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Good morning,

Here's my premise: Many of our social and political problems can be attributed to idle busybodies. So, I conclude the week reflecting on the need to celebrate real work that serves God and people.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, May 9, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Texas House to Vote Today on Mexican Guest Worker Program

• While the Texas GOP platform explicitly calls for legislation prioritizing American workers, the Republican-dominated House is set to consider today a Democrat's measure creating a temporary guest worker program for laborers from Mexico. As Brandon Waltens reports, the House Calendars Commitee—which controls the flow of legislation onto the chamber's floor for action—gave the legislation unanimous support.
    
• Under the proposal by State Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio), the governor would have to seek approval for the program from the federal government before entering into an agreement with Mexico. The Mexican government would be responsible for screening workers, issuing secure IDs, and ensuring they return to Mexico at the end of their visas.
       
• According to Lopez, the effort is meant to ease ongoing labor shortages, particularly in sectors that rely on low-skilled or seasonal labor.
       
• The proposal echoes a similar plan floated by President George W. Bush in 2004, which drew sharp criticism from conservatives who argued it would incentivize more illegal immigration and depress wages.
      
• Meanwhile, legislation to mandate E-Verify and end in-state tuition for illegal aliens has not yet been set for a vote, despite being Republican legislative priorities.

House Advances Weakened Prohibition on Land Purchases by Individuals from Hostile Foreign Countries

• After hours of debate last night, members of the Texas House passed an altered version of legislation that had originated in the Senate. It is designed to prevent the sale of property in Texas to individuals and entities associated with hostile foreign governments.
      
• Even though the issue has been a priority of the Texas GOP, the version of SB17 that emerged from the Senate drew condemnation from the party. Issue advocates have said the House Committee on State Affairs managed to make it worse, with the state party and conservative activists asking for significant changes.
     
• Meanwhile, Democrats have been insistent that there not be any restrictions on who can purchase property in Texas, even if they are affiliated with hostile nations.
     
• It remains to be seen if, when the two chambers meet to work out their own differences in the coming weeks, SB 17 can also be restored to the point that will earn support from issue advocates.

Legislation Would Mark Noncitizens' IDs as Ineligible to Vote

• A Republican-priority measure preventing non-U.S. citizens from voting in Texas elections was considered in the Texas House this week. As Erin Anderson reports, Senate Bill 964 would impact legal residents who qualify for state identification.
    
• State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) would require drivers’ licenses and identification cards issued to noncitizens by the Texas Department of Public Safety to display the phrase “NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE” on the front of the license or ID. The cards would also be oriented vertically instead of horizontally.
      
• The measure passed the Senate last month in a bipartisan vote of 22-9.
       
• The House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety, and Veterans’ Affairs considered the measure this week but did not take action.

Lawmakers Take Aim at Red Flag Laws

• Luca Cacciatore reports legislation clamping down on most firearms-related red flag laws received a hearing in the House yesterday. The Senate had passed the measure in March.
    
• Around the country, some states have discretion to issue extreme risk protective orders (ERPO), which prevent an individual from owning or purchasing a firearm during legal proceedings. These are often issued without constitutionally defined due-process considerations. States allowing these orders to be issued include California, New York, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii.
        
• Senate Bill 1362 by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) would preemptively prevent those orders from coming into Texas by barring local jurisdictions from accepting federal funding to implement or enforce ERPOs. 
      
• The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee left the legislation pending without taking action.

As Houston Police Get a Raise, Harris County Deputies Demand Higher Pay

• A growing pay gap between Harris County Sheriff’s deputies and Houston Police Department officers has sparked frustration within the county’s law enforcement ranks. Joseph Trimmer reports that starting salaries in the Houston Police Department will be bumping up in July from $64,000 to $81,000.
    
• Harris County deputies currently earn about $57,000 annually. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez is urging county commissioners to act swiftly, warning that without immediate changes, the department risks losing officers to better-paying agencies.
       
• Tom Ramsey, the only Republican on the Harris County Commissioners Court, said his Democrat colleagues must prioritize public safety, something he says they have not done in the past. Harris County currently faces a $130 million budget deficit.

Cruz Introduces Bill to Defend Troops’ Constitutional Right to Religious Freedom

• Under legislation filed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Department of Defense would be required to create a Special Review Board to audit the service-wide handling of religious accommodation requests related to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Debra McClure has the details.
    
• Cruz said his measure is designed to correct the wrongs done to many service. members who were “denied promotions” and received “negative performance reviews” for refusing the experimental COVID shots. For servicemembers who were found to be treated improperly, the DOD would have 60 days to make corrective remedies. Those include restoration of date of rank, lost pay, and retirement contributions, as well as backdated promotions.
      
• U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Amarillo) has introduced companion legislation in the House.

This Sunday on REAL TEXANS

Friday Reflection
Real Value In Real Work

I’ve never needed someone with a Ph.D. in Gender Studies; urgently or otherwise. Yet we’ve all had moments when we were willing to pay a king’s ransom to get an honest plumber or roofer to the house.

In the cultural economy of the 21st century, we celebrate the pursuit of even the most meaningless of degrees while dismissing critical professions once known as the trades. The cultural elite would have us believe it is better to be unemployed than to do real work that serves others.

We have turned the notion of honorable work upside down, devaluing practical labor and exalting trivial knowledge. We celebrate someone pursuing an advanced degree in a meaningless topic, but look down our noses at the high school kid who wants to be a mechanic.

From a very early age, our schools subtly—and sometimes not-so-subtly—communicate to children that anything less than earning a four-year college degree makes them something less than useful.

As a result, those students find themselves pressured into loading up on unnecessary debt that mainly purchases four years of suffering through indoctrination by leftist college professors.

The free market operates best when people are working at their passions with their naturally gifted skills. Conversely, when individuals are pressured to ignore their interests, skills, and talents to appease an elitist mandate, everyone suffers.

The hostility of the educational and cultural elite, subtly belittling individuals if they don’t seek a college degree, has had a devastating effect on individuals and society.

None of this is particularly new; it’s just recycled garbage from the past. The ancient Greeks believed labor was a curse. Aristotle taught that it was preferable to be an unemployed beggar, so one could be devoted to contemplation.

The Bible turned such thinking upside down. It begins with the understanding that human beings are created in God’s image and are called to practical work. The Old Testament placed a high value on what Aristotle would see as “menial” jobs: Adam and Eve were told to work the land; King David was a shepherd. In the New Testament, Jesus was a carpenter who used examples from daily work as the springboards for His teaching, rather than subjects to be avoided. 

After the old lie reared its ugly head in the Middle Ages, it took 16th-century Christian reformer John Calvin to reclaim the biblical doctrine of work. He held that all labor is glorifying to God.

Yet that elitist Greek snobbery keeps coming back. Public policy incentivizes young adults to take on massive debt to earn economically meaningless and socially dubious degrees unrelated to the jobs they might actually enjoy. We have adopted policies that make it more advantageous to follow Artistole in the handout line than join the Apostle Paul as a self-sufficient tent maker.

Indeed, Paul was unapologetically clear on the subject in his second letter to the church in Thessalonica: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.”

Many of our social and political problems can be attributed to idle busybodies. In a republic of sovereign, self-governing citizens, each of us should be about the high calling of real work.

Those engaged in productive labor meeting the needs of people in our communities should be celebrated. All work is meaningful when we are serving others with the gifts and skills given to us by God to His glory.

Quote-Unquote

"We've waged war on work. We have collectively agreed, stupidly, that work is the enemy."

– Mike Rowe