Every Bill is Sacred?

We get the culture we allow, and if the Democrat Party has its way, we get boob-flashing trans-mobs at the White House. That actually happened.

We get drag shows for kids where signs that read "It Won't Lick Itself" appear in the background.

We get mileage tax legislation. We get legislation for ranked choice voting in Texas. We spend taxpayer money on greenhouse gas reports, when carbon dioxide is only .04% of our atmosphere.

Rep. Jeff Leach ridiculously postures that Republican-caucus-ignoring Dustin Burrows is right to help every legislator with their agenda in Austin.

“I commit to working with members, whether they vote for me or not, to solve the issues important to their districts. This is the sacred duty of the Speaker, and I will fulfill it.”

This is a leader I can proudly support. And I plan to do so. #txlege https://t.co/Od9x978VY5

— Jeff Leach (@leachfortexas) December 9, 2024

The House can give the Speaker the powers it chooses. The Texas Constitution is pretty light on that. But in this last election, did Texans vote to ensure that our lead Republican in the House of Representatives work with all members to address the "issues most important to their districts?"

Because the Democrats eat crazy pills for breakfast. So much so that former Democrat Representative Shawn Thierry, who joined with Republicans to protect children from sexualization in this past session, was primaried out, and upon her ouster, has since switched to being a Republican.

The Democrat agenda is not what voters want. That's why the Texas counties on the border moved solidly redward. They're done with the open border policies pushed by the Democrats.

But Dustin Burrows and Jeff Leach think it is a sacred duty to help push bills filed by Democrats that are "important to their districts."

We get the culture we allow. The culture that Burrows and crew would allow doesn't reflect Texas, MAGA, or Republicans at all. And that's what voters just signaled that they want in this past election.

Tolerance of the left's agenda is wrong for Texas. Burrows is wrong for Texas. Leach is wrong for Texas. Any legislator who supports this "every bill is sacred" approach needs to be removed from office. Pronto.

Over 1 Million Vs. 32

In 2022, well over a million Texas Republican primary voters cast declared their preferences. They chose their representatives and they also indicated their preferences on 10 ballot propositions. One of those ballot propositions was this:

The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature should end the practice of awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats.

On Saturday, December 7, 2024, the 88 elected Republicans for the Texas House showed up and voted for who they wanted to be Speaker of the House. As my friend, Tom Glass sent in an email tonight, "On the third ballot, David Cook won 77% of those caucus members present and voting to become the Texas House Republican Caucus pick. The vote was 48 for Cook and 14 for Burrows."

In previous days, after Dade Phelan's withdrawal from the race, Dustin Burrows decided that he would circle with Democrats to push him to a majority. In January, when the House convenes for session, the vote will take place. If a majority of Democrats and Republicans conspire to elect someone else for speaker, then the Republican caucus winner, David Cook, will not be speaker. So Burrows announced after tonight's vote that he had enough votes to win in January.

Except that he didn't. Kind of like when a politician plants a yard sign in the yard of a person who never consented to support the politician, both Democrat and Republican members protested their placement on Burrows' list. He quickly went from asserting he had 38 Republicans to now only having 32 confirmed.

He lied. To make himself look more impressive than he is.

This isn't surprising. But effectively what we have are 32 elected Republicans ignoring the preference of over a million Texas Republicans.

It's a bit like Joni Ernst deciding that she can thwart President Trump's nomination of Pete Hegseth. It's not going well for her.

There is already a strong movement to primary every Burrows supporter who ignores the Republican majority who voted for Cook. It hasn't even been half a day since these events took place. The grassroots are fed up with being ignored. They want smaller government, family-friendly policies, a solid economy, and common sense. The Democrat party is delivering none of that, which is why they lost.

They just elected House Rep. Gene Wu as their leader for the next two years.

Texas House Democrats just elected Gene Wu as Chairman of their caucus. Gene wished President Trump would die of Covid when he had it in 2020. pic.twitter.com/GZMH3opYDT

— Mayes Middleton (@mayes_middleton) December 5, 2024

So why partner with Democrats now? Because the establishment, which was never greatly Republican in the first place, is desperate to hold on to power. They want to make it seem inevitable that they run the show.

