Good morning,

Could it be, thanks to a general lack of civic education, that we’re not praying for our republic’s leaders as we should? I close out the week reflecting on whom we should actually be praying for most fervently.

Here is the Texas Minute for Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

UPFRONT: In the list of counties that have declared border invasions and encouraged Gov. Greg Abbott to do likewise, we left off Leon County. I apologize for the oversight!

Federal Legislation To Defund Teachers’ Unions

• Teachers’ unions would lose access to federal dollars under a measure filed this week in Congress by U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Amarillo).

      
• “Corrupt teachers’ unions sold out our kids when they lined Democrat politicians’ pockets with campaign contributions to keep students out of the classroom, and later to force masking, despite clear evidence that these decisions were harmful to kids’ educational and developmental growth,” explained Jackson. “Just when we thought corrupt teachers’ unions could not get worse, they pressed the Biden Administration to investigate parents who voice disagreement with their decisions as domestic terrorists.”
      

• To be known as the “No Federal Funding for Teachers’ Unions Act,” Jackson’s legislation would prohibit the federal government from giving financial support to these entities.

     
• “It’s time we restore parents’ voices, prohibit corrupt teachers’ unions from using your tax dollars to advance their radical agenda, and send them a clear message: LEAVE OUR KIDS ALONE!” – Ronny Jackson

Legislation Would Use 90% Of Surplus To ‘Buy Down’ Property Taxes

• Property taxes in Texas are among the highest in the nation, with the majority levied in the name of school district “maintenance and operations.” Soli Rice reports legislation filed this week would put 90 percent of the state’s $27 billion budget surplus toward reducing the property tax burden.
        
• State Rep.-elect Ellen Troxclair said her measure “would allow us to cut property taxes in half, while fully funding public schools and reducing our reliance on Robin Hood.”
       
• “Robin Hood” is the nickname for the state’s school funding scheme that sees property tax dollars collected locally but then diverted to other school districts with very little oversight or accountability.
   
• Similar legislation was filed by Reps. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress) and Matt Shaheen (R-Plano).
     
• Texans for Fiscal Responsibility designated the measures by Troxclair and Shaheen as the “strongest two bills filed” thus far to deal with the state’s property tax burden.

Texas Democrats Want To Hike The Minimum Wage

• Despite record levels of inflation, State Rep. Ron Reynolds (D–Missouri City) has filed legislation to increase the minimum wage in Texas to $15 an hour. Sebastian Castro has the details.

       

• In a time when inflation has reached a 40-year high, Texas Democrats are proposing a solution many critics say would exacerbate the situation. In a study by the Congressional Budget Office, the expected impact of a minimum wage increase to $15 nationally would leave 1.4 million Americans unemployed.
      

• Leave it to Democrats to take a bad situation created by economically irresponsible government policy and then make it worse with even more economically irresponsible government policy. 

Republican House Members on Democrat Committee Chairs

• With voters having expanded the Republican Caucus in the Texas House to 86 of 150 members, more Texans are questioning the practice of allowing Democrats to chair legislative committees. Sydnie Henry has the details.

• Interestingly, the only lawmakers willing to answer questions on the record about the practice were those ready to end it. Check out Sydnie Henry’s article for those responses.

📺 Watch Now: The Headline

• Brandon Waltens is out for a well-deserved vacation, so I’m filling in from the 1836 Studios. You can catch The Headline on our website, YouTube, or Rumble.
      
• Today’s show topics include: Trump’s “comeback” announcement, Abbott’s border push, an interview with Tony Tinderholt about running for Texas House speaker, and a chat with legal expert Tony McDonald on citizens’ legislative engagement.

Friday Reflection: Praying For Our Leaders

Prayer is a powerful thing, but all too often – gripped by a pious spirit – we get very lazy. Inspired by the language of European serfs from the Middle Ages, we pray like peasants hoping God will turn the favor of some distant king toward us.

Sadly, the prayers of many Christians reflect a disastrous understanding of our government, and of our responsibilities as citizens. In short, in too many of our churches and gatherings, we’re not praying for all the right people.

I hear this a lot. A well-meaning person begins by calling forth the blessings and wisdom of heaven on “our rulers,” praying for divine guidance to be bestowed by those “in authority” over us. They beseech the Almighty to give wisdom to those who “bear the sword of government power.” Once they have built up a rhetorical head of biblical-sounding steam, they boldly step forth in naming the names of the president, the governor, the mayor, and so on.

I will say it again: They aren’t praying for the people who need it most, if they are praying for our leaders. I sometimes worry that there are people of faith who would rather be serfs living under a distant monarch than rulers in this republic.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We should absolutely pray for the president. We should pray for the governor. We should pray for the Congress and the legislature, the courts, our city council, and school board. We should pray for those bodies collectively, and the officials individually.

Yet… If we are going to be praying for our leaders, and we limit ourselves to the holders of political offices, then we are missing out on the leaders who really need our prayers.

Our system of government does not recognize the president, governor, Congress, or mayor as the “leaders” of our country and culture. Those individuals are servants; for better or worse, they reflect (and amplify) the culture created by the citizenry.

The actual, constitutional leaders in our self-governing republic are our fellow citizens. This makes us unique in the world. The language of our republic makes this clear: The people with the titles whose names appear on the ballot are our servants. They are given discrete power to do clearly defined things for a narrow period of time. The royal and ruling sovereign? The master? That would be you, me, and our neighbors.

It is an uncomfortable fact, but the sovereign leaders God has appointed over you and me in this republic are each other and our neighbors. We set the governing tone of our nation, for better or worse. Presidents and governors and mayors and all the rest are reflections of our collective morality, or, put differently, the immorality we tolerate.

For Christians, we must read Romans 13 not as the serfs living under a feudal lord but as the ruler who is tasked with exercising leadership in our republic. Yes, we give those officeholders discrete powers for specific periods of time, but the responsibility for our republic rests with the citizens.

It might be easier to pray for the president and the mayor, but if we want the leadership in our nation to be imbued with divine wisdom, we should be praying for our neighbors. It might be easier to rhetorically offload our responsibilities as citizens to the hired help, but I am certain the Author of Liberty is not quite so intellectually lazy.

After all, the Founding Fathers used God’s model for government in setting up our republic. They explicitly sought His guidance in framing a government in which “We The People” would rule under His kingship. We must not squander this precious opportunity or heady responsibility.

Let us resolve to be more bold in our prayers, and in praying for an awakening among those who have truly been called and designated to lead our republic. Let us pray for that most sought after title in the world. Let us pray for the citizens of these United States.

Quote-Unquote

“The power under the Constitution will always be with the people.”

– George Washington​