Texas Democrats different in the 60s

David Beery's analysis of the complexity that is Texas politics really has its roots in the 60s and not the Reagan Revolution of the 80s. Having traveled that state for some 45 years, one learned that Texas Democrats in the Kennedy/Johnson era were Democrats in name only.

Unlike their northern counterparts, the majority of Texas Democrats then were laissez faire conservatives who viewed anything that carried the liberal label as radical. The Republican Party was virtually non-existent, because it really wasn't needed.

By aligning Democratic conservatives with the party's liberal splinter groups, President Lyndon Johnson, ironically, created the first step in Texas' evolution into a two-party state. This became a reality when John Connolly bolted the party during the Nixon years and became a Republican. Large numbers of conservative Democrats followed suit and Texas Republicans became a political force even before Reagan became president.

Of course, today Texas Democrats sound and act like Democrats from New York, Boston and Chicago. In the 60s, this would have been considered political heresy in the Lone Star State.

Dean Dranias Aurora