Good morning,

This Sunday marks the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto when independence was achieved for Texas. I end the week with a reflection on boldness being the necessary ingredient for liberty.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, April 19, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

ANALYSIS: Ask No Questions...

• Big-government apologists are furious that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick thinks the Texas Senate should ask more questions about Texas’ property tax system. 
       
• In the March primary, nearly 78 percent of Republican voters gave support to a non-binding ballot statement regarding eliminating all property taxes levied in the state. In context, more Republicans voted on that question (2.23 million) than voted in the contested race for the Texas Railroad Commissioner (1.95 million).
       
• So, to say Texans are interested in the subject would be an understatement.
       
• Remember the extreme hysteria that went along with the Trump administration trying to ask, in gathering 2020 census data, the citizenship status of those in the country?
            
• More information will improve the public debate, whether we’re talking about schools, immigration, or taxes.

Texans to Elect Appraisal District Directors in May

• On May 4, many Texans will have their first opportunity to elect representatives to the governing boards of their local appraisal districts, making the agencies that assess property values for tax purposes more accountable to citizens. Erin Anderson explains the significance.

       
• A new property tax relief law, passed last year and approved in November by voters statewide, included a provision for voters in counties with a population of 75,000 or more to elect three new members to their county appraisal district board of directors.
      
• The three elected board members will serve alongside the five appointed directors and the county tax assessor-collector, who will become an ex-officio board member. For the first time, appraisal districts in these counties will be directly responsive to the citizenry.
      
• Directors elected in May will take office on July 1 and serve a term that expires on December 31, 2026. Going forward, elected appraisal district directors will be on the ballot in November of even-numbered years and serve staggered four-year terms.
      
• Meanwhile, directors appointed by local taxing units (counties, cities, school districts) that participate in the appraisal district will transition to staggered four-year terms, starting in 2025.

Harris County Audit Finds Purchasing Issues

• A new report from the Harris County Auditor is highlighting purchasing and contracting issues going back to the 1970s. As Charles Blain reports, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is agreeing to change the way the county contracts with vendors.
    
• Hidalgo has urged the four county commissioners to give the county's purchasing department control of their individual contracting.
     
• According to Hidalgo, 93 percent of firms that received certain contacts are also campaign donors to her colleagues on the court.

RELATED NEWS

Huffman ISD Accuses AG’s Office of Election Interference

• Attorneys representing Huffman Independent School District have accused Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office of trying to sway the outcome of the March 5 Republican primary election. Their allegation comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Paxton when it was revealed the district's superintendent was using school time and resources to electioneer for candidates. Luca Cacciatore has the details.
      
• The filing claims that Soileau did nothing more than provide “several factual statements about the current state of public school funding.”
       
• A  transcript of the superintendent's comments, however, shows that he went further than that, even instructing the district’s communications director to create a list of the 16 anti-school choice Republicans to “hand out to our staff.”
     
• Yeah, can't have anyone interfering in illegal election activities, can we?

Discussion: How America Become 'Family Unfriendly'

• The two-year-old right-of-center UT-Austin initiative Civitas Institute was designed to reintroduce academic balance on campus. The institute hosted author Timothy P. Carney for a discussion of how America became “family unfriendly,” the title of his most recent book. Adam Cahn has the story.
       
• His premise is that American culture and public policy have, in recent decades, become hostile to raising children. Carney believes American culture suffers from a “deification of autonomy.”

Friday Reflection:
Achieving Independence 

On April 21, 1836, the independence that Texans had declared some eight weeks earlier was decisively achieved. It might not have been… but for the boldness of the people.

You see, there were those who wanted to continue fleeing the massive Mexican army in search of a better battlefield. Others hoped to flee ignobly into Louisiana and leave the promise of Texas behind. Some even wanted to sue for peace, hoping the butcher of the Alamo and Goliad would show mercy.

They feared what they saw: a sorely out-numbered, rag-tag band of Texians going head-to-head against the better-gunned and professionally trained Mexican Army under the command of the self-styled “Napoleon of the West,” Antonio López de Santa Anna.

Yet, on the fields of San Jacinto, the Texas militia demonstrated a bold, courageous commitment to their cause by exhibiting a shrewd willingness to exploit Santa Anna’s arrogance.

It was a high-stakes gambit with only two possible outcomes. Independence would be victoriously secured in a flash, or Texas would be drowned in the blood of patriots. There would be no draw.

So in broad daylight, with Sam Houston himself leading the infantry, the Texians charged on the napping Mexican army. Before firing their first shots and charging on the Mexican position, the afternoon silence was broken by men shouting, “Remember the Alamo!” and “Remember Goliad!”

To simply note that the battle lasted less than 20 minutes doesn’t do justice to the scale of their victory. Nearly 700 Mexican soldiers were killed, another 200 were wounded, and some 700 were taken prisoner—including the president of Mexico, Santa Anna himself.

In contrast, the Texians lost just nine men, and only 30 were wounded.

What was true in 1836 is true today: liberty doesn’t come in timid nibbles but through bold actions. Never in history has liberty been expanded in a gradual series of small steps over time; indeed, that’s how tyrannies take hold.

Liberty is not achieved through timidity but is, rather, born from boldness. When people decide they are willing to lose everything rather than live as serfs, that is when tyrants quiver and fall.

Sam Houston and the militia at San Jacinto knew their odds and took bold action. For the Lone Star State to shine even brighter in the years ahead, we must continually re-commit to doing likewise.

Quote-Unquote

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:9