They're about to get the Joni Ernst treatment, and we're happy to deliver it to them. There are far more of of us than there are of them. 32 is a mighty small number, and Texas is a mighty big state.

Mr. Cornyn, in the Senate, with the Cloture Vote

Obamacare is one of the most evil acts the government has ever passed into law. It ruined health care for everyone. It took your private relationship with your doctor and made it a relationship between the government and the insurance company - neither of which gives a damn about your well-being.

John Cornyn became a political target for me when he decided to allow the Democrats to fund Obamacare via his cloture vote. He had been targeted by conservatives statewide. So when it came time to support Ted Cruz's effort to defund Obamacare, he chose instead to allow the Democrats to fund it.

He explained his reasoning:

...rather than stripping the funding out of the federal budget. "I think a better tactic is to force the Red State Democrats, who are running in states Mitt Romney won in 2012 by double digits, to be put on the record (concerning Obamacare). They voted for Obamacare in the first place. Now in light of all of the unkept promises and bad experience over the past four years, give them a chance to vote to defund Obamacare. If they don't, then I think we're in the best position we can be to run against them in 2014 and to regain the majority in the U.S. Senate."

Cornyn is a snake. He chose to hurt your family to give himself more power.

That's when I went all-in to defeat Cornyn. Unfortunately, Dwayne Stovall's very underfunded campaigns never had a chance. I worked for Dwayne and we did all we could. We at least helped to inform a lot of people.

The snake has decided he wants to run again in 2026. Without an opponent capable of raising suitable money and name recognition, Cornyn will win re-election. We get the government we allow.

Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French publicly ponders a run at Cornyn. If he gets in, French for Texas it is. That's a no-brainer.

Paxton might be mulling this over as well. That would be awesome.

Either way, Cornyn betrays Texas over and over again. He has to go. Texas Republicans who don't have a clue and give their support to Cornyn betray us all with their support of this snake.

Not Your Father's Tea Party

Muscular.

If there's a word I would use to define today's grassroots, it's muscular. We've become the seasoned MMA fighter who looks forward to getting into the ring and we know what to do when we get in there.

I remember April 15, 2009, very well. I helped to start the Tea Party in Des Moines, Iowa. I was the anchor speaker that day at the capitol. 3,500 people showed up. I gave away ten of Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny books to the crowd. We had an eight-foot tall Declaration of Independence that people signed for the event. It was thrilling.

But it didn't change a thing. We didn't understand elections or campaigns or politics. We were a bunch of novices.

That was over 15 years ago.

We've worked campaigns. We've gotten our sea legs underneath us. We organize now and we message and we see it all very clearly now.

So, when the Joni Ernsts of the world want to sabotage someone our President needs, we move quickly and efficiently. Yesterday, X blew up all day right in her face.

Here is Joni Ernst praising trans in the military. She says she wants a 🏳️‍⚧️ fighting force.

Maybe this is why she’s leading the charge against Hegseth?

People in Iowa have a well-funded primary challenger ready against her. Her political career is in serious jeopardy.… pic.twitter.com/ByllMoDzLG

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) December 5, 2024

We're already moving against her. The primary is on. In a single day.

Here in Texas, the speaker's race heats up as the current speaker appears to be out. Organization and grassroots pressure push our priorities to the top of mind for lawmakers. The 89th legislative session hasn't started and it's already historic.

We seek representatives. If those elected don't represent, they will be replaced. We know how to do that. We're happy to do that.

Muscular indeed, and ready to fight.

