Recent editorials from Texas newspapers

Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Nov. 9, 2016.

Call it right or wrong. Celebrate or mourn. Americans have elected Donald Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul still seen by his supporters as a common man, with no experience in elected office, as the next president of the United States.

He’s a Republican outsider who landed the GOP nomination by lording his celebrity status over more than a dozen other Republicans from both the party’s traditional conservative wing and its neoconservative rebellion.

Then he took on and defeated Hillary Clinton, the long-anointed Democratic nominee. She struggled more than anyone expected in gaining that nomination over 75-year-old Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist whose more radical ideas of social and economic reform captured the hearts of millennials and other young voters.

Ironically, Clinton could still win the popular vote, but Trump held a solid grip on the Electoral College.

This dizzying result of a dizzying political year can only mean one thing: Dysfunction, a state in which things that aren’t expected or traditional happen as a matter of course, is the new normal.

The roughly 60 million of people in just the right states who swept Donald Trump into the White House looked at what had become normal and didn’t like it.

They wanted change, and not nicer, smarter change that Barack Obama promised when he was elected president in 2008. They wanted Trump, who promised to break things.

His supporters were not just unhappy - they were angry.

They see their nation in peril, its Constitution ignored or deliberately misconstrued by an elected class whose only goal is perpetuating its own power and privilege.

They see an economy that may have delivered high-paying manufacturing jobs for them but holds no such promise for their children.

They blame international trade, aided by treaties that are unfavorable to the United States, for the loss of economic promise, more so than decades of automation that have steadily stripped jobs away from traditionally labor-intensive industries.

Many are white and male and not college-educated, and although they tend to live in white enclaves and have little close contact with immigrants, they see immigrants as an overwhelming threat.

They see abortion and gay marriage not just as wrong but as evil.

Most of all, they are looking for a leader, an alpha male who will “tell it like it is,” will act fast against all internal and external threats, will retake the world-power status they see as lost to the U.S. by a long line of weak leaders.

For that, we now have - come Jan. 20, Inauguration Day - President Donald Trump.

He’ll need all the help he can get.

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The Monitor. Nov. 9, 2016.

As Donald Trump made one of his last stump speeches leading up to Election Day, he summed up his thoughts on this 2016 presidential election season as well as news that the FBI would not further pursue charges against his opponent, Hillary Clinton. “Right now, she is being protected by a rigged system. It’s a totally rigged system,” Trump proclaimed. “Now it’s up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box on Nov. 8.”

On Tuesday, voters did just that by electing Trump our 45th American president.

Many have called it a referendum by voters who want change; some say his election is a statement by working class voters against a rich establishment.

Whatever the motivation, the American public has spoken loud and clear.

We fully accept and stand behind our electoral process and we believe and trust that the public knows best.

Therefore, as Trump prepares to lead the greatest nation on Earth, we implore him to shed and dismiss this belief that our democracy does not work. We ask he cease further conversations that our government is “rigged.”

Because he can’t have it both ways. He cannot embrace an election win from a system that he does not believe in, nor govern a country whose governmental system he does not respect or trust.

Trust has been the cornerstone of our democracy for 240 years. Trust that our electorate knows best. Trust that the separation of power and checks and balances put in place among our three branches of government will safeguard us. And trust that the will of the majority will prevail in setting the best direction forward for our great nation.

And now we put our trust in 70-year-old Donald J. Trump and in the structure of government that has guided our great nation, thus far. We all must. Because there can be no leader without believers.

For the sake of our country, we must all believe that the United States of America will continue on a path toward greatness with Trump at the helm.

We congratulate Trump on this historic and defining win. We trust that as he moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the start of the New Year, he will select his cabinet and advisers with the same selective skills that he has exhibited as one of our nation’s greatest entrepreneurs and business owners. We also hope that he will carefully put forward a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court that will reflect the morals and values that society holds dear.

We call upon him at the onset of his presidency to make a priority the restructuring of our country’s broken immigration system. And we look to him to help Congress to craft meaningful immigration reform, not to close our borders.

We ask him not to build a wall here. But we, once again, invite him to South Texas to see for himself how best to strengthen our border and to view the tremendous economic vitality our region shares with Mexico.

