-- Let's get this out of the way first: anybody not named Michael Moore who tells you they saw this coming is telling you a story (unless, of course, they can produce a public opinion that appeared before July 21st of this year). As you read -- or listen to the same talking heads on teevee who never saw it coming try to explain it -- keep in mind that the those with the most access to the best insider information lost 4 million
-- And it would go a long way toward accepting the outcome (five stages of grief and all) if you could demonstrate some sign of being awake. Here's another poor analogy. Why would anyone choose to rebuild in a flood zone (aka the Democratic Party) when the hundred-year floods come every year now? You're not a tree; move. Take off the blinders and start thinking outside the two-party box. All you have to lose is the next election, after all.
-- The Democratic Party should purge itself of charlatans like Donna Brazile, but we all know they won't. If you're one of those people who simply cannot bear the thought of voting for someone besides a Democrat or a Republican; if you'd rather keep trying to reform one of them from within, here's a reform you can steal from the Greens. It just passed in Maine. Unfortunately you'll have to change the Texas Election Code (Title I, Chapter 2, Subchapter B; IANAL) first. Several not-so-liberal sources advocated for ranked choice/instant runoff voting in the wake of Trump's winning the GOP nomination, so perhaps the Republicans in Austin can get on board. As our attention turns to the forthcoming legislative session, let's ask our new state representatives -- and the old ones, too -- and see what they think.