The Culture War: Still Defining America

Back in the early 90's, I was a window washer and house painter and spent much of my time outside with AM radio. Jan Mickelson, morning WHO radio personality, was my daily companion. This video gives you some good insight into Jan. Advance to about seven minutes in and you'll hear this:

It's the proper role of government to restrain evil. That is... evil, well, that's the stuff that hurts other people. That's evil. Therefore it is the role of government to hold people accountable when people do evil stuff - that is, when they hurt other people. It is the proper role of the church to encourage virtue - to subsidize virtue. Virtue cannot be extracted by a government employee. It has to be nurtured by the institutions that are designed for that... that is the church, of course. And much of the conflict in what is called the The Culture War... can be resolved by balancing those two notions. It's the job of the church to encourage virtue and it's the job of the state to hold people accountable when they're not.

Hunter gave an interview where he said that culture wars "tend to become violent when we see the other side as less than human... when our conception of the other side is that these people are not members of the political community and worthy of its protections as well as its privileges."

Think of how many times Obama said "That's not who we are." He said it 46 times during his presidency. He was trying to redefine America. He was trying to portray his political opponents and their ideas as un-American.

We get the culture we allow. We have allowed the church to walk away from advocating virtue. Instead, here in Texas, a pastor blesses blasphemous drag queens and elsewhere other leaders advocated for drag performance as worship and praise.

By definition, virtue showcases high moral standards. Parading grown men in sexualized performance before a church and children is the exact opposite of virtue.

If we have a society where we have universal respect for life, liberty, and property, then no one is hurt. There is no crime. But we don't hear church leaders advocate for this. Instead, we hear calls for tolerance of evil and of criminality. Tolerance is not virtue when we tolerate the harm of others. And to move the needle on that one, now harm comes from misgendering someone. The actual criminals are bailed out and set free or given sex change operations at the expense of taxpayers. Rather than defining and teaching virtue, the church is blurring virtue and teaching tolerance.

Obama used labels to smear his opponents. He insinuated they weren't American. Biden's presidency alienated actual American citizens and bypassed their literal rights to persecute and jail them, just as author Hunter describes. J6'ers have been treated as though they are not "worthy of protections as well as privileges" of being American. The government has blurred what it is to be accountable for truly hurting others. It tolerates crime from the "acceptable" people. Biden is in the process of pardoning the lawless throughout his administration.

Worse, we have Republican Senators who voted to confirm a defense secretary who embraced so-called pride instead of aggressive national defense, but these Senators now hesitate to confirm veteran Pete Hegseth. The Senators allowed Ketanji Brown Jackson to ascend to the highest court of the land, when she can't define a woman, but they balk at giving Trump the administration for which we voted.

Culture wars continue. They define America. They define your America and the America you will hand down to your children.

Buckle up. It's going to get bumpy and dirty. Some might not like it, but it's like this because we allowed it to get this bad. We get the culture we allow. We get the government we allow.

It's time to re-define both. Obama's and Biden's and Clinton's definition of America is not who we were, who we are, or who we should be.

Dividing People

The fastest way to unite a room is to declare something with which they all agree.

If I walk into a bar in Philly and say something pro-Eagles, everyone will raise a glass. If I am in Texas and declare that Texans are the finest people on Earth, few would challenge it. If I stood in a room of Republicans in October of 2024 and said that we needed to rally behind Donald J. Trump, every voice would shout agreement.

These statements leverage what I call in my book the "inarguable" approach: you begin with a statement of fact or principle with which no one would disagree.

Timeless principles unite us. Irrefutable facts are inarguable. We find overwhelming agreement with these.

What divides us is tribalism. As I often tell my clients, "Principles unite, people divide." Stand in a room of Republicans in October of 2024 and announce that John Cornyn is the greatest Senator ever, and you just split the room.

Some would tell you that they're trying to unite Republicans when siding with elected Republicans who betray us. The 11th Commandment, they reason.

Pro-tip: the only people who ever cite the 11th Commandment are people defending Republicans who betray us, and they don't know the real story behind it. The chair of the California GOP created that to defend Reagan, who was running for governor, against the attacks of those who declared him too extreme in his conservatism. It wasn't created to defend squishy Republicans, but rather our strongest Republicans.

When a person defends a squishy Republican, they're choosing to align with a person who has betrayed our principles instead of aligning with our principles. That's divisive.

