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Volume XII Number 12 - July 19, 2013     RSS Feed   

A Periodic Newsletter for Committed Texas Conservatives

In This Issue

Perry Moves Down The Road, What Does It Mean For Texas?

HCC Dumps Leader Who Spearheaded Successful Bond Issue, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Who Was The Source Of TCR's Immigration Reform Ideas?

City of Houston In a Booming Economy Can't Pay Its Bills, What Is Wrong Here?

New Information Shows The Rich Paying More And More Every Year In Income Taxes

Why Our Democracy Succeeded While Others Failed By Bruce Bialosky, Contributing Editor

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Thoughts This Fortnight

Perry Moves Down The Road,
What Does It Mean For Texas?

Rick Perry's long service as an elected official in Texas is coming to an end. What it means for Rick Perry is for another day, but for Texas in 2014, it has profound implications.

For the GOP, the logjam in statewide offices is lifting. At a minimum, the offices of Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Land Commissioner and Agriculture Commissioner will be open.

Lieutenant Governor is an open question, where incumbent David Dewhurst has said he intends to run again. He is already challenged by Senator Dan Patrick, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. A recent poll in the Harris County / Houston Media market with 23% of the total Texas GOP primary vote, shows Patrick leading Dewhurst 42% to 34%, with the others far behind. If this poll is accurate, it will be an uphill fight for Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, although he certainly has the resources.

The general election implications for the Perry departure are also positive for the GOP. Some observers felt Perry leading the GOP ticket in 2014 would be a drag in major counties like Harris, Dallas, Bexar and others, which would hurt down ballot Republicans.

Now, with a new candidate for Governor, down ballot Republicans look a lot better. Added to that, the Democrats are having trouble recruiting well-qualified statewide candidates in 2014, which will greatly hamper down ballot Democratic candidates.

Of course, the filing deadline scheduled for December, is still months away and things could change, but at this point, color 2014 Red in Texas.

HCC Dumps Leader Who Spearheaded Successful Bond Issue, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The recent buyout of Chancellor Mary Spangler and Deputy Chancellor Art Tyler, means the Houston Community College Board spent $1.2 million to change leadership.

To TCR, this seems like a bad idea. When you have good leaders, who delivered for HCC and then the board spends money to get rid of them to replace them with new people spending even more money, makes no sense.

It seems to us that whoever gets on the school board and community college board is more important than ever. We need smart public-spirited board members. Unfortunately, we are not consistently getting it.

TCR's take is that the HCC board blew this one, big time!

Who Was The Source Of TCR's Immigration Reform Ideas?

The lead article in our last issue offered immigration reform ideas and we told you we would reveal the author in this issue.

The answer: Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative icon and author of many books including, A Choice Not an Echo.

City of Houston In a Booming Economy Can't Pay Its Bills, What Is Wrong Here?

Slipped into a recent editorial about term limits, the Houston Chronicle highlighted the fact that the City of Houston is running $80 million short in funding its public employee pensions and that it's postponing payments and deferring bill payments, both of which are scary.

For a city that has been trumpeting its fiscal conservatorship, this is an eye-opener.

TCR is interested in what excuses Houston officials have for the shortfall in city finances.

New Information Shows The Rich Paying More And More Every Year In Income Taxes

The Democrats are big at saying the "rich" do not pay enough or tax them, not me.

Well, a new study by JPMorgan Asset Management shows that as of December 31, 2012, the "rich" or the top 5% of wage earners account for 32% of all income in the U.S. and they pay 58% of all income taxes!

So we think President Obama was wrong when he said the rich need to pay their "fair share," they already are.

Why Our Democracy Succeeded
While Others Failed

By Bruce Bialosky, Contributing Editor

Egypt is on everyone's mind as a democratically-elected government was overthrown by the Egyptian military. It is utterly necessary as the country was moving toward an Islamic state, slowly turning into, at minimum, an oligarchy if not a dictatorship. The question becomes why, after only about a year, did the government fail where ours has endured for 226 years?

