The voting public's right to select a political party's nominee in the party primary process is enshrined in Texas law. Neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party enjoys the prerogative to disenfranchise the public of this right to select the candidates through the party primary system and neither party enjoys to right to unilaterally select hand-picked party stooges who have evaded the public's scrutiny and evaluation at the ballot box. Moreover, Texas has an open primary system where a life-long Republican has the absolute right to change his mind on election day and vote in the Democratic primary (and the same is true of Democrats, Libertarians, and Greens voting in the Republican primary).
Usurping the right of the voters to select the party candidate is exactly what the GOP is trying to do in District 22.
IMPORTANTLY, I KNOW SEVERAL MODERATE, LIBERTARIAN-LEANING, PROGRESSIVE, AND EVEN LIBERAL VOTERS LIVING IN DISTRICT 22 WHO VOTE IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY -- AS IS THEIR RIGHT UNDER TEXAS LAW -- AND THEY DO NOT SHARE THE VALUES OF THE EXTREMISTS, ZEALOTS, BIGOTS, AND HOMOPHOBES WHO RUN THE TEXAS REPUBLICAN PARTY. THESE MODERATE-TO-PROGRESSIVE REPUBLICAN VOTERS IN DISTRICT 22 HAVE THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SELECTION OF THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE WHO MOST NEARLY REPRESENTS THEIR VALUES IN THE PROCESS OF ELECTING THEIR REPRESENTATIVE.
With those moderate Republican voters in mind, look at the questionnaire that the GOP is asking "replacement candidate wannabes" to fill out (<
http://www.harriscountygop.com/site/DocServer/2006_CD22_Cong_Candidate_Questionnaire.pdf?docID=381>). The questionnaire asks about Republican Party loyalty, religious practices (which threatens Art. VI of the Constitution) , and right-wing ideological purity (it is TRULY a scary document). Clearly, this questionnaire shows that the GOP is wanting to evaluate candidates according to issues that matter more to the party than to the voters in District 22.
THIS IS A MAJOR THREAT TO OUR SYSTEM OF DEMOCRACY! WE MUST GET THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE OUT.