Those who feign a posture of "unity" by siding with people instead of our common and shared principles don't unite at all. They weaken our principles by strengthening those who betray our principles.

They do so because they crave proximity to power and money. Those who adhere to principles can't be moved by power or money away from those principles.

Unity comes when we champion principles and not people. Those who betray our principles must come back to our principles. The principles are timeless and should be followed. Weakness of character in abandoning principle deserves no followers. But if the weak choose to walk away, they are the ones who divide, not the ones who stick to principle.

Moral Supremacy, not White Supremacy, is the Problem

I've been in the tea party movement from its inception. I've interacted with thousands and thousands of people. As much as you hear it discussed in the media, the only white supremacists I've ever met are those who got their post-grad from a liberal university and think that they are better than everyone else, and they were never in the tea party.

(I heard someone say recently that intellect and education don't necessarily have much to do with the other. That seems about right.)

Christians, if they truly believe that Jesus saved them, know that their works don't make them clean. They're saved by faith alone, and that by the grace of God. As Isaiah 64 says, all our righteous acts are filthy rags before God. We are all sinners. Anyone convicted of their sins and saved by grace cannot be morally superior to anyone else.

But for those without God or without that conviction, moral supremacy is not just a possibility... it's a likelihood.

Two social psychologists from Britain, Tappin and McKay, studied this phenomenon and published a paper entitled "The Illusion of Moral Superiority." In it, they conclude that "most people strongly believe they are just, virtuous, and moral; yet regard the average person as distinctly less so." This leads to problems: "When opposing sides are convinced of their own righteousness, escalation of violence is more probable, and the odds of resolution are ominously low."

This is critical to consider because we have two very distinct factions in the US today: the left and the right. They seem to have nothing in common.

States and sections of states are so divided that they seek secession. TEXIT, the greater Idaho movement... even Illinois wants nothing to do with Cook County where you find Chicago. Unity? Not a chance. Geographic and political divorce, thank you.

But it's not just geography. You see this every day on social media. People use moral grandstanding to generate positive attention for themselves while denigrating others. I wonder if anyone has ever created a sneer emoji?

So where is the answer? Can there be any unity?

Moral superiority, if I adopt it, places me above you. It separates. Whether it's a bible in the hand or an EV in the driveway, nothing I can do can lift me up above the crowd. If I have either, it's a personal choice done for my own benefit, and not fodder for preening before others.

Because actions don't bring salvation. No one is better than anyone else. There is no supremacy. Let's get that right.

Some would use the government as a proxy for good works "to help others." But all that does is put bureaucrats in the position of choosing who receives benefits from government. Government is rarely fair or just. It gives too much power to too few. You cannot legislate charity. And no one is compassionate who would use other people's money for charity. That's just theft disguising itself as kindness.

Some would insert the community as a proxy for parenting. "It takes a village," we hear. Except that the village is never there at 2 AM with the screaming baby who can't sleep. That's a loving parent, and there is no substitute for the sacrifices a parent will make. Those who call for the village to oversee the development of a child don't care much about the child as an individual, but instead want to urge the child into service for the village. Which is slavery disguising itself as kindness.

At the basis of every secession movement is, of course, a craving for independence. The interesting thing about being left alone is that the individual carving out an existence can never act superior to anyone else. There is no supremacy when you're all by yourself. Those who seek independence, by definition, cannot be or act superior to anyone. They compete with no one.

Moral supremacy requires an audience. In 1995, Thomas Sowell wrote "The Vision of the Anointed."

In it, he "observed that an elite cadre of Americans, without having been appointed by anyone, declared their superior morality and their critical role in correcting society's wrongs. [They] have the hubris to believe it is their role, with their superior vision and ideas, to rescue the victims of society's 'oppression' by imposing their collective will onto others."

The crazy thing is that God himself doesn't coerce anyone into any behavior. So who is anyone else to do so?

No one wants to be associated with a white supremacist, and for good reason. We should perhaps make pariahs out of those who believe they are moral supremacists as well. To do so would make for a less divisive village.

