Good morning –

Despite not completing Gov. Greg Abbott’s special session agenda, the House and Senate declared themselves done last night. 

And as we close out the week, I reflect on our tendency to acquiesce to cultural decline, rather than fight it.

First, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, September 3, 2021
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Legislature Adjourns Before Special Session Ends!

• The Texas House and Senate adjourned sine die late yesterday despite not having passed all the items on Gov. Greg Abbott’s special session agenda… and with three days still left on the constitutional 30-day clock.
        
• This comes after Democrats were allowed by House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) to stall legislative business for 37 days this summer.
         
• What was and wasn’t done? Jeramy Kitchen has a quick review.
       
• Speaking of which… At 11 a.m. this morning, Jeramy joins Brandon Waltens and Jacob Asmussen for a review of the second special legislative session’s results. (The video archive and audio podcast will be available shortly after the show ends.)

‘CRT Ban’ Does Not Ban CRT, Admits House Sponsor

• Pitched as a “ban” on Critical Race Theory, what the Texas House passed yesterday afternoon is more correctly considered a refinement of state law – in that the measure leaves open a number of avenues for the leftist ideology to creep into Texas’ schools. Brandon Waltens has the details.
   
• State Rep. Jeff Cason (R–Bedford) asked the bill’s sponsor in the House, Dan Huberty (R–Humble), if anything in the bill would prohibit teachers or school board members from pushing CRT material. Huberty said it did not.
     

• Cindi Castilla, the president of the Texas Eagle Forum, has expressed concern that the legislation’s new “Civics Training Program” for teachers could become a backdoor for critical race theory training.
   

• “We are not sure we can trust the TEA won’t figure out how to embed CRT concepts into the Civics Academies. Parents and patriotic teachers will need to be on guard as the Civic Academies are rolled out.” – Cindi Castilla

Texas Medical Board Targeting Vax-Weary Docs?

• State Sen. Bob Hall (R–Edgewood) has asked the Texas Medical Board – the agency that licenses and regulates physicians – if they will target doctors who express concerns about vaccinations for COVID–19 and other illnesses.  Robert Montoya has the details. Just last year the agency tried to intimidate doctors who found success using anti-viral remedies, like hydroxychloroquine, to combat the virus.
      

• On July 29, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), which represents state medical boards, issued what Hall called an “alarming statement”:

  Physicians who generate and spread COVID–19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical boards, including the suspension or revocation of their medical license.

      
• Hall wrote the head of the Texas Medical Board, seeking the agency’s opinion. “There is simply no good reason for a physician who has legitimate concerns or a differing opinion from government bureaucrats on a COVID–19 vaccine to be penalized.” They have not responded.
      
• The TMB consists of 19 members: 12 physicians, and “seven public members.” All members are appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate. The names of individual board members can be found on TMB’s website.

New “Heartbeat” Law Survives Supreme Court Challenge

• Texas’ new law prohibiting abortions once a heartbeat is detected went into effect on Wednesday. Abortion advocates immediately petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to forbid it from taking effect, but justices denied their effort in a 5-4 ruling. Griffin White has the story.
     
• The Heartbeat Act uniquely allows private citizens, not government officials, to take civil legal action against physicians and clinics who continue to offer abortion services to a patient after a fetal heartbeat is detected, though it explicitly does not allow for the prosecution of mothers seeking the abortion.

Rising Rent

• A consequence of Texas’ burdensome property tax system that is often undiscussed is that of rent prices. While homeowners (correctly) see themselves as renting from government, the property tax burden they bear is nonetheless a visible cost. Not so for renters, reports Jacob Asmussen. 
   
• While the person who owns the property will see the property tax bill, the renter does not necessarily unless they expressly look for it. Additionally, while owner-occupied homes qualify for homestead exemptions that limit (a little bit) the ever-escalating burden, it doesn’t apply to rental properties.
   
• According to the Texas Real Estate Research Center, apartment rent rates in San Antonio increased by 6 percent from 2020; those in Dallas-Fort Worth rose 10 percent year-over-year in July; and rents in Austin are forecasted to rise by 11.5 percent compared to just one year ago.

Big Tech Put On Notice

• As social media giants continue to muzzle conservatives online, the Texas Legislature finally took action giving recourse to citizens in the Lone Star State.
   
• The Texas House and Senate have passed legislation requiring social media companies to publicly disclose their various content management practices and policies—such as how they decide which content to promote or suppress—and will expressly prohibit them from targeting people solely because of their political beliefs. Private action by individuals can be brought against censorious companies, or the Attorney General of Texas can take cases against Big Tech on  behalf of the state and groups of individuals.
   
• Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign the measure into law.

Friday Reflection: Chipping Away

Harvard University’s newest chief chaplain is an atheist. Let that sink in. 

A school founded explicitly to ensure America’s clergy were well educated has an atheist leading the charge on spiritual matters. This was the inevitable consequence of years of active compromises and passive ignorance.

When a ho-hum report of this news came out, I shared it with a friend whose correct response was, “I would say I am surprised, but Harvard...”

We all know exactly what “but Harvard…” means. That institution has spent at least a century drifting from its foundational mooring. Each small shift was greeted with a version of “but Harvard,” resigned to a devolution in morals and principles.

We make the same excuses about Hollywood, about public education, about the news industry, and about the operations of our government. We offer the mild “but” as though we are merely passive observers of, rather than active participants in, the culture around us.

Every little step away from our foundational values is insignificant. Those first few steps in a journey of a thousand miles are as insignificant as the approximately two million steps that will follow. Yet added together they represent radical shifts. 

We tolerate each little cultural step away from what we know to be true as an “easy” accommodation. This is no different in our personal lives. Driving five miles over the speed limit makes it easier to drive 20 miles over. Stealing grapes from the grocery store can become a habit leading to breaking into homes. Sneaking a glance at pornography makes it easier to engage in abusive relationships and adultery. 

If we are to govern our republic, we must first govern ourselves.

We know all the negative examples in the world around us. We throw our hands in the air and say “but Harvard…’ in surrender. We sniffle at the latest excess, resigned to the downward spiral of culture. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. 

As a self-governing people, we can curse the coming darkness or we can get busy lighting fires of truth. Francis of Assisi described it this way: “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

It is a fool who, after walking a thousand miles in one direction, expects to be told how to get back home in two easy strides.

Government is downstream from culture, which is itself downstream from art and education, which themselves arise from faith. A reformation of our governing institutions starts with seeking reformation in ourselves. We cannot hope to change culture until we have had necessary, honest, and heart-changing conversations with our neighbors and friends.

There are no shortcuts. There are no easy answers, as Ronald Reagan said, “but there are simple answers.” Rather than resign ourselves to cultural decline, we must commit ourselves to daily engagement.

We must each be committed to the long journey, willing to courageously take the small, insignificant steps that will allow us to reclaim our republic.