Good morning,

Today I reflect on one of the most condescending phrases uttered by politicians when confronted by their lack of representational performance.

But first, here is the Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, January 8, 2021
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NOTE: At 11 a.m. this morning you can join Brandon Waltens live on The Headline for an interview with Cisco businessman Jon Francis, who was in Washington, D.C., this week. (If you cannot watch it live, the archive will be available almost immediately afterward.)

• New Legislative Directory! Texas Scorecard has launched a new directory of members of the Texas House, Texas Senate, and U.S. House – including everyone elected in the November election.
      
• Each individual politician’s page includes a bio and a snapshot of their campaign finances. You will also find ratings from various civic organizations, and links to Texas Scorecard articles in which they were mentioned.
   
• Think of the new Directory feature as the staff book for your government employees. And as we continuing building it out, we would appreciate your feedback!

• With the legislative session starting next week, attorney Tony McDonald explains the real deadlines for action in the Texas House. 
   
• “Even when legislation has popular support and makes it out of committee, it sometimes moves forward in the process too late to actually make it to the floor for a vote. This can often result from a sleight of hand where a committee wants to take credit for supporting a bill but prevent it from actually passing by slow-walking it through the process. The savvy activist can combat these tactics by knowing the real deadlines in the legislative process and avoid being hoodwinked by duplicitous legislators.” – Tony McDonald

•  A top priority for the Republican Party of Texas and gun owners across the Lone Star State for more than a decade has been to eliminate the requirement of a state gun permit. And, for more than a decade, those efforts have been thwarted in the GOP-dominated legislature. Brandon Waltens explores the prospects for those efforts in 2021.

• Homicides spiked across all the major cities in Texas, yet only Austin and Dallas made cuts to police funding. Robert Montoya explores the factors that led to this rise in crime.
      
• He interviewed Charles Blain of Urban Reform and Derek Cohen of Right on Crime to understand what is driving the increase, and what citizens can do about it.

• With Joe Biden preparing to seize the White House, liberals in Big Tech are emboldened to flex their muscles. I expect to see major crackdowns and/or de-platforming of all the conservative groups and voices in the near future.
   

• The decision by Facebook and Twitter to silence President Trump (whether you like him or not!) should be a wake-up call for everyone about the immense power Big Tech and the establishment media have amassed over us.
   

• Make sure you and your friends/family are connected on multiple platforms, and are signed up on email lists of those you want to continue hearing from. I’m certain many of us will be kicked off Facebook and Twitter, or buried in their algorithms, before too long.
   

• Take a few minutes today to ensure you are not cut off from the voices and organizations you trust. You already get the Texas Minute, but you can also find me on Parler using @MichaelQuinnSullivan.
   

• And make a donation to ensure we can reach more Texans with news and information about what their government is doing on their behalf.

Friday Reflection

No phrase uttered by a politician is quite so disgusting as when they condescendingly inform a constituent that the taxpayers “just don’t understand.” The comment inevitably comes when the constituent has expressed frustration that long-promised action on publicly popular legislation has yet to materialize. 

With the Texas legislative session about to begin, you can expect to hear it with frustrating regularity.

The real problem isn’t that the citizenry doesn’t understand the legislative processes, it’s that we understand all too well the lack of policy results.

Whenever the ideas or results of politicians are criticized by the public, far too many elected officials will lash out with one of several versions of that “you don’t understand” cliche. One of my least favorite is, “You didn’t attend the meetings at the Capitol where we hatched this idea so you cannot criticize it.”

By definition 28 million Texans were not in those meetings. That does not, however, negate anyone’s right to speak out about legislative proposals. The arrogance of suggesting otherwise arises from a fundamental misunderstanding of the roles of citizens and elected officials. 

Indeed, if every Texan is expected to participate in every segment of the creation of every policy then we absolutely do not need anyone in elected office!

The people are allowed to miss every single millisecond of the interim hearings and the legislative session, yet still opine loudly and vigorously about the results. What the politicians don’t understand, or simply refuse to acknowledge, is that’s how our system works. It is the way it was designed. 

Never forget: Citizens are the masters in our republic, and elected officials are the servants. 

The citizenry – the masters – set the expectations and leave it to their servants (the elected officials) to get the job done. The details of the legislative process are interesting and sometimes informative, but in the end those details and even the process itself often serve as a distraction by politicians more interested in serving themselves than serving the taxpayers.

When the servants start making excuses or imposing demands on the people in charge, it’s time to replace the servants. 

It is up to the politicians to make sure their processes produce the results Texans want. It’s the politicians who need to understand a very basic truth: the citizens don’t want excuses, they expect results.