Good morning!

Ahead of the Conservative Leaders Gala this weekend, I reflect on the true leaders in the Lone Star State. Hint: it’s not the politicans.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, December 4, 2020
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• After months of a North Texas school district ignoring citizen opposition to a leftwing social engineering plan, a state district judge has issued a restraining order to halt its implementation. Robert Montoya has the details.
      
• The order has nothing to do with the specifics of the plan, but is instead related to allegations that the Carroll Independent School District violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.
      
• The school district has been working for months on what it calls the “Cultural Competence Action Plan.” Parents say it is a socialist program that promotes the LGBTQ agenda.

• South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was in The Woodlands this week, where she took direct aim at government officials enacting heavy-handed restrictions in response to the Chinese coronavirus. The Texan’s Holly Hansen covered the speech.
       
• “Noem has been harshly criticized for not enacting more stringent pandemic restrictions on South Dakota residents. The popular Republican governor has this year catapulted to the national spotlight due to her refusal to impose statewide mask or stay-at-home orders,” writes Hansen.

• Pastor James Heffington of Harwood Terrace Baptist Church in Bedford believes his fellow clergy members have an obligation to “encourage people to pray and vote for candidates who support a biblical worldview.”
      
• In a new commentary, Heffington writes: “America needs voices in her pulpits who are willing to be the moral voice of the nation again. The question is whether we will see courageous pastors willing to do so. Will we see faith-filled men and women willing to be a ‘Black-Robed Regiment’ again?”

• Cisco businessman Jon Francis explains in a new commentary that when sharing is forced, it isn’t actually sharing. 
     
• “I am proud of the concept of private property and taught my children to be proud of it, too, because it is good for individuals and society. Everyone is better off when private property is respected and valued. Conversely, everyone is worse off when private property rights are discounted or altogether disallowed.” – Jon Francis

Friday Reflection

Few things are more tiresome than the backslapping, end-of-year honors politicians and their sycophants bestow on themselves. It’s even worse in a Republic built on the revolutionary notion of self-governance. Here, the citizens are the leaders... or, at least, we’re supposed to be. 

A while back I was asked which elected officials would be honored this year at the annual Conservative Leaders Gala. This well-meaning fellow wanted to know so he could decide how big a sponsor to be, so he could try to be seated with a big-cheese politician.

We don’t honor any politicians, I told him. He was shocked: but aren’t those the conservative leaders in Texas? he asked.

Not by a long shot.

At this year’s gala, like every year, we present grassroots activists with engraved cavalry swords, that long-standing symbol of practical, on-the-ground leadership. Since 2014, we’ve presented more than 100 men and women with the award.

To be clear, the honorees aren’t people we necessarily know. They come to us by nomination from folks around the state who have seen them in action. This year alone we received hundreds of such nominations. These folks come from all walks of life and socio-economic backgrounds.

What they have in common, though, is a desire to fight for a better Texas. They want to see conservative reforms implemented and the cause of liberty advanced.

These aren’t people who seek the spotlight or ask for attention. Just the opposite, in fact. They’d be just as happy never being noticed... as long as the lot of their fellow Texans is improving.

The awardees are always an eclectic bunch of warriors. Some of them have blogs, offering insights on local issues, while others are blockwalking machines. Some organize get-out-the-vote efforts in their churches and neighborhoods, while others spend their free weekends going into unconventional places looking to expand the conservative movement. There are folks who have fought city hall, and beat back multi-national corporations. The list goes on and on.

For these folks, being an engaged citizen isn’t much different than their marriages, their role as parents, even their faith: it is simply what they are.

When we call to inform them of the award, they all inevitably say the same thing: what I do isn’t hard, anyone can do it.

All it takes to get started, is to get started. See a need, and start filling it. Don’t wait to be asked.

These men and woman are leaders precisely because they have jumped first into the fight, encouraging others by their example. (In Monday’s Texas Minute I’ll introduce you to this year’s awardees.)

Citizens in a Republic built on the idea of self-governance should look for leadership not in the ranks of our public servants, but to ourselves and our neighbors. When Texans wake up every day, looking for new ways to fight for liberty, the Lone Star State will shine more brightly than ever.