Good morning,

It would be nice to think government budgets are bloated simply by casual wasteful spending. Today I reflect on what really bloats those budgets, and what citizens must do about it.

First, here is the Texas Minute for Friday, April 29, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

UPFRONT: Yesterday’s Texas Minute had a typo. The primary runoff election is on May 24. The constitutional proposition and municipal elections are May 7. I apologize for the confusion!

Are Chinese-Style Re-Education Camps Next?

• The establishment of a “Disinformation Board” in the Department of Homeland Security sounds a lot like an Orwellian Ministry of Truth. China has long employed official government censors for both their news services and their citizens’ internet use. Beware of what inevitably comes next…

Despite “Ban,” CRT Is In Texas Schools

• Located well outside the Houston metropolis, parents in rural Waller thought their school was safe. What they have found, reports Sydnie Henry, is that their school district isn’t the “conservative stronghold” like they thought.
       

• Josh Posey, a Waller ISD father, confronted the school board with evidence of sexually explicit materials in school library books. But as it turned out, the books were only the beginning. Posey and other parents have been opposed by Waller ISD administration over issues such as a sexual violence seminar shown to students that the district refused to allow parents to review.
       

• Now, as the school year comes to an end, classes such as English Language Arts (ELA) and Art I are including assignments that promote social issues to “manifest justice” and highlight racial privilege.

         

• “If we’re already at this point, as an insignificant, nobody, small-town school district, how bad will it be in 20 years if parents don’t stand up and stop this?” – Josh Posey

Reading, Writing, and Hazardous Sex

• Texas taxpayers underwrote the Texas Library Association’s gathering this week that had an emphasis on drag queens, critical race theory, and the promotion of hazardous sexual activity for kids. Jacob Asmussen has the details.
        
• The Texas Library Association’s conference included a session on keeping controversial – and pornographic – books on school library shelves. Another session instructed librarians how to teach young children to be “fluent in the language and ideas of social justice”—a buzzword for leftist ideologies such as critical race theory, which states that individuals should be promoted or punished because of the color of their skin.
         

• Citizens concerned about their local school districts sending librarians to the TLA conference on the taxpayers’ dime should contact their local school board.

Programming Note: The Headline

• You might have noticed something missing this week: Brandon Waltens. He’ll be back next week, but I’m filling in for him later today on The Headline. Topics? Property taxes, CRT, and transgender surgeries. Join the conversation at 5:30 p.m.

City Bonds = Property Tax Backed Debt

• A dozen Texas cities have put a combined $2.3 billion in new debt on the May 7 ballot. As Erin Anderson explains, all of the borrowed money would have to be repaid, with interest, by property taxpayers.
       

• San Antonio is proposing the biggest bond package. The city’s six propositions total $1.2 billion. With interest, the city estimates the bonds would cost taxpayers more than $1.8 billion.
       

• According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the state’s total local debt burden including principal and interest was more than $365.3 billion in 2019, or a debt of $12,500 for every Texan.

Canyon Special

• Voters in Canyon will fill a vacant seat in what has become a heated school board race. Thomas Warren has the details.
         
• As in other parts of the state, the race is focused on parental concerns about inappropriate books found in school libraries. 

Citizens of Athens Take Charge

• The mayor of Athens, Texas, is refusing to consider a city ordinance banning abortion, writes Mark Lee Dickson. Mayor Toni Clay says the city cannot do such a thing, despite state law saying they can… and nearly 50 other other cities in Texas having already done so.

Friday Reflection: Reject Waste? Look In The Mirror!

It’s a common refrain; I hear it all the time. Well-meaning people think government spending can be brought under control if only there could be an effort to "cut the waste."

If only that were so.

The bad news is that $300 hammers and bureaucrats’ travel don’t amount to a rounding error. The good news is that it is within our power to contain government spending.

Maybe we should better define "waste"? Typically when people think of government waste, they mean bureaucrats purchasing over-priced tools, taking unnecessary trips, or funding frivolous studies of trivial topics.

Perhaps a better definition would involve any spending outside the specific boundaries of the federal and state constitutions, or any spending that can be done by anyone besides government?

As my friend JoAnn Fleming of Grassroots America likes to say, government needs to be fitted back inside a constitution-sized box.

This starts with the decisions we make as citizens, and the expectations we have for government. This must start with each of us saying, "No" – even when the spending might include a personal benefit which we think we’re owed.

I’m reminded of a story from 2010 involving the City of Grandview, south of Fort Worth. The city council turned down a half-million-dollar federal earmark secured by former Democrat Rep. Chet Edwards. They said such earmarks represented “irresponsible pork-barrel politics.”

No doubt Grandview could have gone ahead and built the frivolous thing for which the earmark was designated. Except it wasn’t exactly frivolous: it was funds for a new water tower.

One city councilman, Bill Pannell, said at the time that “it was a dadgum tough decision. But you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning.” He and his fellow council members said the federal expense was both unethical and unconstitutional.

Whether the spending is needed or not, too many cities, before and since, rush to cash any check a congressman hands them. 

This is our fault as citizens.

Over the years, politicians have been trained in fiscal ethics by the voters. We have time and again rewarded them for expanding the size of government. We have told them they can buy us off with our own money. 

Controlling government spending starts by controlling ourselves. Fixing the politicians starts with fixing ourselves.

This is the curse and the blessing of being a self-governing people.