We suggest that he stand on the banks of Anzalduas Park and gaze across the Rio Grande at the spot where thousands have braved their lives to cross. We ask that he reflect on the best ways for allowing those with the most skills and who have the most to contribute the opportunity to legally immigrate here as productive tax-paying members of society who would help America be great, again. And we ask him to meet with a few of the mothers and small children at the Humanitarian Respite Center at Sacred Heart Church in downtown McAllen and hear their stories.

We ask him to visit our busy South Texas ports and bridges and the maquiladoras on both sides of the border and to recognize the massive traffic and retail influx that comes across our thriving border every day and hour. And we hope that such a visit will help him to realize how economically detrimental a wall would be for our Valley’s economy and our nation’s future.

Furthermore, let us put past differences aside. We must let bygones be bygones. We must not hold grudges. And that applies to Trump, himself, who we hope will think long and hard before pursuing costly taxpayer investigations into Clinton.

Let her go into the annals of history as a great opponent, one who he declared at a presidential debate that he respected for her tenacity and her fight.

This was a brutal campaign - the likes we hope we will never see again. Let us forgive and move forward by forgetting our animosities and trusting that our democracy works because we believe it will.

___

The Dallas Morning News. Nov. 10, 2016.

Whether you voted for her or not, Hillary Clinton represented the biggest crack yet in the glass ceiling with her bid to become the first female president.

She made girls truly believe that they can aspire to be whatever they want to be in life, even president of the United States.

That’s why her eloquent message in her concession speech encouraging young people in general - and girls in particular - to not give up on the electoral system was so powerful. Those words have the potential to unite women everywhere, even those who didn’t support her.

“Now, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling. But someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now,” Clinton said. “And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”

She urged young people to never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it. There will be painful setbacks, she said. But we have to dust ourselves off and get back up.

Clinton had already made history, becoming the first woman to receive the nomination from a major political party.

For millions of women, Tuesday’s loss to Donald Trump was not just Clinton’s defeat, but also a crushing blow for advancing women’s issues by elevating a woman to the top job in the country. And many feared that it signaled a tacit acceptance of Trump’s boorish behavior toward women, the name-calling, the vulgar language.

But let’s not paint with too broad a brush. On top of everything else this election has taught us, it proved once again that women are a diverse and independent-thinking group. Many experts expect women to carry Clinton to the presidency. And preliminary exit polling showed that women did overwhelmingly vote to elect Clinton. The exception: white women, who supported Trump 53-43. On the other hand, Clinton won among black women 93-4.

Women do not vote as a monolith, and their motivation for casting a presidential vote are as varied as they are. Trump’s victory is not a mandate for misogyny. To the contrary, this election has presented an opportunity to continue to bring women’s issues to the table. And for women to work together on the issues that matter most to them.

This divisive campaign forced many a parent to have tough conversations with their sons and daughters about politics and what is and is not acceptable behavior.

Like Clinton, we too have a message for young girls: It’s OK to speak up for yourself. Your opinions matter. You are in control of your destiny. No one person in the White House can validate your worth. No single election result can stop you from achieving your goals.

Keep cracking that glass ceiling.

“To all the women and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion. I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

“And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”

-Excerpt from Hillary Clinton’s Nov. 9 concession speech in the 2016 presidential election

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Houston Chronicle. Nov. 11, 2016.

Look at the 2016 election map for the state of Texas, and it would seem that long-beleaguered Democrats have become even more beleaguered. It appears they’ve been driven into a handful of redoubts, where, like Crockett, Travis and friends, they’ll wage a last, desperate fight against extinction. A national map is similar - a few blue states in a sea of red, Democrats and progressives consigned to the coasts and fighting for survival.

Actually, both state and national maps are deceiving, even as we acknowledge the weakened condition of the Democratic Party, in Texas and across the nation. More Americans voted for the Democratic candidate for president than for the Republican who actually won, although that’s small consolation for a party that has lost control of every branch of the national government, not to mention most state governments.

Here in Texas, those small blue blotches are actually the most populous parts of the state - Harris (and Fort Bend), Dallas, Bexar, Travis and El Paso counties, among a few others. As Rice University sociologist Steve Klineberg noted the day after the election, Houston and Harris County - as well as their urban counterparts around the state - represent tomorrow’s Texas, despite the state’s fervid red hue today.

