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Good morning,

Contrary to the fashionable assertions of some Christian influencers, all law is an expression of morality. Will it be the whims of tyrants for their own pleasure, or the precepts of God for our good? More on that thought below.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, July 25, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Lawmakers Eye $13B in Federal Refunds for Property Tax Relief With the Texas Legislature currently in 30-day special session, some lawmakers are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to use a new influx of federal dollars to provide immediate property tax relief to Texans. Brandon Waltens has the details [[link removed]].

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill pushed by the Trump administration, funds were set aside to reimburse states for border security expenses incurred during the Biden administration. Texas is expected to receive approximately $13 billion.

State Rep. Helen Kerwin (R-Glen Rose) has filed a resolution this week urging the governor to dedicate those funds toward reducing Texans' property tax burdens [[link removed]]. "With the influx of federal dollars from President Trump’s reconciliation bill, we have a unique opportunity to deliver long-overdue relief."

While Gov. Abbott’s special session agenda includes “additional property tax relief,” the details remain undefined. Though Kerwin's resolution does not carry the force of law, it would—if passed—signal the Legislature’s intent and ramp up pressure on the governor. So far, Speaker Dustin Burrows has not referred any legislation filed during the special session to committees for action.

Patterson Accused of Recruiting Challengers to Fellow Republicans State Rep. Jared Patterson is facing criticism after allegedly attempting to recruit primary challengers [[link removed]] to fellow Republican lawmakers, despite previously supporting efforts to punish others for similar behavior.

Wise County Sheriff Cary Mellema confirmed to Texas Scorecard that Patterson (R-Frisco) approached him at a recent event about potentially running against State Rep. Andy Hopper (R-Decatur). Mellema says he declined, noting that he supports Hopper.

The attempted recruitment raises eyebrows, given Patterson’s role in the caucus’ 2024 decision to formally censure four lawmakers—Brian Harrison, Nate Schatzline, Steve Toth, and Tony Tinderholt—for endorsing conservative challengers to sitting Republican incumbents. The GOP caucus bylaws prohibit such endorsements in what critics have dubbed an “Incumbent Protection Program.”

Hopper told [[link removed]] Texas Scorecard he has received reports of Patterson recruiting opponents for other conservatives, as well. Restoring the Alamo Over the last decade, the Alamo has undergone vast redevelopment backed by over $550 million in investments. As Ryan Dy-Liacco reports [[link removed]], restoration efforts have been focused on the Alamo Church, Long Barrack, and the Cenotaph.

The 300-year-old church and Long Barrack are the last remaining original structures of the Alamo. Over the years, however, the church and Long Barrack’s stone walls have been chipping off, leaving much of the interior structure exposed to damage.

In 2024, the Alamo’s restoration efforts revealed that the church’s 104-year-old roof had severe water damage and required replacement. Efforts to replace the church’s roof and restore its walls require a temporary enclosure, slated for construction next year, that will protect the structure from the elements.

Controversies surrounding the retelling of the story of the Alamo—making the site "period neutral" and devaluing the 1836 battle—played a key role in voters pushing former Land Commissioner George P. Bush out of public life.

"The Alamo is a sacred place where history, sacrifice, and pride come together to tell the powerful story of Texas independence. Our state’s rich history binds all Texans, and now every child will be able to learn about our loud and proud, liberty or death, line-in-the-sand Texas history." – Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham [[link removed]] Illegal Alien Arrested on Charges of Kidnapping in Houston Officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have announced the arrest of an illegal alien in Houston on charges of kidnapping and assault after video evidence from a doorbell camera showed him abducting a woman off the street. Addie Hovland has the story [[link removed]].

Jose Armando Carcamo-Perdomo, unlawfully present in the U.S. from Honduras, is believed to be part of a sex-trafficking ring. He entered the U.S. in 2020 and was released by the Biden administration after his removal proceedings were terminated in September 2023.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office found the woman earlier this month after a 911 call reported someone screaming for help. She had been left locked in a room without food and water for five days, during which time she said she was punched, tied up, and sexually assaulted. Dallas Accused of Enforcing Ordinances Conflicting With Texas Constitution City officials in Dallas are illegally enforcing 133 ordinances in violation of the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act and the Texas Constitution, according to allegations from the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Travis Morgan reports [[link removed]] TPPF is threatening legal action if the city does not repeal or amend those ordinances.

