Good morning,

When it comes to governance, we should be careful what we ask for... because we just might get it. More on that thought at the end of today's Texas Minute.

This is Friday, December 8, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Record-Breaking Number of Illegal Alien Encounters

• According to numbers released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, the southwest border saw more than 12,000 encounters with illegal aliens on Tuesday. As Emily Medeiros reports, that is the highest single-day number ever recorded.
       

• The historic influx is straining law enforcement at all levels. There have been more than 535,000 apprehensions of illegal aliens since October 1.
       

• The situation is way past the point of being a crisis, it is “catastrophic,” said Lt. Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Soros-Funded Group Linked To Central Texas Shooter

• Following a day-long shooting spree in Austin and San Antonio that left six people dead, documents reveal that the accused killer had been bailed out following an arrest two years ago by a "reform" group funded by leftist financier George Soros.

        
• This week's rampage was allegedly perpetrated by Shane James. Records show that he had been arrested for violent activities in 2022 and bonded out by a group known as the Texas Organizing Project. Records show TOP bails out as many as 25-30 Bexar County Jail defendants per month. Records also reveal that some of the inmates TOP bailed out had extensive criminal records.
        
• A 2022 investigation revealed the correlation between rising homicides and property crimes in San Antonio with lenient bail practices championed by the Soros group.
        
• In addition to working to make it easier for criminals to get out of jail, the Texas Organizing Project has been heavily involved in the "defund the police" movement. The group has offices in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.

Paxton Warns Hospitals and Doctors About Violating Abortion Ban

• After a Travis County Judge granted a temporary restraining order for a woman seeking an abortion, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is warning doctors and hospitals that the state’s laws still apply. Sydnie Henry has the details.
       

• The woman asked Travis County Democrat Maya Guerra Gamble to allow her to get an abortion due to her baby being diagnosed with a potentially lethal condition. Judge Gamble ruled a Houston doctor should be allowed to perform the procedure without fear of civil or criminal penalties.
       

• Pro-abortion groups quickly hailed the decision, but Attorney General Paxton issued a notice that the judge’s ruling does “not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws.”
       

• Paxton also noted that the doctor failed to follow established procedures for determining if the woman’s pregnancy “qualifies for the medical exception to Texas abortion laws.” State law allows abortions in cases where the mother's life is in danger.
        

• According to Texas Right to Life, the lawsuit and judge's ruling are conflating the risk to the mother’s life with the child’s disability.

Houston Officials Delay Relief from High Water Bills

• Houston officials delayed a vote that would have offered citizens relief from high water bills incurred due to local government failings.

        
• The issue with residents’ water bills began when the City of Houston’s Public Works Department didn’t send workers out to manually read the water meters where remote readings were not working. The department instead estimated how much water was used and billed residents based on that estimate. When the department sent out a meter reader, they would bill the customer for the difference between the estimate and the actual use.
        
• Problems were revealed when some customers had water leaks and used an incredible amount of water but didn’t know because no one had read the meter for months.
        
• Residents have been calling for action on the issue for months.
         
• The city's infrastructure has been poorly maintained. Because of this, Charles Blaine of Urban Reform told Texas Scorecard that at various points of each year, "the city will lose about 20 percent of its total water source from leaks."

Abbott Endorses Against More School Choice Opponents

• With the fourth special session officially over, and the possibility of a fifth special session looming, Gov. Greg Abbott continues to endorse primary election challengers to incumbent Republicans who have opposed school choice legislation. Brandon Waltens has the details.

    
• The latest incumbents to be challenged by Abbott are State Reps. Travis Clardy (R–Nacogdoches) and Drew Darby (R–San Angelo). They joined Democrats in voting to strip a school choice proposal out of a school spending bill last month. That has put them—and the other 19 Republicans who joined those efforts—in Abbott’s crosshairs.
        
• Abbott is supporting Joanne Shofner in her bid against Clardy, and Stormy Bradley in opposing Darby.

Quote-Unquote

"Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric."

– Thomas Sowell

Friday Reflection:
The Danger of Getting What We Want

After a half-millennium of living as a self-governing people, the ancient Israelites went to the Prophet Samuel and asked him to appoint a king. They soon learned the danger of getting what they wanted.

From the perspective of practical governance, no section of Holy Scripture is more interesting to me than that of 1 Samuel 8. This is where the people of God look around and demand that they be given a king like everyone else had. God warned them that the king would do bad things, and they responded—in essence—“Sold! We want that!”

Those bad things? High taxes, unnecessary wars, foreign control, loss of rights and property. The king would be serving himself rather than the people. Yet, the Bible recounts, the people eagerly signed on.

God made it clear that by rejecting self-governance, they were rejecting Him. Such is the state of the human heart that we so willingly trade heavenly gifts for earthly baubles!

Of course, the Law given to the people by God did indeed make a provision for a future king, but it was to be a king chosen at a time of God’s choosing for them and their benefit. God wanted the people to want God to provide what they needed when they needed it, not because they had grown weary of governing themselves.

God wanted the people to trust in Him. God wanted His people to know how to govern themselves before the installation of a king. God wanted the people to have something much better than a king in the form of the other nations; He wanted for them a King who served them. But the 450 years between the time they entered the land and when they made the demand on Samuel, the people demonstrated they were not ready for a king. The people had not yet shown a sufficient ability to govern themselves.

Much of the Bible can be read from the perspective of people refusing to govern themselves. It started in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve had only one restriction. They were not to eat the fruit from one tree; they could have anything else. But they chose to pursue what was denied to them rather than enjoy what they had. Their lack of self-discipline affected (and infected!) all of us.

This plays out again and again in Scripture and in our lives.

The first three kings—Saul, David, and Solomon—made various messes of various things, all in keeping with the admonition from God. The arrogance of the fourth king, Rehoboam, led to the downfall of the united kingdom and—functionally—the end of Israel as a geopolitical entity for several millennia.

But let us be clear: the kings did serve a divine purpose. They demonstrated through their failings the kind of king God had in mind for them. One who comes not to be served but to serve; one who does not add burdens but takes them away.

Of course, we celebrate the arrival of that King of Kings during Advent.

Self-governance is as hard today as it was for the people of ancient Israel. We live in constant rejection of the system that God Himself gave us for our happiness and well-being under Him. But, in fits and starts, we have seen efforts to reclaim our heritage and birthright.

We find all too many of our countrymen still demanding a king, a strong ruler, or a wise leader rather than taking individual responsibility for living faithfully under God. Our Founding Fathers wanted us to look toward God and be a self-governing people. Will we?

Do we want to be governed over? Do we want rulers who serve themselves? Do we want to be servants? Or do we want something better?

Just as ancient Israel’s rejection of self-governance led to their fall, so can our embrace of it bring the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

Get Your Copy of 'Reflections on Life & Liberty'