(Note: I have asked a variety of people to submit an essay to me to be posted during the month of December, to be called “Looking Forward to 2008”. This entry was written by Matt Glazer.)
Carl Sandburg once said, “I’m an idealist. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.” Looking into 2008, we know where we’re going. We know the way there. The path to making Texas a better place for our parents’ generation and our children’s generations both intersect on November 4, 2008, and I am idealistic.
The road to change started before me. It started when bold leaders like Martin Frost and our Representatives in Congress took on Tom DeLay and the Republican Party in Washington. Representatives Garnet Coleman, Pete Gallego, Jim Dunnam and many others led the House against Tom Craddick in both Texas and Oklahoma. Senators from across the state took their fight to David Dewhurst. The battle cries of “Remember Ardmore” inspired me to fight the good fight.
Here we are in 2007 on the edge of taking back the Texas House. State Senate candidates in Dallas and Galveston are looking to pick up victories in districts drawn to be Republican strongholds. Not since Ann Richards have Democrats been so optimistic about their statewide candidate, and now we have the chance to vote for Lt. Col. Rick Noriega.
While 2007 ushered in an era of hope, this year will bring change… real and meaningful change.
As we look over the horizon, I am excited by the things we have accomplished and the things we will accomplish. The online community is more organized than in any other election cycle. With more readers today than ever before and new tools like TexBlog PAC, the online community is going offline. If possible, we are ready to inspire others. El Paso, Dallas and Austin are blue and operative and activists are hungry to do the same in Houston and San Antonio. 2008 is a change election, and I look forward being a part of the Democratic revolution. I look forward to 2008.
Matt Glazer is the editor-in-chief of the and the chair of the board for the TexBlog PAC.