Good morning,

It’s a bit of a cliché to think of a politician shouting, “Do you know who I am?” at some airline stewardess, but it is a cliché for a reason. Most of us, though, spend our lives trying to figure out a different version of that question – which I reflect on in my podcast. You’ll find the transcript below.

We often conclude the Texas Minute with an inspirational saying from some significant figure. Given the events of the week, however, I’m leading with a cautionary quote about bureaucratic power.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Friday, Aug. 12, 2022 

Quote-Unquote

“Bureaucracy is undoubtedly the weapon and sign of a despotic government, inasmuch as it gives whatever government it serves, despotic power.”

– Lord Acton​

• Join Brandon Waltens on The Headline at 5:30 p.m. today; he will chat with Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi about the unprecedented (even despotic) weaponization of the FBI against political foes by the Biden administration.

Danger And Destruction On The Border

• Criminal cartels’ human-trafficking and drug-smuggling operations are benefiting greatly from an unsecured southern border, explained Steven McCraw to the Texas Senate’s Committee on Border Security this week. He heads the Texas Department of Public Safety.
      
• “It’s a win-win for the cartels,” said McCraw, of the Biden administration’s open border policies. Sydnie Henry has details from the hearing.
      
• “Our main source of income is hunting,” testified Christopher Roswell, who runs a hunting operation on his family’s land. “For the first time, I have received phone calls asking if it’s safe to come hunt.”
      
• Roswell says “safety has become a major concern” for his family and employees. “We’ve been cussed at, threatened, had rocks and sticks thrown at us. Our dogs have been beaten on multiple occasions by illegals.”

$1.1 Million… To Shut You Up

• Most Texans don’t know the Texas Ethics Commission exists. It is a shadowy agency that exists solely to regulate the political speech of people challenging incumbents aligned with the ruling establishment elite.
       
• They’ve been coming after me for a decade, because the Austin cronies don’t like the fact that we help citizens keep score. We don’t toe the establishment line and we don’t give cover to politicians. We refuse to let them harass our donors, we protect the names of our subscribers, and we tell citizens the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Texas Legislature.
      
• The “ethics” commission recently made a startling admission: They told the Legislative Budget Board that they have spent nearly $1.1 million targeting me and my family. (Seriously, they once hired a guy to follow my wife and kids and snap pictures of them!) And so, the highly unethical regulators said, they find themselves without the cash necessary to fix their broken website. They want lawmakers to give them more of your money.
       
• In coming after me, the TEC has been setting the precedent to come after you. We’ve been fighting them off, so you don’t have to. Knowing we’ve broken their agency bank account gives me an immense amount of joy!
      
• Now, the Texas Ethics Commission needs to just be abolished.

Texas Increases Your Phone Bill

• Your phone bill is going up because the Public Utility Commission – appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott – is hiking cell phone fees. Emily Wilkerson has the details. The fee subsidizes small phone companies in rural areas.

Don’t Offend The Snowflakes!

• A syllabus template from the University of Texas includes a “land acknowledgment” and a “content warning” section for potentially offensive materials in the courses, as the university aims to create an atmosphere of “sensitivity.” If you don’t know what any of that means, you’re apparently not woke enough – so Jake Peterson offers a translation.
      
• The McCombs School of Business at U.T. suggests every professor include an apology to Native Americans in their syllabus, acknowledging that they are “meeting on the Indigenous lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what is now North America.”
      
• Professors are encouraged to list their pronouns and “acknowledge students may share with you the pronouns they use and/or a name that is different than what appears on the official roster.” 
      
• The chairman of the Board of Regents is Kevin Eltife, an appointee of Gov. Greg Abbott. Eltife’s office can be contacted at (512) 499-4402.

Austin ISD Teacher Caught Pushing Drag Video On Kids

• A whistleblower website is calling out an Austin Independent School District teacher for posting a video bragging about how she showed fourth-graders (9- and 10-year-olds) a video featuring a drag queen. Sebastian Castro has the details.
      
