Progressive resurgence from the birthplace of the progressive movement

The slow march to return Texas to working families

Sep 07, 2024

Did you know that here in Lampasas, just a few miles from my family farm, is where the Populist movement got its start? I’m proud to be part of that long history of farmers and ranchers who’ve led the fight against monopoly control of our food system and supported local cooperatives to provide independence from greedy financiers and suppliers. It was fitting that the first meeting of the Farmers Alliance was in a schoolhouse because the founders knew universal education was a key to breaking the stranglehold of the railroad monopolies and robber barons of the time.

And now, we are seeing an explosion of enthusiasm for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Every Labor Day, the Lampasas Democrats hold a celebration to honor America’s workers. We usually have 70 people join us, which isn’t bad for such a small county.

This year we had over 120. We didn’t even have that many folks at our Labor Day Celebration when Beto ran in 2018.

Back to Lampasas history. The Populist movement, which even included some members of future President LBJ’s family, grew drastically. One of the ways it grew was by providing services to the people. For instance, the populist and “Alliance Men” would come to small communities to help teach folks how to read, as well as strongly supporting public education. Strong public education for all was a cornerstone of the movement (& now the TX GOP seeks to defund our public education system).

The Populist Party expanded across the country, became active and successful in some 43 states, before it was crushed by the bankers and by monopolists, and by political partisans more interested in taking kickbacks from megadonors than helping their neighbors. While the organization itself was crushed, its members and their ideas were not. They evolved into the progressive movement of the early 1900s and 19-teens in our country, and later into the New Deal.

The New Deal would transform the USA by building the middle class. Even with my own family, both sides of my grandparents went from backbreaking poverty where they had to pick cotton and hunt squirrels to survive, to having the bootstraps to build generational middle class wealth because of *actual investments* into working families instead of corporate tax breaks.

To me that is the essence of the American Dream: Having the investment into yourself, your family, and your community to build a brighter future.

History may not repeat but it certainly rhymes — or perhaps another way to put it, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

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Campaigns are short but movements are eternal. The fundamental ideas that power ought to be democratized as much as possible and that universal education is crucial to a functioning democracy are still principles worth fighting for. You can see the powerful forces trampling over this history when Sid Miller, our current Texas Ag Commissioner, tweets, “Public education is a closed system that hurts kids and wastes money.” The school vouchers he advocates for don’t democratize, they deprive. Rich folks get to send their kids – and our tax dollars – to private schools. Regular folks get the leftovers.

If you want to see the marker commemorating the farmers' fight against monopolies, drive along US-183 N/US-190 W, just north of Lampasas. The marker (#4055) will be on your left if heading from Lampasas to Lometa.

Back to the present day. We still have a long road ahead of us. Reclaiming Texas for working families will take time. It cannot happen in a single election or by a single candidate; rather, like Democracy itself, it can only be done by all of us working together to create a world we’re proud to pass down to the next generation. Even FDR needed a progressive Congress and state governments to build the New Deal. So shall we.

Writers note: I know it’s been a while since I last wrote. A lot has happened between the Democratic Convention, the ranch, buying new animals, losing some of my favorite animals, learning about regenerative agriculture, joining new groups while saying goodbyes to past ones. I hope to get better about posting something each weekend, so long as I’m able to keep myself seated long enough to type something out.