Texan Of The Year, Representative Carter Casteel

Thanks to Pink Dome for putting all of this together.

As we nominated and then voted on nominees for this award I always had someone rated higher than Representative Carter Casteel. When I found out she had won I was kind of ambivalent about the choice. Then I started going back over her actions last session on the defeat of vouchers, and her vote for the "Hochberg Amendment". This article in particular, Revenge of the Rural Republicans, did much to remind me of what she did. I began feeling a little bad that I hadn't rated her higher or as my number one choice, for that matter.

Her decision to stand up to Speaker Craddick, wing-nut money changer Dr. James Leininger, and the many Republican voucher sheep - in order to save what's left of our public schools so there is still a chance they can become what they should be - was an extraordinary act of courage, dignity, justice and just plain doing the right thing. It was one of those things that seems, in retrospect, so obvious, a no-brainer if you will, but someone had to step out front and do it. Her actions showed those who may have voted against the best interest of their constituents, that for the sake of the good of the state, they had to vote for what was right and not for what the money changers wanted.

It's the simple things in life, the monotonous tasks of everyday life, that don't seem like such big things bur are. And often it's not the most powerful people that transform debates when they make what seem like everyday decisions that lead to greater good. It brings to mind many of the statements made about Rosa Parks after her recent passing. She was just a woman who was tired, on her way home from work, and didn't feel she needed to move from her seat for an idiotic (my words) law. Just like Rep. Carter Casteel, who was just sticking up for her constituents - doing what she was elected to do - and reminded us all that doing what is right is the easy choice to defend.


Check out what the other blogs have to say. Burnt Orange Report, Off the Kuff, Brains and Eggs, In The Pink Texas, The People’s Republic of Seabrook, Common Sense, Houston democrats, By the Bayou, The Agonist, A Little Pollyanna, Just Another Blog, Sharpening Our Wits, Appalachia Alumni Association, Annatopia, and The Jeffersonian.