Friday, March 11, 2022

Good morning,

We all claim to be tired of politicians who break their campaign promises, but we keep re-electing them. We’ll keep getting broken promises until voters demand that officials be promise keepers.

More on that at the end of today’s Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Biden Policies Harm Energy Production

• With oil and gas prices skyrocketing, Americans are feeling the bite not only at the pump but in the form of much higher prices. Earlier this week, President Joe Biden claimed that it is “simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production.”

Will Abbott Suspend The Gas Tax?

• As gas prices soar throughout the nation, Sydnie Henry reports activists and Republican officials are calling for state tax cuts. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) announced on Wednesday that he will be suspending its state gas tax through the end of May.
      
• Texas charges consumers a 20 cent per gallon gas tax. Why doesn't [Gov. Abbott], the self proclaimed fiscal conservative, suspend that tax?” asked Houston-based radio talk-show host Kenny Webster.
   
• State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) isn’t a fan of the idea: “As a reminder, Section 28 of the Bill of Rights of the Texas Constitution says: ‘No power of suspending laws in this State shall be exercised except by the Legislature.’” 
     
• NOTED: The Texas Legislature did nothing to rein in the power Gov. Abbott grabbed to shutter the state’s economy, suspend election laws, and impose mandates during COVID, but they aren’t OK with the governor providing tax relief in the same manner. The irony is rich…
     
• Jeramy Kitchen of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility told Texas Scorecard: “Though cutting the tax would certainly provide for near-term relief, the real solution would be for the government to unleash the power of our own domestic oil production by stepping out of the way, allowing for our own energy security and independence, similar to what we had just a few years ago.”

• PROGRAMMING NOTE: I’ll join Brandon Waltens on The Headline at 5:30 p.m. today. We’ll talk about the ‘pain at the pump’ and you’ll hear from Erin Anderson about Harris County’s election mess.

Local Officials Supporting Gender Mutilation Procedures

• Coming fresh on the heels of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s legal opinion that it is child abuse to perform gender “transition” and mutilation procedures on children – ranging from chemical castration and puberty blockers to surgery – some local officials are declaring their support of the controversial practices. Jacob Asmussen reports the Austin suburb of Pflugerville is the latest local government to take a stand for child abuse.
   
• “Surgical modifications and modification by hormones of pre-pubescent children will cause irreversible changes,” said Councilmember David Rogers, the only ‘no’ vote on the Pflugerville council. “And fighting with the governor and attorney general seems to me the sort of thing we elect state representatives and senators [for], not city council members. I think pushing forward on this is ill-advised.”

GOP Voters Condemn CRT

• In the March 1 primary, Texas Republicans approved a ballot proposition promoting the teaching of “American exceptionalism” over CRT in public schools. Katy Drollinger has the details.
   
• The language read: “Texas schools should teach students basic knowledge and American exceptionalism and reject Critical Race Theory and other curricula that promote Marxist doctrine and encourage division based on creed, race, or economic status.” It was agreed to by 91 percent of Republican primary voters.

Texas School District Won’t Let Parents Review Sex-Violence Materials

• Amid a nationwide movement of parents attempting to safeguard their children from pornographic materials in school libraries, one Houston-area school district is refusing to provide parents the opportunity to review materials in a sexual violence seminar. Sydnie Henry has the story.
   
• Not only has Waller ISD refused to disclose the curriculum, they have appealed the parents’ request to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for permission to withhold it from review.
   
• “What are you hiding in this presentation? What do you not want the parents in this district to see that you’re teaching our children?” asked Waller ISD parent Josh Posey. “Why will you not allow one parent to view this when thousands of students already have?”
     
• Waller ISD did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s request for comment.

Friday Reflection: Promises, Promises

Each of us understand instinctively the need to keep our promises. Proverbs 25:14 reads, “Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.”

Most of us believe promises shouldn’t be made if they aren’t going to be kept. And, yet, we allow politicians to make promise after promise which they know they will never keep. Worse, we elect them knowing they won’t keep those promises, and then we reward them with re-election!

Frankly, I’m losing track of how many times conservative legislators have told citizen-activists to “stand down” on an important point of principle because a super-special, secret backroom deal has been made for future action on bigger issues... only for that action to never materialize.

Too many politicians want credit for making a deal, without regard to whether or not anything was actually delivered as a result. 

This is the bigger problem in modern politics for Republicans than Democrats. Let’s be candid: Democrats tend to deliver on their promise, or at least fight visibly for them. Higher taxes, more government, new regulations… they either deliver them, or they fight for them.

The Democrats’ promises of yesterday have become the policies of today, and as expected misery and malaise is on the rise.

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans also make big promises. For more than 20 years, as an example, Texas’ Republican political class has promised to deliver on real property tax relief. It’s an issue Republican and Democrat voters alike want addressed. And yet, in these 20-plus years of Republican domination in Texas, property taxes are higher than ever.

We keep being told "next time." We keep being told to trust that obscure actions arising from backroom deals have resulted in the taxes today not being as onerous as they would have been.

If you believe all that, remind me to tell you about the ocean-front property I am selling outside Amarillo…

We’ve reached the point that Republican promises to attack major issues are treated with an eye-roll and chuckle – even from the party faithful. Voters have lowered their expectations to the point of hoping Republicans will temporarily slow the advance of leftist policies or stall implementation of the Democrats’ plans.

Mediocre defense, hopeless offense.

This must change. Republicans must start turning their campaign promises into governing reality. They need to stop spinning and start doing. Republicans must be something more than a speed bump on the road to serfdom.

With the White House and Congress aligned in fierce opposition to American exceptionalism, the time has never been better for Republicans to prove that the promises made will be promise kept without equivocation, without apology, and without delay.

Republicans can start in the states, like Texas, where Republicans hold majorities and begin delivering today – not tomorrow – on their promises to push back against federal mandates. Voters in those states, especially in Texas, need to stop rewarding Republicans for simply not being Democrats. We need something more, something better.

It’s not enough to make the right promises, the future of the republic requires that each of us – voters and politicians alike – will be promise keepers.