Good morning,

Property rights stand front and center in the Ten Commandments. I conclude the week by reflecting on what that means for life and liberty.

Here is the Texas Minute for Friday, Nov. 17, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

House Set to Vote on School Choice Proposal

• For the first time in decades, school choice legislation will be debated today in the Texas House. As Brandon Waltens reports, this has been a top issue for Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican Party of Texas—but it is unclear how much support exists inside the chamber for the proposal.
    
• The House proposal would create an education savings account of approximately $10,500 available to any child except those who are homeschooled, who would get $1,000. The program would be limited by funds allocated by the legislature every two years, and awards would be made based on family income levels.
       
• Students using the state's ESA funds would be required to submit to a state assessment test or a national norm-reference test. Those who do not perform satisfactorily on the assessment two years in a row will be disqualified from the program.
        
• The proposal also includes across-the-board pay raises for teachers, nurses, counselors, and librarians.
      
• The Texas Senate has repeatedly passed various versions of school choice legislation this year, including a version last week that is significantly different than what the House will be debating.

Texas Congressmen Try to Block Biden's ‘Remain In Texas’ Policy

• Republican U.S. Reps. Ronny Jackson and August Pfluger have introduced legislation to block the Biden administration from implementing the “Remain In Texas” policy. Emily Mederios has the story.
    
• Their legislation is supported by the rest of the Republicans in the Texas congressional delegation.
       
• The Biden plan was announced in September, essentially turning Texas into a holding camp for illegal aliens. The plan was reportedly shelved in October when El Paso city officials backed out of a housing agreement.

Small Business Owner Enters Race to Unseat Jetton

• Incumbent State Rep. Jacey Jetton (R-Richmond) has drawn yet another challenger for the March Republican primary. 
       
• Small business owner Jessica Rose Huang joins businessman Matt Morgan in a race to unseat Jetton, a close ally of House Speaker Dade Phelan. Morgan has already received the endorsement of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
      
• Jetton has a career "F" rating on the Fiscal Responsibility Index and has received most of his funding from the Austin lobby group Texans for Lawsuit Reform.

Houston Teacher Accused of Having Sex with Student in Classroom

• The 2020 "Teacher of the Year" at the Houston ISD's Eastwood Academy High School has been charged with the second-degree felony of having an improper relationship between educator and student. Erin Anderson reports the man is accused of having sexual contact in his classroom with a female student.
    
• An investigation into Christopher Wayne Williams, 41, was launched after students reported the misconduct. HISD has removed Williams, as well as the school's principal, vice principal, guidance counselor, and librarian.
       
• HISD told parents that the “staff transitions” were prompted by an investigation into alleged “inappropriate behavior involving adults and children.”

Friday Reflection:
Property Rights Matter More Than You Think

Our rights to life and liberty are tied inextricably with property ownership. Our republic’s Founding Fathers understood this. The right to be secure in our property is fundamental to the rest of our rights as citizens.

Indeed, the right to own property is not merely a political or economic construct but an idea rooted deeply in the moral fabric of humanity.

Despite what the woke millennial pastors peddling soft socialism on social media will try to say, the right of an individual to own property is central to Scripture. 

Property rights are so intrinsic in the Bible that you find them twice in the Ten Commandments. The Seventh Commandment is easy: “You shall not steal.” 

Of course, it is not that easy. To understand the full significance of the Ten Commandments, it is helpful to think of their obverse. For example, the Fifth Commandment is “You shall not murder.” Just don’t murder anyone, right? Wrong.

The Law of God is about something more than the letters arranged in a sentence. It is the spirit we must also embrace. We must understand that the Fifth Commandment also goes to the way we protect, honor, and celebrate life. It is not enough that I don’t murder someone, I must be actively engaged in helping those in need.

When Scripture tells us in the Seventh Commandment that God says we shouldn’t steal, it implies something deeper about the nature of property rights. By virtue of being told not to take what belongs to others, we are also being told that people have a right to be secure in the ownership of things.

This goes even deeper in the Tenth Commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

Beyond simply desiring similar success or possessions, coveting is the unhealthy desire to take away what someone else has earned or been given.

The Tenth Commandment is not a warning against aspiring to be better. Quite the opposite. It is, though, an injunction against scheming to take away that which belongs to someone else.

We pay high lip service to the principles of free markets, but we have allowed a very unscriptural view towards property to arise.

In Texas, we do not actually own our homes or land. They all belong to the state. You disagree? Try not making your annual rent payment to the school district, city, county, hospital district, and community college, and see how long you get to remain on their land and in their home.

I wrote “rent”; sorry, I meant “property taxes.” Same difference. The property tax system, and consequences for not paying up, are indistinguishable from the tactics of a heartless landlord or the wealth redistribution schemes of a Marxist. We just dress it up differently.

The modern property tax system is based on coveting what our neighbor possesses and wanting it so badly that we seek to punish him for having it.

Taxes have been weaponized against property ownership.

Property rights must be about something more than trimming trees when you like or repainting the front door. We do not truly have a right to property until we own it without paying rent to the government.  

Ultimately, we must recognize the centrality of property ownership in pursuit of our inalienable right to life and liberty.

Quote-Unquote

"If history could teach us anything, it would be that private property is inextricably linked with civilization."

– Ludwig von Mises

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