Good morning,

Would-be tyrants like to whisper convenient little lies to distract us from our role as citizens in this self-governing Republic. I close out the week reflecting on one of the most insidious of those lies.

Here is the Texas Minute for Friday, May 26, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I'll be out of the office for the next couple of weeks, so Brandon Waltens ([email protected]) will be taking over the Texas Minute duties.

House Committee Votes To Start Impeachment Against Paxton

• The Texas House could see its first impeachment proceedings in nearly 50 years, as the House Committee on General Investigating unanimously voted yesterday to refer articles of impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton. Brandon Waltens has the details.
       
• The move comes one day after a hearing in which the committee heard testimony from a group of four investigators secretly appointed by the committee back in March. The investigators largely rehashed the ongoing indictment of Paxton on securities fraud charges that have been likened to a “political prosecution” for eight years and have been the focus of multiple campaigns.
      

• Chris Hilton, the chief of general litigation for the Office of the Attorney General, demanded to testify on behalf of Paxton but was denied the opportunity to do so. Hilton called the committee’s work an “illegal investigation.”

• Notably, the impeachment referral comes just days after Paxton called for the resignation of House Speaker Dade Phelan for allegedly running the House while under the influence of alcohol.
      
• This move by Speaker Phelan marks an escalation in his war against Texas' Republican primary voters that has seen him reject Gov. Greg Abbott's marquee legislative push (see below), attack Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and undermine the priorities of the Republican Party of Texas.
       
• Members of the Texas House will go home having not achieved much for conservatives but with a record of attacking conservative priorities and Republican standard-bearers.
       
• Impeachment requires a majority vote in the House of Representatives. Even though the regular session ends on Monday, the House can organize itself into a special session for impeachment proceedings. Should the House impeach Paxton, the issue would be sent to the Senate for a trial where conviction requires two-thirds of the senators.

📺 Call It What It Is...

• In a special edition of his show, Luke Macias breaks down the history of impeachment in Texas and why the House leadership is pursuing it against A.G. Paxton.
      
• "Call it what it is. The Texas House of Representatives is weaponizing the impeachment process to go after one of their political opponents. That's what it is, pure and simple. It's absurd. It's silly. It's unserious. It's immature. It's desperate.  And, it's actually consistent with the leadership of the Texas House of Representatives.” – Luke Macias
    
• You can watch the Luke Macias Show on YouTube or listen to it on your favorite podcasting platforms.

House Keeps Rejecting Abbott's School Choice Push

• As the Texas legislative session approaches the May 29 finish line, a dispute over public education is heating up between the state House and Senate, with the fate of school choice legislation hanging in the balance. Darrell Frost reports on the feud around a legislative priority of Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican Party of Texas.
    
• In just the last two months, the Senate has three times moved legislation with school choice components, and each time they have been met with hostility in the House. Both chambers are dominated by Republicans.
      
• In the latest attempt, the House killed legislation increasing salaries for public school teachers because the legislation included a school choice component.
      
• Gov. Abbott has said he will call lawmakers into a special session on the issue if it isn't addressed in the regular session.

Attacks On Free Speech Stopped... For Now

• Legislation intended to limit Texans’ free speech rights has almost certainly died after failing to receive a vote before end-of-session deadlines in both chambers of the state Legislature.

         

• State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola) wanted to change key provisions of the Texas Citizens Participation Act, which was enacted to protect Texans’ right to express their opinions about public figures or matters of public concern. At issue are SLAPP lawsuits—“strategic lawsuits against public participation”—used by wealthy and powerful individuals to silence critics through litigation.
      

• Behind the scenes, the effort was pushed by two big-business lobby groups: Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Association of Business.

Cultural Rot Breeds Sex Slavery

• All week, Texas Scorecard has examined the issues of sex slavery and sex trafficking. The investigative series ends with a report by Robert Montoya reviewing the cultural roots of this vampiric enterprise.
        
• From the fatherlessness epidemic to easy access to pornography, sex slavery is intertwined with the decline of the family.

Fort Worth Mayor Encourages Kids to Read ‘LGBTQ+’ Books

• Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker has appeared to endorse LGBT and radical gender ideologies through her summer reading program for children. Katy Marshall reports the mayor's office is now backtracking.

