Voting, Campaign and Elections in Texas

Democracy is a critical component of America’s legal and political system. It is the foundation of all other rights, and the government is obligated to ensure that it is upheld and protected across all 50 states in America. Citizens frequently exercise their democratic rights by voting for their respective leaders in elections. In Texas, for example, the populace exercises their democratic right in two ways. The first is via the primary election, and the second is via the general election.  In a primary election, members or delegates that are affiliated in a given party are given a chance choose the candidates that will represent them in the ballot. A general election on the other hand is where the electoral votes for a given candidate from the variety of candidates that are eyeing a particular political seat (“Texas Politics - Political Economy”). Both of these two types of elections seek to choose an individual who will represent a larger group of people from the number of candidates that have presented themselves for the elections. In order for one to emerge victorious in a general election, they need to have at least 50 percent of the votes that have been cast whereas a primary election does not have that provision meaning a simple majority guarantees victory.

Both primary and general elections have special provisions for minor parties. In the general elections, these parties are not eligible to be listed on the ballot paper unless they got at least 5 percent of the votes that were cast in the previous elections (“Texas Politics - Political Economy”). The minor parties usually do not hold the primary elections and the candidates just fill their nomination application with the chair of the state or county party.

Impact of Interest Groups on One Party System

In the early years, Texas was largely a one party system. The only party at the time that took charge of most of the affairs in the state was the Democratic Party. Over the years the influence of the democrats has gone done and this has led to a rise of the republicans within Texas. The deterioration of the democrats influence has been credited to the influence of some interest groups within the state. Interest groups are a section of the citizens within a given jurisdiction that advocate for some public policies (“Texas Politics - Political Economy”). They intend to influence the government either to uphold or refrain from implementing a particular policy. Interest groups often boast of diversity in all aspects of life which enrich their knowledge and strategies.

The various interest groups that were fighting for the civil rights of the African Americans and the minorities within the state belonged to one faction whereas the white conservatives that formed the southern democrats belonged to the other faction (“Texas Politics - Political Economy”). The civil rights movement continued gaining traction within Texas and the white conservatives felt that the Democratic Party was conceding defeat and majority of these democrats defected to the Republican Party.

The civil rights movement had the effect of ensuring that the African Americans aligned themselves to the Democrats in order to abolish the policies that excluded the blacks from voting. The imposition of the African Americans in the Democratic Party ensured that the party maintained its victory within Texas but had the effect of leading to an uprising of Republicans which comprised of white supremacists from the South of Texas. The major selling point for the democrats was the equality for all and this encouraged the minorities such as the African Americans and the population with Mexican descent to vote as a bloc.

Low Voter Turnout

The contemporary Texas adopted the two party voting system. This system has periodically resulted in low voter turn outs in the general elections. One of the reasons that has been fronted for this turnout is the fact that the current system has derogated the attachment that the electorate as towards the various parties within the state (“Texas Politics - Political Economy”). The various ethnic, religious or racial groups aligned themselves to a particular party depending on their vested interests. The African-Americans and the Latin Americans mostly resonated with the Democrats who seemed to prioritize on their affairs and advocated for equality whereas the white supremacists were allied to the Republicans (“Texas Politics - Political Economy”). This sense of allegiance has further led to the rise of political independent that currently stand at 30 percent of the entire voters.

Low voter turnout has also been attributed to the trend that has been witnessed where there is a split system of voting where the electorate votes for both Democrat and Republican candidates simultaneously. A classic example was in the 2000 general elections when Texas overwhelmingly voted for Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson at the same time voting for George W. Bush for President yet he was a Democrat (“Texas Politics - Political Economy”). The democrats took the majority numbers of seats in the House of Representatives with around 57 percent of the members whereas the republicans took 43 percent of the seats that remained.

Another factor that sometimes influences the voter turnout is the fielding of a strong candidate to battle it out with another candidate who is not up to their standard. In such scenarios a considerable amount of the voters will hardly line up to cast their votes due to the fact that they are already aware of the candidate who will emerge victorious and they do not see the need to waste their time voting.

The Trench Warfare

Trench warfare was a strategy that some of the countries that were fighting in the World War 1 tried to implement while they were going to war but seemed not to be very effective due to the mode of execution of the tactic (Mosier, John). The strategy was most employed on land in order to protect one’s troops from enemy fire. It involved digging of two trenches that were opposite each other along a front and shielding oneself by using various obstacles such as mines and barbed wires (Mosier, John). The designated area that was between the two dugouts was infamously referred to as no man’s island and an adversary who passed through that area came under heavy fire resulting in massive casualties.

Most of the armies at the time such as the British one knew about the tactic, had the necessary technology to advance it but lacked the appropriate strategy to ensure that it was effectively implemented (Mosier, John). This is due to the fact that they relied on the practical approach of the tactic as opposed to employing a theoretical analysis of the concept in order to implement it as it is required. Effectiveness of the trench strategy rested on the idea of attacking the adversary with the aim of delaying them as opposed to preventing them. The element of speed and surprise were paramount to the success of the strategy. The trench warfare was a classical example of the manner with which an army’s defense system could be tailored to result in an attack and at the same time lead to tremendous results. The French and German army mastered the theoretical strategy as opposed to the pragmatic approach and they are credited with being the two armies that successfully utilized this tactic.

Works Cited

Mosier, John. “Nicholas Murray. The Rocky Road to the Great War: The Evolution of Trench

Warfare To 1914.” The American Historical Review, vol 119, no. 4, 2014, pp. 1232-1233. Oxford University Press (OUP), doi:10.1093/ahr/119.4.1232.

“Texas Politics - Political Economy”. Laits.Utexas.Edu, 2017,

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/txp_media/html/pec/index.html.