Good morning,

I’ve been thinking about what must be sacrificed when we start to value “access” in politics.

But first, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, February 28, 2020
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• Are you cowering in fear over the coronavirus? On the one hand, Democrats want to throw open the borders and flood our country with people who might be infected with all manner of disease. On the other hand, we are being told by those same Democrats to live in fear of a worldwide pandemic. It’s almost like every issue is an excuse for growing government spending.
       
• The real danger posed by the coronavirus is in places with socialized “Medicare-for-All” style health care systems. That’s where people are dying. Of course, eliminating chunks of the population – the old, the weak – is a key feature, not a bug, in government health care schemes.
      
• A Republican sheriff running for Congress must explain to voters why he opposes their right to carry firearms. The National Association of Gun Rights published a video yesterday in which Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls “scolds church carriers like Jack Wilson who used his firearm to prevent a mass shooting.” He can also be heard telling the audience he wouldn’t enforce state laws giving law-abiding citizens expanded rights to carry. Nehls is running in the crowded GOP field for the Congressional District 22 open-seat race outside of Houston.
      
• Speaking of guns... Texans showed up to the Capitol to say they had enough of lawmakers dragging their feet on pro-gun legislation. And they certainly aren’t going along with proposals appeasing progressive gun-grabbers. Brandon Waltens reports on this week’s hearing in the Texas Senate focused on Second Amendment-related issues. 
      
• The ACLU is suing seven Texas cities for adopting ordinances that prohibit abortion providers from setting up shop within their jurisdictions. Cary Cheshire reports nearly a dozen cities in Texas have passed such ordinances. 
      
• Texas Right to Life’s Kimberlyn Schwartz described the ACLU lawsuit as “scattershot” and a “hodgepodge of complaints” brought by “organizations that profit off the death of pre-born children.”
       
• Texas can continue using winner-take-all to appoint presidential electors, a federal appellate court ruled this week, dealing a blow to opponents of the current Electoral College system. Erin Anderson has the details on this important ruling.
      
• Amid an affordability crisis for Austin’s working class, city hall keeps raising taxes and spending wildly – including more than $155,000 on lavish parties for employees in December. As Jacob Asmussen reports, that’s more than was spent on city staff parties in Dallas and Houston combined.
      
• I had a great time standing at polling locations for several great conservatives this week. It’s refreshing to visit with voters and see how many right-thinking Texans understand the need for real, authentic, and unapologetic conservative reformers in office.
       
• You say you love liberty? So what are you doing this weekend? Conservative candidates around the state need volunteers this weekend to blockwalk, make phone calls, and volunteer at Tuesday polling locations. Don’t be a “club” conservative; be an active activist! Moderate and progressive Republicans are counting on conservatives sitting out the primary. You are needed!

Friday Reflection

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

We don’t know for certain if the mountain in Israel known as “Mount Temptation” is, indeed, the place where Jesus went following His baptism and was tempted three times by the devil. What we do know is that the temptations Jesus successfully withstood were those common to us all.

The fourth chapter of Mathew’s Gospel records the temptations. I categorize them as pairings of comfort and ease, safety and power, and vanity and prestige. These are temptations Satan still uses today, especially in politics. He’s an all-too-willing provider for whatever combination of sins might capture one’s heart.

Politicians get treated like royalty, and it is addicting. They like the trips in donors’ private planes; the getaways to exotic locales for “conferences.” There is always someone ready to buy a meal, tell them how smart they are, or put their name at the top of an invitation. Like any addictive substance, the trappings of power can turn into an insatiable demand.

It is the third temptation that tends to most often ensnare people in politics. We read that Jesus was taken to a “very high mountain” where Satan showed Him “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” It was there Satan said, “All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.”

I hear elected officials constantly tell me that they must make compromises with the devil so they can “do good things.” I bet Jesus could have justified saying “yes” just like that. I know I could; I’ve heard variations of it an uncountable number of times.

Just recently a very well-known Christian conservative politician told me he was endorsing a corrupt defender of Austin’s corps of cronies because it meant he’d demonstrate an ability to maintain relationships with other elected officials. You know, so he could advance in their eyes, and do good things down the road.

A compromise here, bowing down there... eventually one is worshiping at a very dark altar.

The reality is that once one starts worshiping at the altar of political access, those “good things” happen less and less. Can’t lose that access! Habits are formed, then the good works end altogether. And, in his final evolution as a politician, that agreeable access-seeker is working against the principles he once espoused. It happens all the time.

This is why Jesus said no. He knew He had greater access than to earthly powers and princes. And through Him, we can too.

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