Good morning,

Politicians can serve either the establishment cronies, or fight for their voters – but not both. I reflect on that at the end of today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, August 20, 2021
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Quorum And Adjournment

• Late yesterday afternoon the Texas House gaveled in with a quorum of members present. Jeramy Kitchen has the update.
      
• The chamber went 37 days unable to consider legislative business because of quorum-busting Democrats intent on preventing consideration of election integrity legislation and other issues set on the agenda by Gov. Greg Abbott. Other items on the governor’s agenda include protections for youth sports, and requiring that public school athletes play in sports associated with their biological sex on their birth certificate.
     
• The current situation remains tenuous.
      
• No effort was made Thursday to penalize the obstructionist Democrats. Instead, House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) adjourned the chamber until 4 p.m. on Monday.
     
• Because after 37 days of doing nothing, the legislators deserved a long weekend?

Today’s Headline

• Catch this week’s edition of The Headline at 11 a.m. this morning. Jeramy Kitchen and Jacob Asmussen will be co-hosting a review of the week’s news.

Parents Fighting School Mask Mandates…

• With some local school districts imposing new rounds of mask mandates, Erin Anderson reports that parents are fighting back.
     
• Recently, four Fort Worth ISD parents filed a lawsuit against their school district’s latest “irrational” face-covering rule, succeeding in temporarily blocking the masking order. One parent described her three kids’ experiences after being forced by FWISD to mask up last year. She said her older sons felt “isolated,” were “bullied to the point of tears,” and struggled to keep their grades up. Her youngest son, who is asthmatic, had trouble breathing when wearing a mask.
     
• “All children deserve a public free education in the least restrictive environment. Masking them for eight hours is not conducive to learning or breathing,” said Dallas resident Lynn Davenport, a frequent advocate for parents and students.
     

• School mask mandates affect teachers and staff as well as students. “My husband is a teacher in an elementary school with a medical condition that makes it too hard to safely wear a mask. Now his job is threatened,” a Denton resident told Texas Scorecard. “What relief is there for school employees?”

      
• Texas lawmakers chose not to address mask mandates in the regular legislative session.

… And Homeschooling Interest Surges

• Record numbers of Texas families are looking into homeschooling their children this year, according to the Texas Home School Coalition. Jacob Asmussen has the details.
      
• “We are literally inundated with calls and emails from thousands upon thousands of families asking how they can begin homeschooling this fall,” said Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition. “2020 set records for the number of families interested in homeschooling. 2021 is now crushing those records.”
     
• A nationwide survey from May 2020 found that 40 percent of registered voters across the U.S. were more likely to enroll their children in homeschool or virtual school after the coronavirus lockdowns ended.

Congressional Incentives

• Congress has approved a tax credit giving incentives for some businesses to oppose re-openings. Robert Montoya has the details. 

Friday Reflection: Serving Two Masters?

It’s in the Gospel of Matthew where we find Jesus’ wise admonition that “No one can serve two masters.” Practical experience shows us that no matter how hard we try, it is always true—and it is especially true in politics.

Not a day goes by, it seems, in which I don’t hear a legislator tell me they must violate a pledge by doing one thing, or, more often, by not doing a thing they promised, because they “have to work with these people.” Those people, of course, being their fellow lawmakers. They don’t want to upset the apple cart. They don’t want to disrupt the congeniality of the process or risk being unpopular in city hall, the state legislature, or the federal Congress.

This means they want to serve the status quo of the establishment, rather than fight for their voters. Or, to use Jesus’ language, they have chosen which master they will serve.

For example, Texas' regular legislative session runs for just 140 days out of every 730 days, and lawmakers are actively working with other lawmakers for even less time than that. Additionally, because of the geographic nature of district lines, none of the other members in their chamber can vote for their colleagues’ next re-election.

Yet for many in office, being loved and respected by their fellow politicians is more important than keeping the promises they made to their actual constituents – the people they serve. They have chosen their master.

Many politicians justify themselves by promising that inaction here, or a small compromise there, will gain them the ability to do good things in a future that never seems to arrive. They say that by being admired in their chamber, they can deliver on promises that keep being delayed.

Politicians cannot seek the approval of their voters and the approval of the political establishment. The tension of even trying will always result in citizens seeing their precious liberties sacrificed at the altar of contrived congeniality in the religion of self-promotion. 

For our system of government to work, for liberty to be preserved, politicians must remember they are the citizens’ servants. We must expect them to serve the citizens first and only. 

And as the citizens, we must remember the politicians are supposed to serve us first and only.