LBJ, Texas, and the Art of Manipulation

My gut reaction would be a blanket statement that manipulation is wrong. After reading this I feel less confident in my assessment. Like Ashley I think that the manipulation LBJ used didn't seem right. I support the passing of the ERA, even if it was gutted, but I feel as if the use of tricks versus discussion was kind of a poor way of passing it. In the end though a law I support was passed through Congress so should I complain? I suppose this is a dangerous path to tread on because others can use these tactics to pass things I don't support. At this point I am trying to go back to what Thompson said in his piece on democratic secrecy but I just don't think Thompson translates here because unlike lying it seems to me that manipulation, in these cases, did not break any laws or undermine democratic accountability. It was a clever way to convince other Senators to vote for a mostly symbolic bill. At this point in the discussion, I can't think of a regulatory system on manipulation that would be effective besides personal responsibility. Unfortunately, because American viewpoints differ so much manipulation could be used to facilitate bad actions on someones convictions without regret, like Oliver North. As of right now it is more the intent or the end that determines if it was okay to use manipulation in my understanding.

As for the Texas article, I suppose it was wrong for the Democrats to skip town to avoid the redistricting but the whole thing seemed like one giant mess. I know redistricting is perceived as a political tool and tradition but to me it seemed as if everyone was caught in a lose-lose situation. The Democrats had to flee and the Governor was trying to postpone the vote, etc. I feel as if redistricting wasn't such a shady deal to begin with the whole situation could have been avoided. In my mind it was no wonder that a mess like the article points out surfaced in the face of redistricting. I guess it would have been foolish for either sides to not try and take advantage of the opportunity as long as redistricting is seen as a way to bolster party strength in the state and is not explicitly illegal. I guess the actions on all sides were justified in the context of the situation but the whole scenario was wrong.