The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act—referred to by critics as the “Death Star Bill”—is designed to rein in out-of-control local governments and protect Texans from tyrannical local regulations. The law prohibits local governments from adopting, enforcing, or maintaining ordinances related to agriculture, business and commerce, finance, labor, natural resources, occupations, and property.

TPPF’s letter was sent on behalf of three citizens and taxpayers of the City of Dallas who are reportedly injured by the ongoing enforcement of the ordinances. Running for Agriculture McKael Kirwin profiles [[link removed]] the GOP primary race for Texas agriculture commissioner, with incumbent Sid Miller facing a challenge from businessman Nate Sheets. This Sunday on REAL TEXANS Tom Pauken II [[link removed]]

In this week's edition of REAL TEXANS, you'll meet Tom Pauken II, a Texan who lives and works in Beijing as a journalist and commentator. He talks about how he wound up in China, his love for the Chinese people, and what the citizens of both countries misunderstand about each other.

New interviews with REAL TEXANS [[link removed]] every Sunday!

Friday Reflection Yes, You Do Legislate Morality [[link removed]]

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

In the greatest hits of “truisms that are lies,” few are as tiresome as a line that undergirds much of our cultural rot with the uproarious approval of Christian influencers. The lie goes that “you can’t legislate morality.”

It is a lie told to justify blatant sin and excuse a weakening of cultural standards. It gets the soft imprimatur of upwardly mobile pastors eager to enter the rarified social and political climes into which they would otherwise not be accepted. And it is a lie that, if told quickly enough, won’t be questioned by the flocks they fleece on Sundays—and might even be repeated.

The notion is absolute hogwash. It fails every possible measure of history, rationality, and scripture. But if you listen to the hip pastors on YouTube and TikTok, you’ll find it embedded in the woke view of the world they must adopt if they are to be loved by the God-hating masses whose approval they seem so desperate to earn.

For clergy, it signals a fashionable lifestyle outside the dreary doldrums of their ecclesiastical labors. It serves as a signal that they are comfortable with casual parishioners shoving the Truth of God into a Sunday-sized box. They won’t actually say that … on the record, at least. So they say, instead, that “morality cannot be legislated.”

It sounds very philosophical, as befitting someone who spent seven years in higher education. It sounds like it might have been written by an ancient (non-Christian) philosopher—translated from Greek, of course.

The lie makes it easy to be loved by the God-hating elite, whose approval seems more important to them than God’s own.

In fact, all law is a matter of morality. The only question is if that law is in keeping with, or foreign to, the moral precepts of holy scripture. From rape to murder, and fraud to defamation, the law of the land is a reflection of the collective understanding of moral principles of the people who live there. No law has ever been passed or imposed—here or anywhere—that is separate and apart from the moral beliefs of the lawgivers.

Every action taken by a legislative body is a moral statement, good or bad. Every single law is a moral declaration, for better or worse.

I will give the devil his due; all well-told lies have a thimble of truth. It is true that a law cannot “make” a man moral … but that is never the point.

If all men were moral, we would not need laws. So while passing a law does not make men moral, the law does temper men’s immoral impulses with the threat of judicial consequence in the present.

Romans 13 describes secular government as “an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.” So, please, will you tell us again about how we don’t legislate morality?

Dousing oneself with perfume can mask the stench of unwashed filth, but it is no substitute for being clean. Yet for the casual passerby on the street, the perfume will be preferable to the odor left in a foul man’s wake. The same is true for the law. A man wishing to violate the person or property of his neighbors has a heart problem that is not cleansed merely by adherence to local and state ordinances, but the threat of legal punishment makes life in the community more pleasant.

Let me close with a bit of uncomfortable clarity: No one actually believes morality cannot be legislated. Those who proclaim that lie just don’t want legislation based on the morality of God as enunciated in the Bible. They want to substitute the life-giving morality of God with the self-serving pleasures of fallen men.

Divorcing legislative action from moral principles is the first step down the road to violent serfdom. When we set aside God’s wisdom, we embrace tyrants’ whims.

As a self-governing people, we must each be increasingly diligent in ensuring the laws of our republic are in keeping with moral precepts set forth by God for our own good.

Quote-Unquote

"When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law."

– Frédéric Bastiat

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