Abolitionist Thomas Garrett

Abolitionist Thomas Garrett

As Barack Obama spoke of hope in a Wilmington park named for Harriet Tubman and abolitionist Thomas Garrett, just north of the Mason-Dixon line, some Republicans were still setting loose the dogs along the freedom trail.

Last week, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and some embarrassed but silently capitulating GOP state senators destroyed legislative tradition and subverted procedures intended to protect against "the tyranny of the majority," to pass a regressive voter identification bill. Twelve Angry Democrats in the Senate did their best. But they were outnumbered. In the Right’s theory of democracy, minorities should sit down, shut up, and do what they’re told.

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for barriers to voting,  of course. The court’s opinion in the Indiana voter ID case was bad enough. But Judge Richard Posner, of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, did a more honest job of articulating the elitist logic of voter suppression when he penned his opinion approving the Indiana law.

Posner acknowledged that Democrats would likely suffer from the law. The votes of poor, the elderly, African-Americans, Latinos, and other minorities might be lost. "…the Indiana law will deter some people from voting," Posner said matter-of-factly.

This doesn’t bother Posner, who once wrote that political participation distracts citizens from their more important obligation:  buying stuff. Time taken for voting and other forms of participation is time people aren’t in the malls, and that will hurt the economy, he said. I’m not making this up. It’s in his book, "Law, Pragmatism, And Democracy."

I was on the floor of the state Senate shortly before this debacle began. I heard loudmouth GOP Senator Dan Patrick, a hate-radio host, calmly (for once) explain to reporters that because there are more Republicans (19) than Democrats (12) in the upper chamber, important decisions should be left to the exclusive authority of the majority.

Patrick was arguing for an end to a "two-thirds" rule, by which any 11 senators could block debate on a bill. That rule, following the careful logic of the Framers, was intended to guard against the "tyranny of the majority," always a dire threat to democracy.

Patrick doesn’t know this, obviously. Neither does Dewhurst. Neither did George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, or a host of other spoiled authoritarians who long for the days when white skin and greenbacks meant they could tell everyone else what to do. Under penalty of torture, even.

The good news is that democracy is resilient. Voices have risen in protest against these authoritarian excesses. No more Tom DeLay. No more Bush or Cheney.  No McCain.

The bad news is this democratic resiliency is the very reason the Right wants to pass new restrictions on voting.

All this came home to me this weekend, just as Obama delivered his message of hope in Wilmington’s historic Tubman Garrett Park. Nancy Becker, my sweetheart Margie’s mother, is throwing an inauguration day party in Austin. Her dear friend, Betty Garrett, married Jack Garrett, the great-great grandson of abolitionist Thomas Garrett. Betty has come to Texas to celebrate with Nancy. She told me the story.

When Tubman Garrett Park was dedicated a decade ago, Betty’s granddaughter Megan, who couldn’t quite see over the podium, read a letter written by William Lloyd Garrison to her courageous forebear. Thomas Garrett suffered mightily for keeping 2,000 or so escaped slaves safe in his home as they traveled to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

Two traditions, one of freedom, the other of oppression, and both were alive at the founding of American. They are alive today, among our families and friends, among the families and friends of our opponents. I am lucky to have a representative of the tradition of freedom with us in Texas this week as we celebrate the new presidency of Barack Obama.

Those who would suppress the votes of their fellow Americans live in the tradition of slave-owners and bigoted fools whose hope for supremacy depends upon the oppression of others.

Follow the drinking gourd. The dogs are still behind us on the trail.