Once upon a time, in a land not so very far away, Liberal Democrats ruled Texas. Billie Carr was the Queen, and should ruled her roost with an iron fist. Perhaps what is missing most in Texas politics these days is personality- something no one would ever accuse Carr of lacking.
Today, the term "liberal" has almost disappeared from the Texas lexicon. Those on the left of the political spectrum take refuge in less-tainted labels like "progressive" or "populist." Those on the right employ it as the election-year epithet of choice (never mind the accuracy of the charges). But Carr's death is a reminder that this was not always so, even in conservative Texas. Although most of her work as an activist in Houston for half a century was behind the scenes on committees and at precinct meetings and at party conventions, she was an important figure nonetheless. She was one of the first liberals—and one of the last.
You couldn't miss her at a political gathering. She was tall, tough, and loud. Her preferred wardrobe consisted of T-shirts emblazoned with political slogans. Woe to the politico who fell short of her expectations; she would cuss out anyone. According to an anecdote related by Molly Ivins in the Texas Observer, she faced down Bill Clinton in a White House receiving line during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and lectured him: "You dumb son of a bitch." She was an idealist who once said of her political philosophy that it means "always to be out in front of everybody else. When what you're saying starts getting popular and everyone agrees with you, then you're not a liberal anymore."
The story of the decline of the Liberal Left in Texas politics follows a plot line that could be applied to the dinosaurs: adapt or die. Sadly, the Texas Democratic Party has been more interested in ideological purity than in adapting their message to changing times and voting patterns. While Republicans did their homework and figured out what really matters to voters, Democrats stuck to their guns and assumed voters would eventually come around. They're still waiting.
What happened to the Democratic left? The party base became dominated by a collection of caucuses—women, blacks, Hispanics, and gays—alienating not only conservatives but also the rank and file of labor, which had always been conservative on social issues (such as gun control) but liberal on economic issues. It is clear now that Republicans are following the same course of becoming a party dominated by activists whose real loyalty is to causes rather than party (see "Mr. Right") and that this trend is in part the result of the ever-weakening grip of the two major political parties.
The disappearance of liberals in Texas is more the result of changing times than changing rules. Foremost is the decline of industrial America and with it organized labor, the liberals' base in their heyday of the fifties and sixties. (Carr herself was married to a union organizer.) Today, plaintiffs attorneys have replaced labor as the most important Democratic interest group, but they provide money, not votes. Another major change is the 1982 amendment to the Voting Rights Act, which effectively required that legislative and congressional districts be drawn to maximize minority representation. The new law left many white liberal politicians without a constituency; they were often replaced by ethnic minorities who had their own sets of issues—or by Republicans. Racial bias undoubtedly played a role too; as minorities gained power in the Democratic party, some white voters fled to the Republican party. No less an authority than LBJ believed that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, opening public accommodations to all races, would hand the South to the Republicans for a long time. It's been almost forty years, and the clock is still running.
Finally, the liberals suffered from their successes. Because of people like Billie Carr, politics and society are fairer today than they have ever been. The old agenda is part of society now. But you rarely hear a statewide Democratic candidate espouse new social-justice programs or higher taxes, even for education and highways. Instead, the party has become California-ized, putting quality of life for middle- and upper-middle-class voters first, with emphasis on soccer-mom issues like the environment, children's health, and more tobacco regulation.
There was a time when social justice issues mattered to the electorate. Over the past 40 years, though, voters have become much more self-centered. Pocketbook issues now rule the political landscape. Ronald Reagan asking voters if they were better off than they were four years ago was a stroke of political genius given the changing times.
Until Democrats are able to find a way to make pocketbook issues resonate with voters they will continue to be a minority party. Democrats have allowed Republicans to seize and define the message. Perhaps that is where Billie Carr will be missed the most. There is no one in today's Texas Democratic Party who can motivate and move people like she could. It's not as if the Republicans have a monopoly on personality (Governor Goodhair?? Give me a break.), but they do have the message. Unless something changes, it doesn't look as if they'll be giving that up for awhile.
