Good morning,

A friend of mine had a poster that read, “Government: If you think the problems we create are bad, just wait until you see our solutions.” That sums up my own attitude toward government policy pretty nicely.

Here is the Texas Minute for Friday, September 2, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Yes, it’s early… but Friday mornings should be enjoyed with your friends! So, start the day right now with Brandon Waltens on The Headline. His show goes live at 6 a.m. each Friday, and this morning I’ll be with him in the studio!

Here Come The Higher Taxes… 

• As Texans battle rising inflation and high grocery bills, Katy Drollinger reports four of the state’s largest cities are also raising property taxes.
      
• Analysis from Texans for Fiscal Responsibility reveals that Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio all proposed new city budgets with property taxes exceeding their no-new-revenue rates.
      
• TFR President Tim Hardin called out state lawmakers for claiming legislation passed in 2021 would provide tax relief for Texans, when none of it directly lowers citizens’ property taxes.
     
• Earlier this week, Gov. Greg Abbott said he will put “at least half” of the state’s $27 billion budget surplus toward property tax relief.

It’s On: Abbott And O’Rourke Agree To Debate

• Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Robert O’Rourke has agreed to debate incumbent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at the end of the month. The hour-long debate, hosted by Nexstar Media Group, will be held at the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg on the evening of September 30.
     
• Polling continues to show Abbott leading O’Rourke heading into Election Day, November 8.

UPDATE: Allen Teacher Charged With Sex Crime Also Taught In Lovejoy

• Updating a horrific story we brought forward earlier this week, parents in Lovejoy Independent School District have learned their children may have been exposed to the same teacher accused of sex crimes against one or more students in neighboring Allen ISD. Erin Anderson has the details.
       
• After being investigated and cleared by Allen ISD to go back to the classroom and interact with kids, Anthony “Tony” Mattei was arrested by the Allen Police Department on two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. The alleged crimes occurred last year, but parents in the district say this is the first they are hearing about the allegations.
    
• Following the publicity surrounding Mattei’s arrest, Lovejoy ISD parents received an email on Wednesday that he had worked in their district from November 2018 through May 2021 – first as a substitute teacher on all campuses and then as an instructional aide at Lovejoy High School.
      
• Lovejoy ISD is still reeling from a June scandal in which teacher Ray Cooper was allowed to resign after he was caught sending sexually suggestive messages to a male student.

Friday Reflection: Government Is The Problem

Here’s my philosophy on government policy in a nutshell: There is no problem created by government that government cannot make much worse. And what government proposes to fix in society, it only makes more broken.

I suppose there might be some exceptions, but those will be few and far between. Too often, government policies purporting to "solve" problems end up doing little more than reshuffling the misery – if not actually making things worse.

One of my favorite books on public policy is “The Tragedy of American Compassion” by Marvin Olasky. In it, he tracks the problems created when government seeks – compassionately – to alleviate people’s misery.

This is a gross oversimplification, but in essence, he finds that government just makes it worse.

The so-called “War On Poverty” has trapped generations of people in poverty. The “War On Drugs” has made the scourge of illicit drugs worse than ever.

When the federal government proposes to “solve” a problem, it does so by spending money on bureaucracies and bureaucrats. It starts funding studies and launching pilot programs.

The net effect is to create a new class of people – those bureaucrats, that agency, those recipients of grant money – all dependent on the problem not getting better.

Indeed, since they are spending other people’s money, those bureaucracies have an incentive to keep the problem alive – almost fixing it, almost solving it, almost alleviating it. Almost.

And so, with that in mind, I greeted the recent news that President Joe Biden was going to forgive the federal student loan debt of certain politically desirable population groups. Make no mistake: the burden of student loans is heavy, but it is a burden created by Democrats and big-government Republicans.

For two decades, people have been encouraged – even shamed – into getting increasingly worthless degrees unrelated to their skills, passions, or interests. These are degrees that have no use in the marketplace.

Under such conditions, and when offered seemingly free money to pursue the much-vaunted bachelor’s degree and delay their entry into adulthood, high schoolers respond. Due to that response, the “demand” is artificially driven up for products of questionable moral and fiscal value.

As parents, we tolerate grammar and secondary schools preaching the “value” of having a college degree over being a productive and happy person. Because, of course, none of us want to dispute the person with a master’s degree or seemingly discourage our kids from becoming astronauts.   

Meanwhile, this artificial demand has encouraged colleges and universities to jack up prices. That, in turn, has made the student loan debt all the worse.

In truth, the relationship between universities and the federal government in the student loan debt scam is exactly the same as the hustler and the plant in Three-card Monte. And in that analogy, you are the mark.

So now, like an arsonist who works for the fire department, Joe Biden has a “solution”…

That solution, of course, is to transfer the burden of the student loan debt to everyone else.

Meanwhile, student loans for worthless degrees are still available, with universities charging ever higher tuitions. And a whole new generation sees those debts socialized.

I’ll say it again: There is no problem created by government that government cannot make much worse.

Quote-Unquote

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

– C.S. Lewis​