep college students on their insurance policies until age 26.

Thornberry doesn't mind hurting the people of his district, but he's quick to go to bat for the Wall Street tycoons.   And sadly, he will pay no price for that -- because he represents the reddest district in America.   And when the time comes, you can bet he'll vote to cut Social Security and Medicare.   It's disgusting.

Thornberry Is No Leader

Mac Thornberry is the Republican representative from the 13th Congressional District in Texas (which runs from Wichita Falls to Amarillo, and includes most of the Texas Panhandle). He's a good foot-soldier in the right-wing army, voting just like the Republican leadership wants him to vote (for the Iraq War, for the Patriot Act, against the minimum wage, etc.).

In fact, he's marched in lockstep with his right-wing masters so well, that the National Journal "gave Thornberry a composite rating of 91.7 for conservative positions and 8.3 for liberal ones." But tell me, can you name one piece of major legislation authored by Thornberry? I couldn't either, even after checking Wikipedia and Congresspedia.

He's been in the U.S. House for 15 years now, but I doubt that most Texans could even tell you who he is (let alone anyone outside the state). He hasn't lasted 15 years because of anything he's accomplished, but because he's a Republican in one of the reddest districts in America.

But somehow, Thornberry has decided that he's leadership material. I don't know what would give him such an idea, but he seems to believe it. For the second time now, he has tried to become the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. And for the second time, his fellow Republicans have shot him down.

Instead of Thornberry, the House Republican Steering Committee voted to make Howard McKeon of California the ranking Republican on the committee. Looks like even the Republicans, as wacky as they are, have yet to see any leadership qualities in Thornberry -- even after 15 years in the House.

Thornberry needs to realize that following orders makes you a good follower, not a leader. It's time for the 13th District to replace this "do-nothing" representative. If he hasn't shown any leadership skills in fifteen years, then he probably doesn't have any.

Wouldn't it be refreshing to have a representative who could actually accomplish something?

13th District Is Represented By An Idiot

There are some real nuts in Congress, and many of them talk enough to be a constant embarrassment to their constituents. The 13th District of Texas is represented by a real idiot and right-wing nut -- Mac Thornberry. The only thing good about Thornberry is that until now, he has generally kept his mouth shut and stayed out of the national spotlight. I always figured it was because he understood his own incompetence and didn't want to show it to the world.

I was wrong. Ole Dingleberry has decided that he's going to fix this recession, and it's pretty obvious that he's drinking far too much of the Repub's red kool-aid. He thinks that all we need to do to stimulate the economy is to give rich people more money (and yes, that would be the same rich folks who have been making record profits each year under the current tax code, and yes, that would be the same rich folks who've destroyed our economy with their greed).

After all, if we give the rich all the money, they'll share it with the rest of us won't they? NOT! Where has this buffoon been the last few years? Bush and the Republicans did everything they could to see the rich made larger profits every year, but somehow none of it trickled down to anyone else. They just hoarded it, and whined about having to pay any taxes at all. Wages either remained stagnant or the jobs were shipped overseas.

Rep. Dingleberry has decided to do away with our income tax system and replace it with a sales tax. Never mind that the sales tax is the most regressive of all taxes. Poor and working class folks would probably wind up paying an even larger percentage of their income than they do now, while the rich will wind up paying a negligible percentage of their income. But that's OK. It's the Republican mantra to protect the rich while soaking the workers.

If he can't get that done, Rep. Dingleberry has a fallback position. He'll just lower the top tax rate to 25%. Never mind the ultra-rich have gotten even richer under the current tax rate, and control around 40% of our nation's wealth. Republicans like D-berry won't be happy until the rich control all the wealth and the rest of us are slaves.

Many of us in the Panhandle and West Texas have known this guy was a moron for a while now. It's just too bad he had to finally open his mouth and prove it to the rest of the world.