Now that the Texas Democratic Party has uncritically adopted
the latest version of ridiculous and crippling “McGovern Rules” for
Delegate Selection and stupidly aligned itself with those in the GOP/DLC as
favor a “SuperDuper Tuesday” Primary, let’s consider the
matter of what actually contributes to “diversity” – a biological
survival trait.

Diversity is like “robustness” – an
engineering durability trait. I am all for diversity/robustness. And, with Bill
CLINTON, Bob HAUGE, Gary HART, and a few others am actually one of the original
“McGOVERNITES” in Texas.

But, I belong to Toastmasters International, which, like the
fine, old Texas Democratic Party, is an authentic legatee of late
nineteenth-century progressivism. Unlike the Texas Democratic Party though, it
actually provides value to civic engagement and participation.

Like the Masonic Order from the early days of our republic,
it ostensibly eschews “politics, religion, and sex”.   

However, it actually provides people with essential
political skills, provides opportunities for spiritual solidarity, and, well,
is a place – like the Israeli Defense Forces – to meet and court a
mate or, in my case, enjoy the company of some of the other charming women I
did not actually marry.

And, in a simply amazing way, that provides for more religious/racial/gender
diversity than I observe quantitatively in the Democratic Party. Also, it fosters
actual leadership skill rather than just the patronizing liberalism and
condescending racialism of our party elite – that would be vain lawyers
and their sycophantic cup-bearers – a clerical estate, um, “trust”.

We have two tools for achieving real diversity:

One is providing value –
starting with the sustaining membership program – to participation in our
party, and …

The other is parliamentary law. It
provides dignity and equality of expression uniformly to all without fear, favor,
or the humiliating deference to a clerical or propertied elite.

These, value and dignity, are the core of a new political
business model I will be presenting. It is a diversity program.

The Texas Democratic Party relies, instead, on patronage,
set-asides, quotas, and condescension to preserve by obscuring its Jim Crow
foundations. Jim Crow was and is a system of bi-partisan collaboration designed
to preserve and protect a system of economic discrimination.

In fact, the GOP does that better than we ever did or can:
They have it all, a police-state, a civil-religion, and an ideology of wealth
and privilege. This is not new: Federalists and Whigs have always stood for
this. The difference today, is that the GOP has no opposition, just cringing
liberals who want to help preserve the Jim Crow system of bi-partisan collaboration.

If we are going to be an effective ruling party ever again,
we cannot be a Jim Crow party. We must revert to our original, pre-civil war,
principles of republican democracy, not benign Whiggery. In fact, our original
self is likely to be wildly popular. We – our party – maxed political
participation by 1858 when the country had two, competing parties, not one
ruling and one whining party.

As progressive populists, we have dropped the “diversity”
charade. Now, we have to go for the real thing: value and dignity for all as
participate in our party, no racial patronage, no deference to mere lawyers.
Politics is citizenship in action and the “Net-Roots” is where that
is, not those evil twins: Richard NIXON’s Southern Strategy and
Affirmative Action.

If we can provide value and dignity, the young people, the
racial minorities, yes, the lawyers will come. If we can’t, this party is
in trouble. Economic discrimination, professional privilege, and racial
patronage are all the party elite know.

::JRBehrman