The Default of Democracy
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Episode 10 – Houston, We Have A Runoff
Forgive us for using a hack phrase, but we have a runoff election on Saturday December 9th, with Sheila Jackson-Lee and John Whitmire squaring off in the mayor’s race and a handful of council districts and at large seats at stake. Meanwhile, this election had some of the lowest turnout in years. How do we…
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Episode 9 – Israel at War, The GOP at War With Itself, Countdown to Early Voting
From the macro view there’s a lot going on this week: Israel is at war with Hezbollah, the Republican Party is fighting itself both in Congress (Kevin McCarthy) and locally (Ken Paxton). Meanwhile we want to keep our focus on our neighborhood with the mayoral and council elections. Average turnout is 200,000 out of a…
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Episode 8 – 4 weeks until Early Voting begins in Houston. Here’s why it matters that you vote.
Nancy and Christion discuss why it’s easy to get discouraged about politics, and why it’s important to tune out the noise and tune into the Houston city election. We’re electing a mayor, 16 city council positions, and two ballot propositions. The deadline to register to vote is October 10th. Are you registered? Learn about how…
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Episode 7 – GOP Debate, the state removes Harris County’s election administrator, Tony Buzbee runs for council, HISD’s state-controlled boss brings recess back, More reasons to vote.
So there was a GOP debate. But aren’t you more concerned with the water coming out of your tap than that? (Did you hear about watering restrictions this week? That’s a thing.) The state successfully outlawed Harris County from having an elections administrator (but other counties can have them because they’re not Harris County, apparently).…
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Episode 6 – Trump Indicted (again), HISD Takeover, Mayor’s Race
Pro Tip: If you care about Houston’s roads and schools, pay more attention to the mayor’s race and state government than the presidential horse race.
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Episode 5 – A Long Hot Summer
Trump’s federal indictment. Paxton impeached by his own party. Lina Hidalgo drops a F bomb on Commissioner’s Court. The Houston Mayor’s race is getting going – John Whitmire officially enters the fray against SJL. Nancy & Christion scope out their websites and sign up to learn about the candidates – how responsive are the campaigns?…
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Episode 4 – Congratulations, Graduate!
This week: Congratulations to Christion, who is now a proud graduate of the University of Houston. We ask what the heck the Texas Legislature is doing other than banning books, trans people, drag shows, and whatever else will get Greg Abbott a guest spot on Fox News (answer: it doesn’t involve passing a budget). Speaking…
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Episode 3 – How To Make The Legislature Listen To You
First off, yes, Sheila Jackson-Lee is running for Houston Mayor, and Nancy & Christion have opinions. (Editor’s note: before we could publish this episode, Chris Hollins dropped out of the Mayor’s race and announced he will run for City Controller instead.) More importantly, the Texas Legislature seems more interested in fighting the Culture Wars and…
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Is Sheila Jackson Lee Running For Mayor?
In today’s episode: Greg Abbott comes after DE&I, will the State of Texas take over HISD?, and is Sheila Jackson Lee thinking of coming home to the Houston mayor’s office? Nancy and Christion break it all down. Catch The Default of Democracy every other week (unless we catch COVID again… sorry about that!) Tell your…
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The Default of Democracy – Episode 1
Introduction – How is your democracy working for you? How will the new Texas legislative session or the upcoming Houston mayoral race affect your life, and more importantly, how can you have an effect on either of those things?