{"id":415117,"date":"2026-08-24T05:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T05:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/415117\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T05:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T05:52:09","slug":"preserving-our-democratic-freedoms-starts-here-the-daily-texan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/415117\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving our democratic freedoms starts here \u2013 The Daily Texan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Preserving<\/a> <\/p>\n

Welcome all to a new school year; Austin has been awaiting your return!\u00a0<\/p>\n

My career in public service began right here at UT. When successfully campaigning for student body president, I won more than just the opportunity to represent our campus; I also met my wife, Libby, a life partner with the same passion for serving our community. Since, I went on to serve as a Texas State Senator, Texas Supreme Court Justice and, for three decades, your Congressman in the U.S. House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Congress, I have strived to protect our environment, restore reproductive freedom, stop endless wars, improve access to health care and protect LGBTQ+, immigrant and other communities under attack. I have also worked to expand educational opportunities and offset rising costs, successfully simplifying the FAFSA and pressing for passage of my bipartisan Tax-Free Pell Grants Act.<\/p>\n

At no time since I was a student myself have I seen our democracy more endangered. Concentrating power in one man\u2019s hands without checks and balances, and ignoring the rule of law, is a sure path to authoritarianism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump lied about lowering prices on \u201cday one.\u201d With his illegal tariff policies and reckless wars, he has left Americans struggling to afford education, gas, groceries and health care. Recklessly ignoring civilian and military advice, Trump began operation Epic Folly, confident that the Republican Congress would let him get away with it. He has failed to achieve certain objectives \u2014 providing us neither nuclear safety nor the regime change he promised. Instead, he has strengthened those he now calls Iranian \u201cscum,\u201d who are projecting greater power than before his assault.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick have been meddling in Texas higher education. They have imposed major changes on our University that reduce traditional faculty and student participation in decision-making, impair academic freedom and impose their political views.<\/p>\n

The progress UT has made toward student and faculty diversity has halted, and cultural studies departments have merged. Our University should cultivate in students the ability to form their own opinions, not close-minded thinking through exclusionary curricula.<\/p>\n

You can do something about this. It begins by registering immediately to vote in Austin through student groups on campus or at votetexas.gov.\u202fMultiple student organizations offer an opportunity to become better informed about what is happening at both the state and national levels.<\/p>\n

This is a year when voting alone is not enough to meet the challenges of this moment. You can help by encouraging others to seek a government that is more responsive to student concerns.<\/p>\n

While my name will not be on the ballot this November, important names for U.S. Senator and major statewide offices will be. As you become more familiar with what\u2019s been happening on the Forty Acres and around the world and listen to the candidates, you will find, essentially, choices written on your ballot for you to make: more affordable college degree or more student debt, academic freedom or political interference, climate crisis action or climate denial, peace or war, reproductive freedom or repression. Only by you and your fellow students making your voices heard do we have hope for a favorable resolution of these fundamental questions and developing an economy that offers more jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.<\/p>\n

Still unwilling to accept his defeat in 2020, Trump is undoubtedly working to discredit and sabotage this upcoming election. We can expect continued misinformation about the electoral process, possible manipulation of voter rolls and barriers to registering and intimidation at some polls. Only by having an overwhelming turnout can we expect to prevail in determining the future of our country and University. In short, we must have so many of our fellow Texans participating that the election becomes too big to rig!<\/p>\n

With your help, what starts here on the Forty Acres will change the world.<\/p>\n

Share your federal priorities at doggett.house.gov\/survey, and follow me online @RepLloydDoggett.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Doggett serves in the House of Representatives for a district that includes UT and most of Austin. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin\u2019s School of Business and School of Law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome all to a new school year; Austin has been awaiting your return!\u00a0 My career in public service…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-415117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}