• The teacher, Emily Ramsey of Gullett Elementary School, allegedly showed her students a video in which a drag queen named “Isabelle” discusses his sexuality, as well as his gay “coming out.” 
      
• While Austin ISD teachers like Ramsey spend classroom time sexualizing children, the Texas Education Agency reported noticeably worse academic results. For example, 72 percent of AISD seventh-graders “did not meet” mathematics standards.
     
• Think your kids are “safe” because they aren’t in Austin? Think again…

‘Crime Boss of the Month’ 

• A report released by The Dallas Express has named Dallas City Councilman Chad West “Crime Boss of the Month” for the fourth time this year. Katy Drollinger has the details.
     
• Every month, The Dallas Express analyzes the city’s crime data and awards the title of “Crime Boss” to the city council member whose district experienced the highest crime increase.
      
• Although the city’s overall crime rate fell by 3 percent last month, West’s district saw a 38 percent crime increase.
      
• Some Dallas citizens blame the city’s Democrat District Attorney John Creuzot for increased crime. In 2019, Creuzot lowered bail amounts and refused to prosecute various misdemeanor crimes, including thefts under $750. Notably, Creuzot took more than $200,000 in campaign donations from liberal billionaire George Soros.

Friday Reflection: Who Are You?

In politics, you get a lot of blowhards who demand an answer to variations of, “Do you know who I am?” In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Who do you say I am?” But in life, most of us spend an inordinate amount of time just trying to figure out who we are ourselves.

Simon Peter, of course, correctly responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” To those self-important politicians, the correct answer is, “I don’t know, but you work for me.”

But who are you? How do you describe yourself? As a spouse, a parent, a child? Perhaps you would talk about your vocation, hometown, or college? Maybe your faith, or denomination? None of those things are necessarily wrong and, in fact, are probably all correct.

A few weeks ago, I asked folks if they would describe themselves as a “grassroots activist.” That isn’t exactly what I was asking, though. What I really wanted to know was how they see themselves in our republic.

The answers didn’t disappoint me.

Some folks explained that they were citizens, first and foremost. Any sort of “activism,” grassroots or otherwise, was merely a product of that.

That’s how our Founding Fathers would have thought of you, as the leader in our republic. Not the president, governor, mayor, or judge; those folks work for you and your fellow citizens. To our Founding Fathers, you rest at the pinnacle of the civic hierarchy.

Other folks answered the question in relationship to other citizens. They wrote about being keyboard warriors or distributors of data.

One lady responded that she didn’t think of herself as much of an activist; after all, she wrote, she just helps out on phone banks. But I know for a fact she also stuffs envelopes for causes and candidates. And does some light block-walking. And helps out at her church’s “soup pantry.” She just sees herself as someone who has the time and does what she can.

For what it is worth, I happen to know she also spends time worrying that she isn’t doing enough.

She might be the most extreme example, but she and so many others like her perfectly fit my definition of what it means to be a grassroots activist and an engaged citizen. A grassroots activist in our republic is someone who sees a problem, takes ownership, and gets to work addressing it. Truth be told, most of them needed a kick-start at first. Someone had to ask them to get engaged, but then there was no stopping them.

That is the essence of being an engaged person in a self-governing republic.

These are the people who joined Nehemiah in rebuilding the walls. They are the ones who, when told they could leave before a battle without dishonor, nonetheless stuck around with Gideon and took the “drink the water” test. They followed Judas Maccabee into battle. They stood alongside Levi Preston at the battles of Lexington and Concord. They crossed the line drawn by William Travis, willing to fight and die at the Alamo.

What about you? Who are you? Are you a grassroots activist? Are you an engaged individual? A self-governing citizen? A child of God?

The answer is revealed in what you do, and who you do it with. There is no shortage of needs in your community and around the nation. If necessary, consider this your kick-start. Or, a request for you to grab your neighbor and get them going.

Just as you are, whoever you are, our republic needs you.