|
2003 - US Congressional
Report Card for Texas:
Liberty Report Cards
The
latest Congressional Report Card (or Liberty Index) is in. The latest
ranking is for the year 2003. It usually takes over a year to get the full
ranking, so this information is the latest available. Below are the
economic and personal freedom
scores that make up the political report card for each congressman.
2003
Session U.S. House Texas Member Ratings:
|
District
| Name, Party
|
Econ%
| Pers% | Comb% = Class
|
|
TX 03 |
Johnson, Republican
|
econ: 90, pers: 38 = Conservative
|
|
TX 04 | Hall, Republican
|
econ: 75, pers: 58 = Enterpriser
|
|
TX 05 |
Hensarling, Republican
|
econ: 89, pers: 54 = Enterpriser
|
|
TX 06 |
Barton, Republican
|
econ: 85, pers: 46 = Conservative
|
|
TX 07 |
Culberson, Republican
|
econ: 90, pers: 43 = Conservative
|
|
TX 08 |
Brady, Republican
|
econ: 90, pers: 49 = Conservative
|
|
TX 12 | Granger, Republican
|
econ: 75, pers: 43 = Conservative
|
|
TX 13 |
Thornberry, Republican
|
econ: 88, pers: 49 = Conservative
|
|
TX 14 |
Ron Paul, Republican
|
econ: 89, pers: 86 = Libertarian
*
|
|
TX 19 |
Neugebauer, Republican
|
econ: 93, pers: 61 = Libertarian
*
|
|
TX 21 | Smith, Republican
|
econ: 85, pers: 33 = Conservative
|
|
TX 22 | DeLay, Republican
|
econ: 95, pers: 43 = Conservative
|
|
TX 23 |
Bonilla, Republican
|
econ: 75, pers: 43 = Conservative
|
|
TX 26 |
Burgess, Republican
|
econ: 90, pers: 43 = Conservative
|
|
TX 31 |
Carter, Republican
|
econ: 90, pers: 38 = Conservative
|
|
TX 32 |
Sessions, Republican
|
econ: 89, pers: 38 = Conservative
|
|
|
|
|
TX 01 | Sandlin, Democrat
|
econ: 40, pers: 54 = Liberal
|
|
TX 02 |
Turner, Democrat
|
econ: 40, pers: 54 = Liberal
|
|
TX 09 |
Lampson, Democrat
|
econ: 20, pers: 54 = Liberal
|
|
TX 10 |
Doggett, Democrat
|
econ: 15, pers: 54 = Liberal
|
|
TX 11 | Edwards, Democrat
|
econ: 40, pers: 51 = Liberal
|
|
TX 15 |
Hinojosa, Democrat
|
econ: 35, pers: 42 = Moderate (Statist)
|
|
TX 16 |
Reyes, Democrat
|
econ: 35, pers: 54 = Liberal
|
|
TX 17 |
Stenholm, Democrat
|
econ: 45, pers: 43 = Moderate (Statist)
|
|
TX 18 |
Jackson-Lee, Democrat
|
econ: 5, pers: 63 = Liberal
|
|
TX 20 |
Gonzalez, Democrat
|
econ: 30, pers: 58 = Liberal
|
|
TX 24 |
Frost, Democrat
|
econ: 20, pers: 51 = Liberal
|
|
TX 25 |
Bell, Democrat
|
econ: 30, pers: 43 = Moderate (Statist)
|
|
TX 27 |
Ortiz, Democrat
|
econ: 35, pers: 40 = Moderate (Statist)
|
|
TX 28 |
Rodriguez, Democrat
|
econ: 16, pers: 69 = Liberal
|
|
TX 29 |
Green, Democrat
|
econ: 20, pers: 43 = Moderate (Statist)
|
|
TX 30 |
Johnson, Democrat
|
econ: 0, pers: 54 = Liberal
|
* Note: These
congressmen are "Ron Paul" Republicans.
Definitions:
|
Libertarians
- Fiscally conservative yet socially tolerant, libertarians favor lower
taxes, limited government and expanded personal liberty and
responsibility.
Enterprisers
- Free market conservatives who support economic freedom but are
inconsistent on civil liberties issues.
Conservatives
- Moderate free enterprisers who favor a large government role in
shaping society, particularly in social issues.
Liberals
- Favor strong government interference in economic affairs but are more laissez
faire on personal liberties issues.
Moderates
- Support moderate government intervention in economic and personal
affairs. Characterized by reliance on polls rather than principles.
Authoritarians
- Believe in a strong state apparatus intervening extensively in
economic and personal affairs. |
Note:
Pers%
- Personal freedom
Econ%
- Economic freedom
Comb%
- Combination of the two scores above.
Class
- Philosophical ranking of the Rep..
The
choices are Libertarian, Conservative, Liberal, Moderate, etc.. |
Information
on the Liberty Index:
The Liberty Index
is written by Professor Clifford F.
Thies. It rates members of Congress on their official roll call votes during each session of the House and Senate. For each Chamber, twenty votes on economic issues and twenty votes on personal liberty are selected to rank members for their support of individual liberties.
Rather than the traditional left-right political spectrum, the two types of votes are plotted on a two-dimensional
Graph, to indicate support for both personal and economic liberties. The resulting
Plot more accurately shows the political position of each member in both categories.
Each member of Congress has two percentage scores and a consolidated score, which indicates their standing in the totalitarian to libertarian axis (lower left to upper right).
The Roll Call Votes used to find Liberty
Index scores:
As in past years, construction of the index involved identifying eighty roll
call votes, twenty from each chamber of Congress in each of economic and
personal liberties. As in past years, there was no problem identifying a
good list of roll call votes in the area of economic liberties. This year’s
list of economics votes included votes on taxes, spending, economic
regulations, free trade, and energy policy. Also as in past years, problems
were encountered identifying a good list of roll call votes in the area of
personal liberties. Specifically, this year, in the Senate, I included votes
on four judicial nominees when I would have preferred to include only two
such votes, for want of more useful choices. In addition to these votes,
this year’s list of personal liberties votes included votes on equal rights,
government financing of speech, arts and humanities, choice in education,
the war on drugs, and internet-based gambling and pornography. The exact
list of votes is given [below]. -- Clifford F. Thies
LIST
OF ROLL CALL VOTES
###
|
|
