In the run-up to this election, one of our frequent commenters reminded me about the great Molly Ivins quote: ""Dallas is a town that would have rooted for Goliath to beat David."
Pretty nifty, ScurvyOaks.
We chose a highway over a park, and that’s what we’ll get. The most impressive thing about democracy is that we get do just that — choose. A majority of voters decided the highway was more important, and that’s that. They decided that it was so important that one-third more than predicted voted. It’s difficult to argue with the result when something like that happens. My overriding concern, always, regardless of any personal feelings, is that the system only works when people participate. And, in this case, the participation was impressive.
I missed the result by quite a bit — so, as promised, feel free to slam away, Matt Pulle at the Observer included. The higher than expected turnout was one reason why I was off by so much. Another is that I underestimated how important highways are to Dallas. In retrospect, it seems kind of silly to have been so naive, but that’s retrospect.
I have been writing about politics in Dallas for more than 20 years, and maybe one of these days I’ll figure it out.