The answer is right under our noses and we often do not think about it. Our government had the advantage of six giants of history involved from the start. Those men were Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin and Hamilton. Each one asserted an influence of deep dynamics that thrust us forward on the road to not only being the most successful democracy that has ever existed, but also the most economically successful and sound country in history.

As for Egypt, where are those people. For example, in our evolving time the world now has effective leadership from women, but you don't see a female face in any of their councils. There may be a few here and there, but none at the highest rungs and none in the Muslim Brotherhood.

If you cast back to our leaders from our inception, these are people who stepped up to the times. As you may have noticed, the list includes our first four presidents who gave our country tremendous stability in the first 28 years. That was despite some severe disagreements. Shays' Rebellion in 1787 threatened the newly-forming government before it even could get off the ground. Four years later the Whiskey Rebellion challenged President Washington in his first term and threatened the nascent government. Yet, because of the strength of the leadership and structure of our government that had been formed, we survived.

There rarely is any thought of a military coup in the United States. When you hear that comment from people, you can start looking for their aluminum hat. I have spoken to foreigners around the world who have expressed that such a thing would never happen in the USA. Yet because of a totally inept government In Egypt that has left their economy in total disarray, they have further exacerbated the crisis. The economy of Egypt is largely based on turning viewing their ancient sites and antiquities into Disneyland. It is clear only a few brave souls have visited Egypt since Morsi took over as President.

Alexander Hamilton as a protégé to George Washington created a structure for our financial markets. Through the leadership of Washington and his successors, ambitious people came to America and built the free enterprise system that made us the economic engine of the world.

What Morsi did as president of Egypt was spend his time jailing journalists. What he spent his time doing was making laws that subverted the rule of law established in the newly adopted Constitution (that had challenges itself), heading him toward being a dictator and not a president. What he did not do was calm the country so that people could start getting back to work. The people instead took to the streets. Over a quarter of the population (22 million) joined the protests to express Morsi had to go. With no apparent person on the horizon having the ability to unite the Egyptians to move the country forward, who then will take over?

Not only did we have the six giants listed above, we had a bevy of people who were right behind them. You could include John Jay, President of the Continental Congress and the first Chief Justice of the United States. Where is a similar person in Egypt stumping on Morsi's subversion of the Constitution? John Jay and the other justices would never have let Washington take over as the ultimate ruler. But that never was needed as Washington established the custom of stepping down after two terms. No one ever thought of being a dictator.

We can all come forward with other consequential people in the early stages of America. Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, Elbridge Gerry and John Hancock are just a few. All these people and others made this country what it is today.

We were blessed with great leadership that established the rule of law through a Constitution and their actions. Democracy is not easy. Egypt is a perfect example. Hopefully, during this round Egypt will find some of their own giants. In the meantime, Americans need to be patient because democracy takes time.


Bruce Bialosky is the founder of the Republican Jewish Coalition of California and a former Presidential appointee.


TCR on the Air

Red, White & Blue featuring TCR Editor Gary Polland, liberal commentator David Jones and moderator Linda Lorelle on Fridays at 7:30 pm on PBS Houston Channel 8.1, replaying Sundays at 12:30 p.m. on Channel 8.1, Mondays at 11:30 pm on Channel 8.2 and on the web at www.houstonpbs.org.

Upcoming Shows:
07-26-13: Show topic: Dr. Ben Hall, candidate for Mayor of Houston
08-30-13: Show topic: Political Impact of the Civil Rights Movement with former congressman Craig Washington, Larry Payne and Christine LeVeaux-Haley
09-06-13: Show topic: "The State of the Economy"

Coming soon: David Dewhurst, Wendy Davis, Dan Patrick, Greg Abbott, Tom Pauken

The current show as well as past shows are available on YouTube.

About Your Editor

Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who completed three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as the most successful county Chairman in America by Human Events - The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his fifteenth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last twelve years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 10 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections and city elections, all with the purpose of assisting conservative candidates. Gary is also in his eleventh year of co-hosting Red, White and Blue on PBS Houston. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.

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