I’m sure that with just a little bit of thought, most folks would figure out that I’m a huge fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, especially the movies, and especially “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
One of the characters, played ever so deftly by Eric Idle, was Sir Robin, one of the Knights of the Round Table. He had the hubris to have a minstrel follow him, singing his praises and exploits.
Except, Sir Robin was a coward.
To keep up the façade of the knight’s prowess, the minstrel continued singing “praises,” and that very song leapt into my mind unbidden when I read that House Democrats in the Texas Legislature ran to Illinois to stop redistricting.
“(They) bravely ran away, away! When (redistricting) reared its ugly head, (they) bravely turned (their) tail and fled.” (I paraphrased here.)
In a nutshell, House Democrats took off in protest of a redistricting plan, urged by President Trump, that Gov. Greg Abbott set as one of his reasons for calling a special session. These elected representatives feel that this redistricting would favor Republicans, up to and including a conservative gain of three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Abbott has threatened arrest, prosecution and removal from office; the FBI has become involved to search for the wayward legislators; and for some reason, typically liberal states are threatening to redistrict to favor liberals, as if that hasn’t already happened.
Whether or not the redistricting plans are a good idea or political retribution remain to be seen. What does bother me here is that honest debate and negotiation has been replaced with craven actions designed to disrupt government and shackle government.
I brought up Sir Robin, by the way, because just about every politician uses conflict phrases like “fighting for your rights” or “standing up to (insert noun here).” So it seems a bit disingenuous, at the very least, to claim you’re a champion of the people when you retreat from the battlefield.
How in good conscience can any elected official claim to represent a constituency by not showing up? How can the business of government be conducted if government never comes together? And why is it that entitled groups seem to deny that any plan, program, or belief that isn’t their own is immediately reviled without the benefit of discussion, debate or the tiniest bit of consideration?
This also isn’t the first time this has happened. In 2021, they left to avoid a vote on voting restrictions after Trump won the presidency; and in 2003 over redistricting (see a pattern?).
In each of these cases, the claim was that the plans were discriminatory and designed specifically against people of color, the usual response from people who claim to be advocates for the disenfranchised. But if your advocacy involves hide-and-seek (bravely running away), then are you really representing your people.
Think about it. Would Gandhi, or Martin Luther King Jr., or Susan B. Anthony, or even the Founding Fathers have accomplished their great deeds by escaping in the dead of night? Because their beliefs were strong enough, they stayed and faced their problems, and in the end, won the day.
This doesn’t mean that there’s fighting that needs to be done, but seriously, there needs to be some adult interaction, and taking your ball and going home isn’t it.
Tony Farkas is editor of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.
