On Leadership

Last Sunday on the next to last day of the regular session, the Texas House of Representatives debated the final version of its budget. As one might expect from a body with a 101-49 GOP majority, the Legislature dealt with a shortfall of over $20 billion without raising taxes. While about $10 billion of the difference was made up with accounting gimmicks and postponing certain appropriations, the budget involved serious cuts, particularly in the area of public education.

Near the end of the debate, a freshman Republican from Wichita Falls named Lanham Lyne rose to speak. He said that the education cuts were unpalatable and he didn't believe they were the best thing for the State of Texas. Lyne said as a candidate, he was frankly ignorant as to the state's budgetary issues and how education worked in the state. His voters wanted spending cuts, but Lyne wondered aloud if his voters understood the difference between state and federal spending. He suggested they did not, and this ignorance was leading to poor state policymaking. Still, Lyne said his voters wanted spending cuts. Thus, he felt obliged to vote for the budget.

I greatly respect Lyne for being so honest. The sentiment is somewhat widespread among legislative Republicans, even though nobody wants to admit it. We think of our elected officials as leaders, but too often today this is not the case. Watching the Texas Legislature in action, one has seen Republicans running scared from primary voters and far right special interest groups. I suspect quite a few Republicans had issues with what was going on, but nobody said anything.

This isn't leadership. Yes, legislators must represent the interests of their constituents. But a legislator must know those interests by knowing his district. He cannot simply take uninformed slogans as use them as an excuse to not act in their best interests. A legislator should not commit political suicide, but neither should a legislator be afraid to stand up and explain why he acted in the best interest of his constituents.

Leaders aren't scared of their constitutents, and they aren't scared of any interest groups. Leaders have the courage to know when not to take the easy way out, but when to stand up and defend themselves for doing the right thing. We don't have enough leadership in this country right now, and we are the worse for it.This is the rest of the post