Good morning,

Closing out the week, Michael Quinn Sullivan reflects on the danger of making deals with the devil.

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.

– Brandon Waltens

Tony Gonzales Joins Democrats, Votes Against Defunding Military Drag Shows

• After Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas proposed an amendment to the U.S. House spending bill that would defund drag shows and “Pride Month” events at the Department of Defense, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales was the only Texas Republican to join Democrats in killing it. Emily Medeiros has the details. 
   
• During a speech on the House floor, Roy pointed to an instance where the U.S. Marine Corps tweeted a “Pride Month” image with rainbow-tipped bullets on a helmet. In another example, the U.S. Air Force posted an image of a silhouette saluting in front of a rainbow flag.
    
• The amendment failed by a vote of 202-231. All 213 Democrats, as well as 18 Republicans, voted against it. Tony Gonzales was among those 18.
   

• Gonzales has been under scrutiny from the Republican Party of Texas since March, when the party officially censured him for several violations of Republican principles. The Texas GOP specifically highlighted his decision to vote in favor of the “Respect for Marriage Act,” which called for repealing the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. That act recognized marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman.
   

• “Tony claims to have been raised on traditional family-centered values, but he’s abandoned them in office,” RPT Chairman Matt Rinaldi told Texas Scorecard. 

John Fetterman Says America Should Take Back Chinese-Owned Land

• Those concerned about China’s purchases of American land apparently have an ally in Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman (D). Sydnie Henry has the details. 
   

• During a committee hearing, Fetterman stated, “The Chinese government and other US adversaries should own zero, zero agricultural land in our country. I believe that.” 
   

• He also suggested taking it back. “I mean, they’re taking back our pandas. You know, we should take back all their farmland," he said.
   

• China is indeed recalling all three of the panda bears currently living in the Smithsonian National Zoo. More importantly, it’s also buying up American land.
   

• According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chinese firms and investors have bought 383,935 acres of U.S. land. Some of that land was bought in Texas, near Laughlin Air Force base.
   

• Legislation passed by the Texas Senate earlier this year would have banned the ownership of Texas’ agricultural land, mineral interests, and timber by citizens, companies, or governmental entities of countries designated by the federal government as threats to U.S. national security—including China.
   

• When the legislation came to the House, however, State Rep. Todd Hunter (R–Corpus Christi), who chairs the House State Affairs Committee, never gave it a hearing. 
   

• A coming special session marks another chance for the legislature to fix the problem before it’s too late.

Ken Paxton Sues Yelp Over Discrimination of Pregnancy Resource Centers

• Attorney General Ken Paxton has wasted no time in getting back to work, filing a lawsuit against the review website Yelp, alleging the company added “inaccurate and misleading language” to listings of pregnancy resource centers.
   

• The lawsuit states that Yelp added language to the pages of pregnancy resource centers—that do not perform abortions—noting they “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.”
   

• Paxton says that is misleading and often untrue, as those centers “frequently do provide medical services with licensed medical professionals onsite.” The lawsuit accuses the company of violating Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
   

• Yelp’s CEO  Jeremy Stoppelman is a pro-abortion activist. Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, he issued a public statement expressing a need to “take action” and for businesses to “help ensure that reproductive rights are codified into law.”
   

• Although Yelp appears to have eliminated this misleading disclaimer from pregnancy resource centers’ pages, Paxton says the company "remains liable for penalties and other relief for the duration of its unlawful behavior."

Grand Prairie Teacher Gets 15 Years for Sex Crimes Against Student

• A now-former Texas teacher at an all-girls school in Grand Prairie was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sex crimes against a 16-year-old student.
   

• Erin Anderson reports Matthew Ramos, 34, pleaded guilty in July to improper relationship between educator and student, a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison, and online solicitation of a minor, a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison.
   

• Ramos was a middle school teacher at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy at Arnold in Grand Prairie Independent School District. Court documents said Ramos began communicating with a now former student at the school in 2021 when the girl was 16.
   

• Detectives found explicit messages and photos exchanged by the teacher and the underage student on Ramos’s phone, which led to the online solicitation of a minor charge. 
   

• Officers also found a text from Ramos telling the student he wanted to bring a gun to school to take care of the girls who told administrators about their relationship.

Special Election Candidates Asked About Support for Dade Phelan

• With a special election on the calendar in November, candidates for Texas House District 2 were asked to weigh in on whether they support keeping Dade Phelan as Speaker of the House. 
   

• Phelan was first elected by members to lead the House in January of 2021. Since then, he has been criticized by conservatives for appointing Democrats to leadership positions and obstructing conservative priorities.
   

• Last weekend, the Republican Party of Texas took the extraordinary step of calling on him to resign and be replaced, following the failed impeachment attempt against Paxton that was supported by Phelan. The move has put a spotlight on candidates and their position towards the speaker. 
   

• But while the primary election will not take place until March of next year, a special election for House District 2—vacated by expelled State Rep. Bryan Slaton earlier this year—is the first opportunity for voters to see how Phelan’s disapproval by the party will factor into elections.
   

• Texas Scorecard reached out to all six declared candidates to ask if they supported Phelan in light of the Texas GOP’s resolution calling on him to resign.  View those reponses here. 

Friday Reflection:
Compromising for What?

No private sin is quite so publicly ensnaring as the quiet promise of political access. It trips up the most sure-footed activist and silences even the boldest advocate of liberty.

The fourth chapter of Mathew’s Gospel records the specific temptations dangled in front of Jesus by Satan. I categorize them as pairings of comfort and ease, safety and power, and vanity and prestige.

For example, 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 that Satan said, “All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.”

Jesus immediately responds, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

Too many in politics—politicians and citizens alike—have taken the deal, justifying it with all the alleged good they could theoretically achieve.

I hear elected officials constantly tell me they must make compromises with the devil so that 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.

And it’s not just the politicians.

Not long ago, a well-known Christian conservative told me he was going against his base of supporters—and even “sacrificing” his own conscience—by endorsing a corrupt member of Austin’s corps of cronies. He claimed that by taking such an action, he’d demonstrate an ability to maintain relationships with elected officials. His rationale? So he could be an insider and, therefore, get “good things” done down the road.

Once one starts worshiping at the altar of political access, those “good things” used as the initial justification happen less and less. Can’t lose that access! And, in their final evolution, that agreeable access-seeker is found to be working against the principles he once so loudly espoused.

Like any addictive substance, satisfying the need for access becomes an all-consuming need to which anything will be sacrificed.

Over the years, a sad number of activists have become addicted to the access afforded to them by being friendly with those in power. Rather than risk alienation, they move from citizen leader to political sycophant. Where they once boldly spoke truth to power, they end up defending the malfeasance of the ruling elite.

This is why Jesus said no. He knew He had access to a power far greater than earthly princes. He knew where such a compromise would lead.

The same is even more true for each of us. The access we should crave is to God, not the powers and principalities of the world.

As citizens in a self-governing republic, we must reject the “access” model of politics, holding each other accountable by speaking honestly in the face of governing temptation. By operating as a community of citizens, we can begin to reclaim our government.