Good morning,

Should China  be held responsible for its deceit regarding the coronavirus? One state (not Texas) thinks so. What do you think?

Here is today’s Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, April 23, 2020
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• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that the status quo is “crushing the average” Texas worker and small business.
   
• “In Texas, we have 29 million people, we lost 495, and every life is valuable, but 500 people out of 29 million and we’re locked down, and we’re crushing the average worker, and we’re crushing small business, we’re crushing the market. We’re crushing this country.” – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
     
• Unemployment claims have skyrocketed, throwing 10 percent of the state’s labor force out of work in just a few weeks.
   
• The “strike force” appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to develop a plan for reopening Texas is being run by a fixture in the Austin lobby scene, former State Rep. Mike Toomey. Tony McDonald reports the lobbyist’s clients include taxing entities – like Houston and San Antonio – that have been eager to stop pro-taxpayers reforms.
       

• Upon being appointed to helm the strike force, Toomey deregistered as a lobbyist but it appears he maintains a financial interest in his lobby firm and expects to return to his private-sector lobbying gig when his work on the strike force is complete. There are some natural questions being asked by observers, including: Can Toomey be a neutral and effective member of a strike force to reopen Texas if he and his partners have a direct financial interest in competing interest groups and parties?

       
• Not everyone is waiting on government to act. While Gov. Abbott continues to talk about making plans to reopen the state, two Texas businesses are taking it upon themselves to actually implement reopening plans. Matt Stringer and Robert Montoya report on those actions.
      
• State Rep. Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) sent a letter to Gov. Abbott asking that Montgomery County be reopened immediately. Brandon Waltens reports the Toth letter notes of the seven deaths from the coronavirus, only one was outside an assisted-living facility, and that there have been “more suicides than COVID-19 deaths over the last month.” The legislator adds his constituents have listened to all the health guidelines, but they cannot afford to stay sheltered at home.
      
• “Let my constituents go to work while they are still listening because they are going to go back to work regardless, as their lives depend on it.” – State Rep. Steve Toth
   
• As Cary Cheshire notes, governors in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina have already begun reopening their states. Abbott is currently slated to announce the Toomey strike force’s plans on Monday.
     
• “Our goal was to cause the most damage possible to the virus, while doing the least possible damage ... to our businesses. South Carolina’s business is business.” – South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster
    
• A new nationally focused website has been launched for citizens eager to see their state open up. Check out openthestates.com.
     
• Another interesting resource is restartnow.io, which is a data-based economic tool for viewing the impact of an ongoing government-ordered shutdown.
   
• When will Texas’ schools reopen? Gov. Greg Abbott seemed to suggest in a WBAP radio interview that school might not reopen in the fall. He said “an immunization will not be in existence when the next school year begins.” The radio reported Abbott said drugs to “basically cure people” might not be enough to allow students back in school.

• Here’s the most fascinating thing I have observed during the fallout from the coronavirus power-grab. 
   
• Everything good happening around the state and nation has been a result of self-governance; citizens making wise and practical choices for themselves and their families based on a clear understanding of risks. When government officials listen to their citizens, happy things are happening.
   
• Everything bad has occured when government officials have decided to play fast and loose with the truth, or use recommended guidelines for healthy living as a blunt object to achieve political ends: threatening people, closing businesses, and forcing one-size-fits-all solutions on entire populations. When government officials hem and haw, waiting for political cover while petty tyrants exert tighter control, bad things are happening.
   
• As my friend Tony McDonald told me yesterday, “We need to trust people to take care of their own health.”

• The Show Me State is suing China for “repeated unlawful and unreasonable acts and omissions” about the coronavirus. According to Fox News, Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt included the Communist Party of China in his lawsuit.
     
• “The Chinese government has engaged in a campaign of deceit, deception and misrepresentations. They unleashed a worldwide pandemic and they should be held accountable.” – Eric Schmitt
     
• Take the One-Click Survey about suing China, then send an email letting me know why. Results will be published tomorrow.

One-Click Survey

Do you think Texas should sue China for its “unreasonable acts and omissions” regarding the coronavirus?