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Texas Republican Party The Republican Term Paper

Baggett continues by pointing out that the Texas Republican Party was basically born out of the policies of the Whig party, and reflected the vision of Henry Clay. What was the Whig party all about? In the Wikipedia encyclopedia explains that the Whig Party was "formed to go against the policies of President Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_whig_party.The Whigs believed that Congress should have more power than the president and Whigs favored a program of "modernization and economic protectionism."

Two Whig party members, William Henry Harrison and John Tyler were elected to the Presidency of the United States. The party was joined by those who were angry at President Andrew Jackson - considering him "a dangerous man on horseback with a reactionary opposition to the forces of social, economic, and moral modernization" Wikipedia explains - and in particular they were angry because Jackson "killed the bank of the United States." The Whigs who came to Texas and other Southern states promoted the idea that education and commerce "would equal physical labor or land ownership as a means of productive wealth."

Meantime, a more updated look at the Texas Republican Party was published in July, 2007, in the Wall Street Journal ("Cross Country: The Troubled Texas GOP") (Gurwitz 2007) explains that there "are signs of trouble" for the Texas GOP. Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican, won re-election in November 2007, he "only achieved a plurality in a four-way race that featured a Democrat and an independent as well as a former Republican-turned-independent." And moreover, Republicans lost two races in Texas in the past year that they would normally be expected to win - seven-term incumbent Henry Bonilla, a state representative, and the only Mexican-American Republican in Texas' Congress, was defeated by Democrat Ciro Rodriguez, "who ran a haphazard campaign," Gurwitz reports in...

Democrats won the county judge's seat, the district attorney's office, and "41 out of 42 contested judicial races"; these losing races for the Republicans were called a "Democratic deluge" by the Dallas Morning News, according to Gurwitz. Another sign that the Texas Republican Party is losing some ground to Democrats came through a recent poll conducted by CBS News, the New York Times, and MTV, Gurwitz explains; the poll found that 54% of young people 17-29 years of age "would vote for a Democratic candidate for president," but only 32% of Texas youth in that age category would vote for a Republican presidential candidate.
The Texas Republican Caucus reports in a press release (April 23, 2007) that the Texas House of Representatives voted to "ensure the sanctity of the ballot by requiring a photo ID to vote" (http://www.txcaucus.com).While this vote passed through the Texas Legislature with a majority of Republicans, it also had the support of Democrats and Independents. It requires that in order to vote, one must have a valid Texas driver's license, or a "state-approved ID"; and also, that state-approved ID is free for all voters who don't have a driver's license but are U.S. citizens. In conclusion, the periodical Kirkus Reviews (Anderson, 2007) reports that the book Follow the Money: How George W. Bush and the Texas Republicans Hog-Tied America reveals how "the behind the scenes machinations of Karl Rove" allowed the Republican Party in Texas to push Governor Ann Richards out of office and gave Tom DeLay the powerful backing he needed to ascend to the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Works Cited

Anderson, John. "Follow the Money: How George Bush and the Texas Republicans Hog-Tied

America." Kirkus Reviews 75.15 (2007): 758-758.

Baggett, James Alex. "Origins of Early Texas Republican Party Leadership." The Journal of Southern History 40-3 (1974): 441-454.

Davidson, Chandler. Race and Class: Texas Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,

Gurwitz, Jonathan. "Cross Country: The Troubled Texas GOP." Wall Street Journal 7 July 2007: A6.

Republican Party of Texas. "What We Believe." Retrieved Dec. 13, 2007, at http://www.texasgop.org.

Texas Republican Caucus. "House Votes to Protect Texas Elections." Retrieved Dec. 14, 2007, at http://www.txcaucus.com.

Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. "Whig Party (United States)." Retrieved Dec. 14, 2007, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Whig_Party.

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Anderson, John. "Follow the Money: How George Bush and the Texas Republicans Hog-Tied

America." Kirkus Reviews 75.15 (2007): 758-758.

Baggett, James Alex. "Origins of Early Texas Republican Party Leadership." The Journal of Southern History 40-3 (1974): 441-454.

Davidson, Chandler. Race and Class: Texas Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
Republican Party of Texas. "What We Believe." Retrieved Dec. 13, 2007, at http://www.texasgop.org.
Texas Republican Caucus. "House Votes to Protect Texas Elections." Retrieved Dec. 14, 2007, at http://www.txcaucus.com.
Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. "Whig Party (United States)." Retrieved Dec. 14, 2007, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Whig_Party.
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