Good morning,

As it turns out, liberty can die from heart disease….

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

– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Friday, May 13, 2022 

Bush Trails Paxton In Latest Polling

• In the Republican primary runoff election for Texas attorney general, incumbent Ken Paxton holds a significant lead according to recent polling of Republican voters. Brandon Waltens has the story.
        
• The poll was performed by CWS Research and commissioned by the Defend Texas Liberty political action committee. The data shows Paxton leading with 58 percent and Bush trailing at 31 percent. Eleven percent said they were undecided in the race.
      
• The same poll showed incumbent Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian leading his runoff with 46 percent to his opponent Sarah Stogner’s 24 percent.
      
• In the land commissioner race, State Sen. Dawn Buckingham holds the lead with 34 percent to Tim Westley’s 18 percent, though 48 percent of voters remain undecided.

On The Record: GOP Land Commissioner Candidates Answer Voter Questions

• Early voting in the runoff elections begins May 16; Election Day is May 24.

Klick Blasted For ‘Out Of Context’ Ad

• Embattled State Rep. Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth) is in a GOP primary runoff fight, being challenged from the right by Army veteran David Lowe. Now, her campaign is being criticized for “lying through omission” by a fellow Republican lawmaker, State Rep. Jeff Cason (R-Bedford).
     
• Katy Drollinger reports Cason charged Klick with dishonestly and deceitfully misrepresenting Lowe’s views on the abortion issue. Lowe is an “abolitionist” – someone holding the view that abortion should be made completely illegal. Klick’s campaign, though, edited Lowe’s statements out of context to make it sound like he is pro-abortion.
   
• “The first thing I can’t figure out is why some of these incumbents that are in runoff races right now don’t fight nearly as hard against Democrats during session as they do against their more conservative Republican opponents,” said Cason in the latest installment of his Back Room Access podcast.
      
• “One of the things that angers me more than most is when I witness elected leaders telling outright lies or half-truths while they’re campaigning to earn our trust and our vote,” added Cason. “A big way that many candidates and elected officials lie to the public is through omission.”

Runoff Preview: Younger And Bumgarner Compete In HD 63

• Sydnie Henry previews the Republican primary runoff contest between Jeff Younger and Ben Bumgarner in House District 62, which covers a portion of Denton County.
       
• A veteran, small-business owner, and child protection activist, Younger may be a familiar name to Texans who have followed the issue of protecting children from dangerous gender-mutilation procedures and chemical castration. He has been an active proponent for this cause ever since his ex-wife told their son, James, that he is a girl and wanted to force him (against Jeff’s wishes) to take sterilizing cross-sex hormone drugs.
     
• Younger has received the endorsements of Texas Right to Life, Texas Home School Coalition, and grassroots organizations such as Grassroots America – We the People, and the Texas Eagle Forum. Younger has received the recommendation of True Texas Project.
     
• Bumgarner is a firearms manufacturer who has been active in local politics as a member of the Flower Mound City Council. However, his activity in local politics includes leading the community shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bumgarner not only sent workers home but advocated for shutting down city parks and keeping kids locked up at home. (This is contrary to the positions of the Texas GOP, according to GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi. Bumgarner has not responded to Texas Scorecard’s request for comment on the issue.)
     
• Bumgarner has received the endorsement of Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, the Associated Republicans of Texas, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters, and other local firefighter unions.
      
• Check out where Younger and Bumgarner stand on the issues.
      
• The winner of the Republican runoff will face Democrat Denise Wooten in November.

TONIGHT: The Headline

• On this week’s episode of The Headline, Brandon Waltens talks about the victories for parents across the state in the local school board elections.
   
• Plus, investigative reporter Robert Montoya will be on hand to discuss his latest work: exposing the Democrats’ (corrupt) power structure running Harris County.

Friday Reflection: Heart Disease

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States – not cancer or COVID, lightning strikes or earthquakes. It is a killer of our own making; it’s the killer we allow in our lives when we’re literally doing nothing else.

There are exceptions, but for the most part, heart disease is the selfish death we give ourselves.  Of course, I’m not writing today about the disease doctors diagnose in the context of medicine, but rather a disease killing our republic.

As it turns out, liberty dies from heart disease, too.

In the late 1940s, a businessman named Henning Prentis noticed a pattern in history that leads from bondage to self-governance and back to bondage. The so-called “Prentis Cycle” was developed in a series of speeches and essays. It goes like this:

“From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to freedom; from freedom to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to fear; from fear to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.”

One probably couldn’t better summarize the 400-year period of biblical history covered in the Book of Judges, not to mention all that came after.

If we are honest, we can find America’s place in that cycle. But like the fat man who puts down the snacks and picks up some walking shoes, the cycle isn’t necessarily a fait accompli. The damage is irreversible only to the extent we allow ourselves to continue wallowing complacently in the mire created by our lazy and selfish mistakes.

But it requires that each of us – every man and woman – turn from our “wicked ways” (to borrow from 2 Chronicle 7:14), love God, and serve each other. That requires us to get off the couch and get to work. We must rise up from our abundance-laden complacency. We must set aside our sense of entitlement and exercise the muscles of freedom. We must shrug off apathy and embrace our responsibility as citizens.

Liberty will die on these shores only after we have killed it in our hearts. And so, it is only by turning our hearts back to self-governance that we can save our republic.