In our federal system, states are often described as laboratories of democracy. At times, they experiment with programs and policies that either get adopted nationwide or don’t, depending on how they tested on a smaller scale. We would suggest that the Houston area, with population and economic prowess exceeding many states, could itself be a laboratory of democracy testing out progressive policies.

Below are a few suggestions among many:

With a candidate, and now president-elect, whose campaign centerpiece was a full-throated nativist appeal to build walls against outsiders - Mexicans, Muslims and others - the first order of business for the most diverse city in the nation has to be to protect and reassure immigrants and refugees who have cast their lot with us. That means making it clear that insults and derision will not be tolerated - in classrooms, in our places of business and elsewhere.

It also means continuing our efforts to help refugees and immigrants find their way in their new home. These new Houstonians need to know that this city of entrepreneurs and risk-takers can be a place to start over, a place that welcomes their contributions, regardless of the message they’re getting from Trump and his supporters.

Those most urgently needing to hear that message are refugees from Syria’s brutal civil war. After experiencing the horrors of war, famine and rootlessness, the last thing they need are nativists among us urging that they go back where they came from. Official resolutions of reassurance from the Houston City Council and Harris County Commissioners Court would be in order.

With a new district attorney and a new sheriff in town, Houston should reinforce its commitment to criminal justice reform. From District Attorney-elect Kim Ogg and Sheriff-elect Ed Gonzalez, we’re expecting a commitment to bail reform, more diversion programs and other initiatives to reduce overcrowding in the Harris County Jail.

We hate to say it, but things are likely to get worse for poor Americans, including Houstonians. Obamacare may disappear, which means that more than 20 million people who finally got access to health insurance, many just above the poverty line, will lose it. The hospital emergency room will again be their health care of desperate last resort. In addition, Trump’s massive proposed tax cut, combined with House Republicans calling for a balanced budget, are incompatible. The end result will be drastic cuts in government assistance to the young and poor.

Along with renewed commitments to affordable housing and more job-training opportunities, increasing the local minimum wage would be one way to fight back against short-sighted economic policies in Washington. On Tuesday, four states - Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington - passed ballot measures that will raise the minimum wage by significant amounts by the year 2020. Arizona and Washington also passed mandated sick-leave measures. If Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and his revanchist pals in the Legislature will leave Texas cities alone, Houston could approve similar measures.

Although the Legislature is likely to interfere, Houston also should push forward with its own clean-air and -water initiatives. The Environmental Protection Agency is unlikely to do much environmental protecting in the coming months and years and neither will its Texas counterpart. If we want a healthy Houston, we’ll have to take care of ourselves.

“Harris County is where all of America and all of Texas is going to be as the future unfolds,” Rice’s Klineberg told the Chronicle the day after the election.

In Houston and Harris County the future is now. We should make sure that tomorrow is in our hands, not Washington or Austin.

___

Beaumont Enterprise. Nov. 11, 2016.

In “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” Chevy Chase’s wacky, costly efforts to cover every inch of his house with Christmas lights and decorations were funny.

When two cash-strapped governmental entities similarly lose their sense for the season, it’s not.

The city of Orange and Orange County are acting like a couple of dueling neighbors trying to have the most envied display on the block. A month after the city spent $20,000 on new Christmas decorations, the county responded with an $8,000 Nativity scene of its own. The displays are similar - and about a third of a mile from each other.

At least the school district hasn’t joined the competition - yet.

If the city and county governments were rolling in money, taxpayers might pass it off as typical Christmas overkill.

But both entities are anything but flush. The county’s new display seems particularly questionable, since it was the second in the series and is located in the city of Orange - just like the one it’s sort of copying.

The combined $28,000 in tax dollars that have been shelled out could have paid the salary for an entry-level job or bought a decent truck. You know, things that are actually central to the mission of local government.

Did either entity ask a local business or philanthropist if they could pick up the tab for the Christmas party?

Maybe taxpayers can take comfort in the thought that it could have been worse. Their eyes could have been assaulted by giant Santa’s elves staring at giant angels and shepherds - with maybe a giant Christmas tree in the middle.

This is one Christmas list that should have been returned to sender. The city and county will be filled with plenty of Christmas decorations this year - on private homes, churches and businesses.

Those lovely displays will be more than good enough, and they won’t involve a single tax dollar.