      
• The Fort Worth Public Library announced this week that the Mayor’s Summer Reading Challenge would run June 1-August 12. To complete the summer reading challenge, children read books and complete activities to earn badges.
      

• Parents noticed that the challenge also encouraged children to read books with LGBT themes. Among other things, school-age participants were being encouraged to learn about the history of LGBT "pride" month.
       

• Shortly after parents began calling the city offices to complain, the Fort Worth Public Library removed the "pride" badge from the children’s summer reading challenge.
      

• This is not Mayor Parker’s first time coming under fire for supporting radical gender ideology. She has criticized efforts to prohibit sterilization and gender mutilation procedures on children.
      

• The mayor's office did not respond to a request for comment.

DeSantis Officially Joins Presidential Contest

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his presidential bid in a live – and glitchy – Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk that attracted hundreds of thousands of listeners. Sydnie Henry has the story.
    
• DeSantis pledged to hold federal agencies accountable for abusing their authority, end Biden’s “shenanigans” on the border and secure it, and protect children from rampant sexualization and woke indoctrination. The Florida governor has made a name for himself in the last few years by taking on COVID-19 shutdowns and mandates, Disney’s woke propaganda for children, indoctrination in public schools, drag shows targeting children, men in women’s sports, DEI in universities, and China’s agricultural land purchases in Florida.
      
• A poll by CWS Research earlier this month before DeSantis’ announcement found that 16 percent of Texas’ Republican primary voters said they would support DeSantis. Former President Donald Trump led the poll with 54 percent support.
      
• A poll of general election voters last month found both Trump and DeSantis would beat Joe Biden.

📺 WATCH: The Headline

• On this week's edition of The Headline with Brandon Waltens, Robert Montoya discusses the findings of his latest investigative series. And I'll drop in to chat about the escalating war between the Texas House and ... everyone else.
      
• You can watch The Headline on the Apple TV or Roku apps, on an iOS or Android phone, or on the Texas Scorecard YouTube channel.

Friday Reflection:
It's Our Job

There is a lie whispered by tyrants, spoken by sycophants, and repeated by patriots. It is a lie that has undermined our Republic and will be the undoing of our liberty.

That lie is one I hear all too frequently, spoken as though it were holy writ. “I just wish I could go back to a time when I didn’t have to pay attention to government.”

It is a lie I have become frustrated hearing repeated by people who should know better. So much so, I have begun to respond to it with an admittedly snarky question: “So, you must be eager to have King Charles and Lady Camilla reign over you? Or, perhaps, you think the German chancellor would be a nice ruler?”

Because, fundamentally, that is the choice. We can be a self-governing Republic, or we can be a subservient people governed by tyrants.

Our system of government only works when the citizens are engaged. As citizens, it is our job – every day – to pay attention to the government. The extent to which we stop being engaged is in direct proportion to the loss of liberty and the rise of tyranny.

“Ah, but Michael, I don’t have time to pay attention to the government! It’s all so complicated!” Then, no worries, just sign away your rights. Another person, who is more interested, is happy to see to the affairs of state. He’ll just need ready access to your property, your children, and whatever wealth you manage to accumulate.

That is the bargain the people of God made despite the warnings from the Prophet Samuel. They had been a self-governing people but found it was a lot of work. They wanted, instead, to be serfs. They were warned of the outcomes yet chose a life of serfdom anyway.

This is why that lie is gently whispered by tyrants and those who desire to be our masters. They want us to fall into the same trap as our ancestors. They want us to slip shackles on our wrists and ankles. It will be so much easier…

It is true that the sloth of previous generations has forced us in this generation to have more fights than we would have had they not succumbed to the lie. But even so, we would still be required to vigilantly stand watch, but liberty would not be on the ropes.

So, the question for us to answer is this: Do we want to make things better or worse for ourselves and our posterity? Do we want our successors to be serfs, or will we leave a legacy of liberty?

Our American forefathers answered that question in the 1770s. Our Texan forefathers answered it in the 1830s. How about us?

Like theirs, our answer will not come merely in words, but by our actions.

Quote-Unquote

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

– Samuel Adams

Now Available: 'Reflections on Life & Liberty'

• The book comes in three formats: hardcover, paperback, and digital download. For now, "Reflections on Life & Liberty" is only available at Amazon.