Free Republic

Sky-high property taxes are perpetuating an affordability crisis, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pointed out. Abbott told the Rotary Club of San Antonio, “One thing that is driving up the cost of housing and the cost of living is skyrocketing property taxes—skyrocketing property taxes that are beginning to force people out of homes they’ve lived in for virtually their entire lives.” And of course, he’s right. Texans everywhere are struggling to hold onto their homes because of soaring tax bills. That’s especially true in places like Travis County, where local officials are hitting homeowners hard. In fiscal year 2015, the...

There’s even an acronym for the way teachers feel about these late winter and early spring months: EDOFMA, the eternal darkness of February, March and April. It’s a time when education seems like an endless slog, with little visible progress. As one blogger puts it, “For the first few weeks back from the holidays in January, things seem OK, but then reality sets in. Hard.” It’s much the same with education reform. But as dedicated teachers know, foundations are being laid even when progress isn’t visible. That’s how improvement often happens; incrementally, through persistence and dedication. What seemed like a...

Last week an article from the Federalist Society about Greta Thunberg popped up on my computer. It was by David Harsanyi and titled, “The Tragedy of Greta Thunberg”. The following is the first two paragraphs of his article: “Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg lives in the healthiest, wealthiest, safest, and most peaceful era humans have ever known. She is one of the luckiest people ever to have lived. In a just world, Thunberg would be at the United Nations thanking capitalist countries for bequeathing her this remarkable inheritance. Instead, she, like millions of other indoctrinated kids her age,...

There’s even an acronym for the way teachers feel about these late winter and early spring months: EDOFMA, the eternal darkness of February, March and April. It’s a time when education seems like an endless slog, with little visible progress. As one blogger puts it, “For the first few weeks back from the holidays in January, things seem OK, but then reality sets in. Hard.” It’s much the same with education reform. But as dedicated teachers know, foundations are being laid even when progress isn’t visible. That’s how improvement often happens; incrementally, through persistence and dedication. What seemed like a...

Venezuela, a nation that was once the richest country in Latin America and a paradigm of democracy in the region, now bears the ravages of authoritarian socialism. An abundance of photographs, videos, and statistics appearing in the media reveal a modern-day genocide, however stubbornly many of those same media refuse to use the term. We can clearly see that government violence as well as a dearth of food and medication are killing Venezuelans; even the country’s own data show deaths from maternal mortality, infant mortality, and malaria rising rapidly. Nearly a fifth of children are reportedly malnourished and nearly four-fifths...

It happens every odd-numbered year, legislators descend on Austin. We all come fresh from winning our respective elections. We are elected by our constituents - voters - and we come to town with their issues and concerns in mind. This last legislative session, the Texas Legislature was ready to move on property tax reform. We were going to take action after hearing for years from Texans that, “Property taxes are too high. Property taxes are pricing out Texans of the homes they bought.” Senate Bill 2, which the legislature passed, requires many local taxing units - cities and counties -...

As a Houston-area resident and military veteran, I’m troubled by Pierce Bush’s entry into the race for the 22nd Congressional District. I spent six years in the Air Force during the early 2000s and deployed to Iraq in service to our country. All the while, members of Pierce’s family lived in the White House and called the shots. He comfortably went to college, worked in private equity, and later began work at a nonprofit. Pierce thinks his foray into politics should be comfortable too. He was shopping for a congressional district months ahead of his announcement. I heard rumors of...

The Institute for Justice has taken up the cause of doctors in Texas who want to offer their patients affordable medications at the point of care—a practice known as physician dispensing of prescription drugs. As the doctors point out, the Texas ban on physician dispensing is irrational. “As 45 other states have recognized, doctor dispensing is a safe and effective way to increase patients’ access and adherence to their prescribed medications—which is good for patients, doctors, and the broader healthcare system,” IJ attorneys said in a press conference outside the Travis County Civil District Court where the lawsuit was filed....

Several months ago I followed my heart. I decided to take a stand, respect my principles, and opt to do right. I chose to do so against all odds, hoping for a better tomorrow because I legitimately believe that we are stronger together, as one unified nation, strong and indivisible with one another. I embarked on a journey to be your next Congressman in the United States House of Representatives. I am seeking to represent the many good people in Texas’ diverse 18th Congressional District and am looking to unseat Sheila Jackson Lee, a long-term incumbent who has proven ignorant...

A year ago, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced its aim to flip Texas’s 21st District. It’s a longtime GOP seat, held by freshman Rep. Chip Roy and for three prior decades by the equally conservative Lamar Smith. Republican win margins have tightened there over time, but Democrats still need some right-leaning voters to split their tickets. So, they’re gearing to nominate… Wendy Davis? The former state senator’s 2013 filibuster of pro-life legislation, her failed 2014 gubernatorial campaign, and her subsequent nonprofit work have made her nationally famous for abortion liberalism. Her reality is more complicated; she is extreme...

