Boot Perry

I am not now nor have I ever been a member of the Republican Party (nor the Democratic Party for that matter).  What Glenn Beck did to Debra Medina on Wednesday is just another reason why.  Immediately following Beck’s attack, Rick Perry began running thousands of “robo calls” using Beck’s attack.  The Governor “doth protest too much, me thinks” (Shakespeare), and might be running a wee bit scared (Linda Curtis).

My advice to Rick Perry is to keep running – down your toll roads.  The fact that Beck, Perry and now Kay (shame on you girl!) are attacking Medina makes me want to support her all the more.

You see, independents love a fair fight and we detest the party machines for their dirty tricks.  Although independents span the political spectrum, and therefore many of us don’t exactly fit into the Tea Party movement, we appreciate what is going on here.  Medina is standing up to the party hacks and saying that ordinary people have – quite simply – the right to think and say whatever they believe without being demonized.  The party hacks will never stand for that.  But you knew that already, right?

Beck’s attack on Medina should be taken as a signal and a warning to tea partiers that the Republican Party will do and spend whatever it takes to crash and burn your party.  There is a better place for you.  It’s called the independent movement.  But let me give you fair warning.  We are of the belief that nothing is going to change about policy in this country, unless we build a united movement (across the ideological divide) for political reform.

We tried to build a united front for reform back in the 1990’s when Perot-led independent movement came on like gangbusters.  But the Republican Party co-opted and then killed our agenda (deficit reduction, term limits and campaign finance reform).  The rest of the movement killed itself off arguing about which litmus test we would use to denote a “true reformer”.  Let’s not keep replaying this bad movie.

Here’s the Beck/Medina tape on YouTube for your own edification:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j2Ov6u9e38

Here’s Debra’s response:  http://www.medinafortexas.com/getPost?p=272

Independent Texans, the only voter association seeking representation and political rights for approximately 5 million non-aligned Texas voters, proudly endorses Debra Medina for Texas Governor in the Republican primary. Early voting begins February 16th.  Mrs. Medina met the 60% support threshold of Independent Texans’ members to receive our endorsement.  Congratulations to Debra Medina and her supporters!

Details below.

Linda Curtis, Independent Texans http://IndyTexans.org

Debra Medina for Governor

Independent Texans’ members are well aware of Governor Rick Perry’s record which is why he received not one vote of support from our members.   Perry has become legendary for his abuses of power and the veto pen, his revolving door for lobbyists, and for poisoning the halls of the legislature with a redistricting gerrymander on steroids back in 2003.  For Texas independents Perry is the embodiment of what is so wrong in government today.  Rick Perry is such a problem for political independents that we have resorted to joking about it at BootPerry.org to make our point.

Kay Bailey Hutchison, who received about 30% support from our members, grasps our concerns about the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), but has not yet fully made the connection between such policy monstrosities as the TTC and political reform.  Though the same might be said for Debra Medina, our endorsement of Mrs. Medina springs from the long-held desires of independent voters for citizen legislators.  Debra is an ordinary person (a nurse to be exact) who has held her own in this race with two titans in Texas politics.  She has demonstrated that she deserves our support.

What Independents Want – A United Front for Reform

Since 1992 when Ross Perot received the largest independent vote in US history, independent voters (now at 41% of the American electorate – Pew Research Center, May 2009) and our concerns, have grown.  We are even sicker today of the partisan gamesmanship that keeps voters fighting amongst ourselves while the big shots in both parties have put the economy and our very livelihoods on the edge of a cliff.

We never liked Bush bashing and we don’t like Obama bashing either.  We want the parties to either come together or get out of the way.  We – Americans of all persuasions — want to be part of the conversation about fixing our problems before it is too late.

Once every ten years we, as a country, have an opportunity to damp down the partisan game immediately following the census.  It is called redistricting. We can no longer afford to allow politicians to choose their own voters.  We must take the gerrymandering weapon out of the hands of both parties, through a non-partisan independent redistricting commission.  This is the single most important thing Texans need to bring any real policy solutions to the table.  Is there a gubernatorial candidate out there who will stand up for a Texas Redistricting Commission?  Rick Perry would never sign it.  Would Kay?  Debra Medina…our best hope. (Read more about political reform here.)