No insight, but in a House where guns are bad/common sense gun control (insert sarcastic thingy) I’m afraid it will be. I just don’t see a Nancy House voting for anything that could be remotely seen as pro gun/pro LE. Hope I’m wrong.....Originally Posted by Joe Mac
I hope we're both wrong, because those were my thoughts exactly..
Well, FWIW, it was leftist legislators, such as, IIRC, Senator Barbara Boxer, changing their minds on HR 218, that finally got the LEOSA passed. With the events of September 11th, 2001, they finally saw it as a public safety and national security issue, independent of gun control.
Actually, both the left and the right, in their own ways, dislike LEOs. In Texas legislature, it has been Democrats who have actually helped us, at the LEO and PD level, with State Senator Whitmire and State Rep Turner being examples. Repugnantcans are all about “law and order,” but are not pro-LEO.
Last edited by Rex G; 11-15-2018 at 10:35 AM.
Can't really argue with your observations, Rex.
Everybody hates LEOs until they need one. (Nothing new under the sun.)
There's nothing civil about this war.
Great comments, as always Rex. I hope everyone sees it as a public safety and national security issue.
What do you mean the Democrats are more pro-LE in Texas?
I may be missing something, and don't mean that sarcastically.
Well, the “blue wave” type of democrats are not pro-LEO, but many older democrats really were/are our best friends in in the legislature, in Austin. One, of course, Sylevester Turner, finally won a mayoral election, in Houston. Senator Whitmire sponsored, and worked for, plenty of legislation to make LEOs’ lives easier.
LEOs need decent pay and benefits, and good equipment. Conservatives love to make it hard on us, in these areas.
Last edited by Rex G; 11-16-2018 at 10:16 PM.
That's always been an issue to wrestle with since I first began my LE career decades ago. The Dems generally were much more supportive of pay / benefits / pensions. The R's more likely to try to cut back on pay and pensions.
Even today my two R senators will smile and thank me for my service while telling me they intend to do what they can to undercut my pension and benefits. (Yet I still voted for them.)
Supporting Republican candidates is often like a "I know this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you" proposition.
There's nothing civil about this war.
It is not just pay and benefits. The “conservatives” seem to think we can uphold “law and order” without vehicles, people to maintain those vehicles, equipment, fuel, etc.
The previously-mentioned State Senator Whitmire also worked for common-sense solutions to the criminal justice aspect, which generally meant being tougher on criminals, though first- and second-offense BMV was lowered to a misdemeanor. Until the blue wave, Democrats in Texas had not generally been known to be easy on criminals.
As most know, Texas and all other southern states were one party states with the Democratic Party being the single party. This orientation can be traced to distain of the Republican Reconstruction Era after the Civil War. Southern Democrats opposed civil rights legislation and began to leave the party after passage of the 1964 Civil Rights legislation. Fiscal and social conservatism and Texas politics go hand in hand and did so during the one party years. Today it continues under the two party system. I do agree that today's Texas Democrats are more likely to vote for pay raises and benefits for municipal and state workers including law enforcement. In general they are perceived to be more generous with tax funds than are Republicans and are perceived to support tax increases more readily than Republicans. Some Texans say that demographics will kill us. From this statement, the reader might infer that these Texans point to the ever increasing number of citizens that will swell the ranks of the Democratic Party and will less likely support conservative beliefs. I'm a knee jerk voter who votes a straight Republican ticket. Doing so, I've helped elect a couple idiots and one or more incompetent politicians. Too, I may have voted for a few mean spirited persons. Perhaps things would be better for us if the two sides could argue and debate and hash out concerns in an effort to reach consensus. Everybody wants a raise and better benefits. Everybody wants a good pension. Nobody wants higher taxes. It's like this, "Don't gore my ox." You see, it's ok if somebody else's ox gets gored. That's mean spirited thinking.
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