As much as possible, Houstonians should make sure that the future is in our hands.

As much as possible, Houstonians should make sure that the future is in our hands.

Look at the 2016 election map for the state of Texas, and it would seem that long-belaguered Democrats have become even more beleaguered. It appears they’ve been driven into a handful of redoubts, where, like Crockett, Travis and friends, they’ll wage a last, desperate fight against extinction. A national map is similar — a few blue states in a sea of red, Democrats and progressives consigned to the coasts and fighting for survival.

Actually, both state and national maps are deceiving, even as we acknowledge the weakened condition of the Democratic Party, in Texas and across the nation. More Americans voted for the Democratic candidate for president than for the Republican who actually won, although that’s small consolation for a party that has lost control of every branch of the national government, not to mention most state governments. Here in Texas, those small blue blotches are actually the most populous parts of the state — Harris (and Fort Bend), Dallas, Bexar, Travis and El Paso counties, among a few others. As Rice University sociologist Steve Klineberg noted the day after the election, Houston and Harris County — as well as their urban counterparts around the state — represent tomorrow’s Texas, despite the state’s fervid red hue today.

In our federal system, states are often described as laboratories of democracy. At times, they experiment with programs and policies that either get adopted nationwide or don’t, depending on how they tested on a smaller scale. We would suggest that the Houston area, with population and economic prowess exceeding many states, could itself be a laboratory of democracy testing out progressive policies. Below are a few suggestions among many:

• With a candidate, and now presidentelect, whose campaign centerpiece was a full-throated nativist appeal to build walls against outsiders — Mexicans, Muslims and others — the first order of business for the most diverse city in the nation has to be to protect and reassure immigrants and refugees who have cast their lot with us. That means making it clear that insults and derision will not be tolerated — in classrooms, in our places of business and elsewhere.

It also means continuing our efforts to help refugees and immigrants find their way in their new home. These new Houstonians need to know that this city of entrepreneurs and risk-takers can be a place to start over, a place that welcomes their contributions, regardless of the message they’re getting from Trump and his supporters.

Those most urgently needing to hear that message are refugees from Syria’s brutal civil war. After experiencing the horrors of war, famine and rootlessness, the last thing they need are nativists among us urging that they go back where they came from. Official resolutions of reassurance from the Houston City Council and Harris County Commissioners Court would be in order.

• With a new district attorney and a new sheriff in town, Houston should reinforce its commitment to criminal justice reform. From District Attorney-elect Kim Ogg and Sheriff-elect Ed Gonzalez, we’re expecting a commitment to bail reform, more diversion programs and other initiatives to reduce overcrowding in the Harris County Jail.

• We hate to say it, but things are likely to get worse for poor Americans, including Houstonians. Obamacare may disappear, which means that more than 20 million people who finally got access to health insurance, many just above the poverty line, will lose it. The hospital emergency room will again be their health care of desperate last resort. In addition, Trump’s massive proposed tax cut, combined with House Republicans calling for a balanced budget, are incompatible. The end result will be drastic cuts in government assistance to the young and poor.

Along with renewed commitments to affordable housing and more jobtraining opportunities, increasing the local minimum wage would be one way to fight back against short-sighted economic policies in Washington. On Tuesday, four states — Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington — passed ballot measures that will raise the minimum wage by significant amounts by the year 2020. Arizona and Washington also passed mandated sick-leave measures. If Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and his revanchist pals in the Legislature will leave Texas cities alone, Houston could approve similar measures.

• Although the Legislature is likely to interfere, Houston also should push forward with its own clean-air and -water initiatives. The Environmental Protection Agency is unlikely to do much environmental protecting in the coming months and years and neither will its Texas counterpart. If we want a healthy Houston, we’ll have to take care of ourselves.

“Harris County is where all of America and all of Texas is going to be as the future unfolds,” Rice’s Klineberg told Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenburg the day after the election.

In Houston and Harris County the future is now. We should make sure that tomorrow is in our hands, not Washington or Austin.