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Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, October 15, 2021
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Supreme Court Halts SAISD Vax Mandate

• Amid a contentious state and nationwide fight over forced vaccinations, the Texas Supreme Court issued a temporary order to stop the San Antonio Independent School District from forcing employees to take one of the COVID regimens. Jacob Asmussen has the story.
     
• “All employees of San Antonio ISD should know that they are not required to be vaccinated at this time and cannot be terminated for not being vaccinated,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. “In the event that any SAISD employees are terminated, they should contact the Texas Attorney General’s office immediately.”
   

• The forced mask and vaccination fight in Texas traces back to last year, when Gov. Greg Abbott enacted executive orders closing businesses and imposing mask mandates across the state in response to the Chinese coronavirus. This year, Abbott changed his mind, canceled those orders, and  issued new ones saying local officials now cannot force citizens to wear masks or take the coronavirus vaccines. 
        

• Over the past few months, though, some local officials across Texas have disregarded Abbott’s latest executive order –  decreeing their own  mask and vaccine mandates.

       
• The fight over executive and local orders has left Texans confused about whose mandates have authority, while the state legislature has  declined to pass any state law clarifying the mask and vaccine mandate issue. 
        
• “No local entity is above state law.” – Attorney General Ken Paxton

• In this week’s edition of The Headline, Brandon Waltens and Jeramy Kitchen will recap this highly eventful week with the rather cheerful reminder that – despite what else we might be told – grassroots activists are gaining ground. Join them at 11 a.m., or catch the podcast or video archive later in the day.

Girls’ Sports Bill Passes House

• Amid threats to young women’s athletics across the country, the Texas House passed legislation to protect some – but not all – of their athletic opportunities. Jacob Asmussen reports the legislation moving through the Texas House and Senate prohibits high school male students from competing on sports teams designated for females.
      
• “The bill I’m bringing before you today protects girls’ safety and their right to equal access to athletic opportunities,” said the author of the House legislation, Valoree Swanson(R–Spring). “This is a right guaranteed to our girls under Title IX, which Congress passed 50 years ago in a major victory for women. We fought for this right, and now we have to defend it.”
   
• Neither the House nor the Senate legislative proposals provide protection for college women’s sports. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which governs the operations and rules of most college athletics, now allows biological men to compete in college women’s sports. Many believe this will lead to a reduction in scholarship opportunities for women.
     
• Thursday’s House vote occurred after the Republican-controlled House killed similar women’s sports protections in their regular session earlier this year.
   
• The Senate had already passed its own version of the legislation, which the House did not consider. To get the ban to the governor before the end of the special session, the Senate must advance the House bill before the legislative clock runs down early next week.

Assessing Abbott’s Challengers

• Over the last several days, Texas Scorecard presented one-on-one conversations with the Republican gubernatorial candidates – incumbent Greg Abbott didn’t respond to the invitation. The three challengers – Don Huffines, Chad Prather, and Allen West – offer different strengths as candidates for the state’s highest elected office. As one would expect, each man’s campaign is taking a different focus on the issues facing Texas.
     
• Today, Sydnie Henry and Brandon Waltens compare the answers given by the three Republicans to issues ranging from abortion and COVID-19 mandates to property taxes and border security.

Crowded Field Emerges To Replace Larson

• Less than a day after “Liberal Lyle” Larson (R-San Antonio) – a nickname given to him by Gov. Greg Abbott – announced he wouldn’t seek re-election to the Texas House, a crowded field has emerged to replace him. Jeramy Kitchen breaks down the district and introduces the candidates.

Dallas Mom Wins School Mask Fight

• Lauren Davis has fought for months against the Dallas Independent School District’s mask policy – posting a major victory on Thursday by ensuring her children will no longer be segregated on campus from the “masked” students. Robert Montoya has the story.
   
• Davis offered advice to other Texans struggling with mask mandates in their school districts. “Don’t give up. You as a parent, especially as a mother … we are the biggest and only true advocate for our children,” she said. “Nobody on the planet will care about them more than we care about them. Stand up and fight for your kids and for everyone else’s kids.”

Friday Reflection

A self-governing people must be eternally vigilant. The first three words of our Constitution make it clear who is supposed to be in charge: “We the people.” Without the citizens taking an active and engaged role in civic life, the notion of self-governance collapses.

This has happened before. Will we let it happen again?

The Old Testament book of Second Samuel records how Israelites had grown tired of having God as their king and being responsible for living under His law. So after demanding a human king like everyone else around them had, the Israelites quickly found the rule of man wasn’t so much fun, either. The people of Israel saw their self-governing nation change for the worse – just as they had been warned. 

After a period of foreign captivity and exile, God called His people back to Israel and a man named Nehemiah was tasked with rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem – and thereby restoring the nation.

There were any number of enemies who wanted to thwart the return of the Jews, and so in Nehemiah 4:9, we’re told that the people “prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.” Everyone prayed, everyone worked, everyone guarded the work. Everyone was responsible.

They succeeded for a period, only to see their nation fall again. It is a cycle we should study, and seek to avoid.

If our nation conceived in liberty is to long endure, it will only be because we – the people – are wholly committed to being self-governing leaders actively engaged in the hard, exhausting work of practical governance, of praying for each other and our countrymen, and of being actively prepared to defend our land. It is our duty, not someone else’s. 

We err when we allow ourselves to believe we can delegate the preservation of our republic to someone else.

Rather, we must joyfully embrace the awesome responsibility of self-governance, so that we and our children can enjoy the fruits of Liberty. So let’s pray, stay at guard, and get to work!