Every two years the Texas Freedom Network takes a look at the Texas Republican Party platform because, as we say around here, that platform has become a biennial exercise in extremism. For several cycles now, the platform has been co-opted by far-right activists, and each platform can tend to look like a love letter to the extreme […]
Religious Right Watch
David Barton Wildly Distorts Key Poverty Statistic
How do lower- and working-class Americans get duped into supporting right-wing public policies that do them economic harm? They listen to phony “experts” like David Barton — a former Texas Republican Party vice chairman and the head of the religious-right organization WallBuilders. Barton pretends to be a respected scholar of American history, but his grasp of facts is about as […]
Demonizing Children II
A follow-up on our post about how some on the right are demonizing the children who are fleeing to this country to escape crime, violence and poverty in their Central American countries: Good, well-meaning people can have honest disagreements about how to deal with the serious challenge of undocumented immigration in this country. But trying to […]
Demonizing Children
That thousands of children are fleeing to this country to escape crime, violence and poverty in their Central American countries is a true human tragedy. While the Texas Freedom Network does not work on immigration issues, we — like most Americans — want our elected leaders to address this problem responsibly while also treating the children with compassion. After […]
50th Anniversary: What Will Texas Students Learn about the Civil Rights Movement?
Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That landmark legislation bars discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Its enactment came after decades of struggle by civil rights advocates in the face of virulent opposition — opposition that often resorted to brutality and even murder. President Johnson didn’t sweep away […]
