Fix 1876

E.J. Davis' oppressive regime during Reconstruction sent Democrats clamoring to rewrite the Constitution of 1869 as soon as humanly possible. Spooked from the abusive powers of a more centralized government, the Constitution of 1876 sought to decentralize the government considerably. It slashed government salaries, reduced state debt and placed restrictions on expenditures and taxes, just to name a few. In an effort to prevent another E.J. Davis from getting a decent foothold, the Democrats effectively cut the Texas Government off at the knees. It doesn't go without saying that a government can only function on bloody stumps for so long before it completely cripples itself.

This restrictive constitution boasts a plural executive. Translation being the Texas Governor better hold out hope for winning the people over with his personality and sway their interests that way, because he has little power to directly affect change elsewhere. With the exception of the personally appointed Secretary of State, the remaining political figures of the independently elected executive branch don't work together as a cabinet. If each office is out for their own interests, it makes political cohesion very difficult to achieve.

Texas has a legislature that meets biannually. Congress is employed with meager salaries and exposed to a crushing amount of legislature within a very narrow time frame. Given this short time period, it is nearly impossible for the legislators to accurately review every piece of legislation on their own. This has resulted in the legislators becoming dependent on outside sources for information regarding legislature. Enter lobbyists. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we hire a person to perform a specific function ( a government official to draft legislature) then shouldn't we provide them with the means to successfully do their job? This should not be rocket science....

The state's judicial members are also reduced to pawns in the race for political office. Judges are chosen by partisan election. Sadly, the only thing a judge can realistically campaign for is a tough approach to crime. This tends to create a judge more concerned with severe punishments than actually giving fair sentencing. Bells and whistles should go off when the kid that stole from the 7-11 is getting the same sentence as a man convicted for homicide. This is a bit dramatic, but you get my point. It harms a judge's accountability when, instead of holding up their own goals for structural integrity, they are more concerned about meeting a quota for crime to ensure their reelection. Hope for reelection also nukes a Texas judge's independence. When the Texas Supreme Court chooses an appeals cases ( also known as the process of discretionary review) they are more inclined to hear cases filed by large contributors than non-contributors. Big-money interests have the Supreme Court Justices in, as Ted Nugent would say, a stranglehold.

In a nutshell, the current Texas constitution places too many restrictions on its government. We have a governor that is put through his paces-- parading around like a dog hoping to win best in show. Our legislative body is under-paid and over-worked. Meanwhile, our judicial members are too busy aligning their interests with corrupt privateers rather than actually advocating for cases whose outcomes might benefit the whole population. Sadly, can you blame them? They are just trying to play the game our constitution has set up for them. It is a game where no one wins. In designing a constitution to thwart centralized government corruption, we have corrupted the entire system of government. Bring on a more liberal constitution.