Sir Humphrey Appleby, the loathsome bureaucrat on the 1980s Britcom Yes, Minister, knew how to pry lawmakers off their ideals: Call them “controversial,” or better yet, “courageous.” The former quality, he explained, costs votes; the latter imperils reelection. Days after winning Texas’s 21st congressional seat in November 2018, soon-to-be U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R) told the Sir Humphrey types to get lost. “…Too many people in Washington on both sides of the aisle… get here and the first thing they start thinking about is moving the levers to get reelected,” Roy told Fox News’s Mark Levin. “That’s not why you’re...

Texas has a lot going for it—low unemployment, population growth, and a favorable regulatory environment. People want to come here, and it’s not just for our brisket and breakfast tacos. But our prosperity is unevenly distributed, with some regions experiencing a disheartening “tale of two cities” dynamic. Port Arthur is one such place. With the enormous growth in the petroleum sector along the Gulf Coast, one might expect Port Arthur’s unemployment rate to be low. Instead, Port Arthur’s unemployment is 8.7%, compared to the statewide rate of 3.1%. One culprit is the striking mismatch between high school career and technical...

The tide turned for the Soviet Union in 1989. It wasn’t just the Polish national elections in June of that year, which saw the rise of the Solidarity Party. And it wasn’t merely the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. It was also Boris Yeltsin’s visit to a Houston-area supermarket. Yeltsin, then serving as president of Soviet Russia (he had not yet succeeded Mikhail Gorbachev), was astonished at the abundance that free markets provide. There was food on the shelves and no lines of impoverished workers hoping for a loaf of bread or a few moldy vegetables. As...

By way of the mid-December election, the people of the United Kingdom gave the Conservative Party a parliamentary majority in the House of Commons. The margin of victory totaled seventy-eight seats which secured Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s position as head of government, potentially for the next five years. Traditionally working-class areas, such as Durham, switched party preferences to Tory en masse, resulting in the worst Labor Party defeat since the 1930s. Johnson hailed the achievement as a mandate from the people to carry out the Conservative agenda. In a post-election speech, he reaffirmed his commitment to ‘get Brexit done’, to...

Another American Civil War or Manipulations by the Media? The Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service recently released a poll that asked voters to rate the level of American divisions from 0-100, with 100 being “on the edge of a civil war”. The mean response was 67.23. No reasonable person believes two thirds of the population is poised on the edge of their seat, wringing their hands with worry over a pending civil war. A physical battle between Republicans and Democrats in the United States sounds like a ridiculous notion and perhaps a bestselling fiction novel. Imagine for a...

Texas will be much cleaner after this upcoming weekend as Scott Presler, conservative activist and environmental steward, returns to Harris County. Over the last year, the 31-year-old spearheaded initiatives to cleanup cities and empower communities across the United States including Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. He now plans to tackle our very own city of Houston this Saturday. In a phone call with the Houston Courant, Scott’s enthusiasm was earnest, “I used to live in Galveston and League City and have roots in the greater Houston area. We want to go into the areas that have been neglected and show...

Thanksgiving can be a tough time of year for many Americans. “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank,” G.K. Chesterton pointed out many years ago. These days, the holiday has two stumbling blocks that I see. The first is America’s growing secularization. The second is something evident even among many of the still-faithful: a failure to appreciate the abounding blessings we all enjoy. The answer to both is the same: Look up. Let’s take those in reverse order. In our deeply divided world, with impeachment hearings dominating our news...

Rep. Al Green’s Probe into People’s Sexuality Mark Zuckerberg, the creator and CEO of Facebook, which currently has 2.7 billion users around the world plans to launch a digital currency and payment platform named Libra. The establishment of such a product requires consideration of multifaceted ramifications. The House Financial Services Committee is charged with investigating the potential liabilities Libra may impose on competing digital currency, the U.S. dollar and the global commercial system built around it. Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the House Financial Services Committee in Washington D.C. to respond to questions about the new money. Zuckerberg delivered an opening...

The idea of college-for-all puts a lot of students in a bad position, because not all high school seniors have a firm grasp of the financial risk being taken—the average graduating college senior in 2017 was $28,650 in debt. Students should fully understand the ramifications of incurring student loan debt and that there are other, less costly, post-secondary options. There are dependable careers, with attractive pay, that are attainable without a college degree, the training for which can be fostered by high schools via Career and Technical Education. An electrician, for example, makes on average $50,977 a year in Texas....

In early August, Elizabeth Warren released a plan that promises free internet access to every household in America. As with most Democratic proposals, the intentions are loudly touted, but the costs and dangers are hidden. Warren's ‘free’ internet comes with a hefty taxpayer bill of $85 billion to fund public and non-profit firms across the country. If the proposal were to pass, construction cost overages should be expected. Once established, the federal apparatus will always demand more cash for their budgets. Lest we forget, in the mind of a Democrat, the Government is always understaffed and the need for new...