Good morning,

Heading into Thanksgiving, it is important to remember what God has done for us as a people. Below, you will find a reflection on how the holiday's history should inform our actions.

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

New Investigative Series Launches On Monday

• The first in a two-part series will launch at noon on Monday, looking at the political appointments made by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Colin Allred Sends $1 Million in Taxpayer Funds to Leftwing Group

• U.S. Rep. Colin Allred has pushed to send taxpayer dollars to a group that indoctrinates children with leftwing propaganda. Emily Medeiros reports on the Democrat lawmaker's relationship with the Dallas-based group.
    
• Allred is seeking the Democrat nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Ted Cruz.
       
• The radical group, Big Thought, promotes the idea that the United States is built on a “white supremacist system” and seeks to incorporate Black Lives Matter teachings into classrooms. It also encourages “racial equity and identity” teachings to young students so they can “see the world through an equity lens.”
       
• Equity, of course, is a leftwing concept that focuses on guaranteed outcomes rather than equality of opportunities.
      
• Big Thought also promotes LGBTQ and radical gender ideology teachings for children in public school classrooms.

Llano Citizens Fighting Library Pornography 

• As parents across the country grapple with claims that the First Amendment protects pornographic materials in public and school libraries, citizens in Llano County are on the frontlines of the fight. Sydnie Henry has the details.
    
• Earlier this year, a federal judge in Texas blocked Llano County from removing pornographic books from the shelves. The ruling was appealed, and the litigants are awaiting word from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on the matter.
      
• Either way, the legal fight is far from over. Conservative activists are holding an event to raise funds for the costly lawsuit and inform citizens about the “pornography book battle happening throughout Texas and the nation.”
       
• “What we need is more people to stand up—most people, especially conservative Christian people, are hesitant to question other people’s motives, maybe to judge other people, maybe to offend other people—they don’t want to do that. But I think that the protection of children is our highest priority.” – Bonnie Wallace
       
• Tickets are available for the Protect Our Children event. It will be held on Wednesday, November 29, from 2-6 p.m. at the Sandstone Mountain Ranch Center.

Tioga ISD Allows Groomer Teacher to Resign

• Rather than confront a teacher accused of grooming a student, Tioga Independent School District allowed the man to resign. School board members said they felt it would be too expensive to fire the teacher.
       

• The parents of the victim said the school board is just “passing the trash” because the man—identified as Brad Strickland—could get a teaching job in another school district depending on the results of an investigation by the Texas Education Agency.
       

• “Nobody wants to face the facts that our children are being sought after. They are being groomed. They’re being indoctrinated," said community activist Kyle Sims.

Mesquite Elementary Teacher Charged with Indecency with a Minor

• A second-grade teacher in the Mesquite Independent School District has been arrested and charged with indecency with a minor. Brandon Waltens has the story.
    
• Ricardo Tello was arrested and charged in Dallas County; it is unclear if the alleged victim was a student. Mesquite ISD said Tello has been placed on administrative leave and will be notifying the State Board for Educator Certification about the situation. 

Salcedo Storm: Are Texas Taxpayer Dollars Being Abused To Attack Conservatives?

• On the most recent edition of his Storm podcast, Chris Salcedo speaks with Brandon Waltens and Luke Macias about the attacks on conservatives with taxpayer dollars. 

Thankful For These Incredible People!

• Producing the Texas Minute and our other products involves an incredibly talented crew of professionals. I am so thankful for the leadership team at Texas Scorecard, including Nathan Ofe, Susan Dehnal, Kait Schober, Grant Jumper, and Daniel Greer.
            

• Production duties for our podcasts and shows are handled by Walker York, Drew Koch, Nick Shepherd, and Sam Hopper.
             

• Our on-air talent includes Kambree Nelson, Chris Salcedo, Bill Peacock, Luke Macias, and Brandon Waltens. (We'll be adding a couple of amazing names here in Q1!)
      

• The news and research team consists of Sydnie Henry, Erin Anderson, Emily Medeiros, Robert Montoya, Kristen Stanciu, Quinn Sullivan, and Valorie Muñoz. (New members of the writing team will be joining us next month and into the new year!)
       

• Of course, none of this work would be possible without the generous support of thousands of donors across the Lone Star State.
       

• THANK YOU!

The Texas Minute will return on Monday, Nov. 27.

Reflection:
Remembering to be Thankful

We think we know the story of Thanksgiving: the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, faced a harsh winter, famine, and disease, and then only with the help of friendly natives learned how to survive. It’s nice for bedtime stories and feel-good paintings, but it ignores the most important lessons of our early history.

The pilgrims weren’t city slickers ill-prepared for wilderness life, nor were they misguided about the challenges facing them in the New World. Sadly, the travails and trials of those pilgrims weren’t merely the result of recklessness, ignorance, or chance.

No, the problems the pilgrims faced—and overcame—were of their own making through a well-intentioned, though misguided, governing ideology.

William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth Colony, explains what happened in his History of the Plymouth Settlement. Even before arriving in the New World, they imposed on themselves what he called “communal service” – what we today would recognize as socialism.

Everything—the land, the work, the crops, everything—was held communally. Everyone was expected to work hard and receive only what they truly needed. As a result, Bradford wrote, many would simply “allege weakness and inability.”

You won’t be surprised that Bradford reported: “The young men who were most able and fit for service objected to being forced to spend their time and strength in working for other men’s wives and children, without any recompense.”

At the same time, “The strong man or the resourceful man had no more share of food, clothes, etc., than the weak man who was not able to do a quarter the other could.”

Bradford would note: “Community of property was found to breed much confusion and discontent.” No one had an incentive to work, so no one produced, and everyone was miserable.

Remember, this was a small group of people who shared common values, cared for each other, and had willingly joined philosophically to the colony’s arrangements. It’s just that socialism fails in practice whenever it is tried; sometimes, it limps along, but ultimately, the results are always the same.

Socialism, no matter what one calls it, always produces human misery.

After three years, the colony abandoned its “communal” life. Bradford wrote that colony leaders divided the land among the families and “allowed each man to plant corn for his own household, and to trust to themselves for that.”

As a result, Bradford added, “It made all hands very industrious, so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could devise, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better satisfaction.”

Private property rights and a free market carried the day. Labor was naturally divided—not politically imposed—and everyone utilized their skills to their own benefit, thereby increasing the productivity and happiness of the colony as a whole.

In the newly free society, where the local knowledge of Native Americans was combined with the techniques of Europe, the Pilgrims had a harvest bountiful beyond comparison.

The very first days of the American experience demonstrated what world history repeatedly proves: socialism fails and fails miserably. Bounty is produced by liberty driven by self-governance, not central planning—even if it is well-intentioned.

We must remember that individual liberty is in the 21st Century, as it was in the 17th, a necessary and integral component of our general prosperity. And let us be thankful to God daily, not only for the material things we have but for the liberty of which He is the author.

Quote-Unquote

"Socialism can survive only if subsidized by the free market system and then, just for so long. It will, like the parasite it is, kill the host unless exterminated."

– H.L. Richardson​

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