Monday, July 16, 2018

Odes to bipartisanship, on #cjreform and beyond

While this blog has focused on bipartisan #cjreform planks in the Texas Republican and Democratic Party platforms (see a link roundup and discussion here), GOP SD 11 Chairman Scott Bowen published a column last week at Big Jolly Politics detailing bipartisan platform agreement across an array of issues.

Texas Rs and Ds agree on a lot more than you think.

RELATED: See also a column at BJP from Howie Katz, who comments at Grits under the pseudonym BarkGrowlBite, discussing #cjreform planks in the state GOP platform. According to Katz, "One would have to think that some of these planks were written by Democrats, not by Republicans." But the response in the comment section found numerous GOP stalwarts taking issue with that assessment. Well worth a read for those interested. (See also Grits' writeup of #cjreform planks in the state GOP platform.)

FWIW, having worked the Just Liberty booth at the GOP convention and spoken to hundreds of delegates in San Antonio about criminal-justice reform, my experience coincides with recent polling of GOP primary voters on the topic: Much of the Republican base supports #cjreform, even if many elected officials and the consulting class remain scared of it. And Democrats have moved even further down the same path.

As SD 11 Chair Scott Bowen asked rhetorically in his column, aptly titled, "The Bipartisanshp Platform," "Why haven’t we accomplished the things we all agree should be done?" Why, indeed?

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