The Return of Privacy

President Trump's return to the White House will bring many things with it. One of those might be a renaissance of our essential liberties. I think, just maybe, we have a shot to "Make Privacy Great Again." Or maybe "Make America Private Again." Either way, it's been lost for a while.

In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg made the argument that privacy was no longer a "social norm."

Of course, this announcement came on the heels of Facebook changing its privacy policies, about which the Electronic Frontier Foundation said, "These new 'privacy' changes are clearly intended to push Facebook users to publicly share even more information than before. Even worse, the changes will actually reduce the amount of control that users have over some of their personal data."

The erosion of privacy even scares the very left-wing ACLU, which said just a year ago: "For many years, the government claimed sweeping authority under the Patriot Act to collect a record of every single phone call made by every single American 'on an ongoing daily basis.' This program not only exceeded the authority given to the government by Congress, but it violated the right of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment, and the rights of free speech and association protected by the First Amendment."

This past election, the constant text messages from people we don't know became a frequent complaint and joke. A generation has grown up without privacy. Is privacy passé?

I believe that when our daily activities have become more transparent to the government than the government's daily activities are to us, it's time to reassert the proper order of things.

If we're going to be very constitutional, then the federal government shouldn't even have the expectation of knowing our name. The number of citizens who live in our house via the census is the most data the federal government should have about us - if the Constitution is our guide.

Oversight applies only to those aspects of life that we are to manage. It's not the government's job to manage us. As I wrote yesterday, "The people were never meant to be controlled by a government that encroaches into every aspect of their lives. It's not the people who need regulation; it's the government. Ours is intended to be a limited government. Let's regulate government, not people."

Likewise, let's oversee the government, and not allow the government to oversee us.

If you choose to reveal your private life to the world, that should be your choice. It should not be the default for advertisers, social media, the many layers of government, and who knows how many other entities to know about our private conversations, actions, or relationships.

Let's pray that President Trump's administration will be a golden age of the return of lost liberties, and among those, a return of privacy.

The End of Obstruction, Disruption, and Bankruptcy

It was never the intention of the founders of this country to install a government that could Obstruct, Disrupt, and Bankrupt (ODB) its citizens.

But that's what we have today.

President Trump's nominees have the ability to fix that. Those in government who love to ODB the people will fight that by saying that Trump will ODB the government.

Well, yes. To the personnel and agencies who have historically done this to the people, they deserve it. Those who have done this are enemies of the people who act unconstitutionally.

"Oh, but these nominees are a threat to democracy!"

Those obsessed with democracy are a threat to our Republic. Ours is not a democracy, but a Republic which has a structure and laws to protect the minority. Democracy never protects a minority. The majority, via democracy, will always overrun a minority.

The people were never meant to be controlled by a government that encroaches into every aspect of their lives. It's not the people who need regulation; it's the government. Ours is intended to be a limited government. Let's regulate government, not people.

To limit a government that has grown too large, it must be downsized. Those agencies that operate and act unconstitutionally must be obstructed, disrupted, and defunded.

For the people, for the Republic, and for the generations who follow us. This is our opportunity to correct this bad course we've been on for so very long.

Be RAISED

Two decades ago, I began a series of consulting gigs - mostly to non-profits - and I would gather the stakeholders of the organization together for eight weekly 2 - 3 hour meetings. I walked them through a look at their organization from a collaborative set of eyes. We started from how they reached people, invited people, engaged people, and the dynamics of how they operated internally. Six meetings of exploration and two to wrap up and assign tasks to make the organization better.

My job was to facilitate conversation among people who worked together every day. Too often, we make assumptions at work. We believe that people understand what we think, how our job is done, what others think, what it takes to do their job. We make assumptions about our customers. Our vendors. And so on. Assumptions kill us. Assumptions can thwart our mission and our productivity.

Each week, I would ask a tailored set of questions to penetrate assumptions and push the participants to look at the organization as though for the first time. At one meeting, I asked an organization that helped cancer-stricken children and their families about the impression people had when they walked up to their office. It was a plain, brick building and you would open the front door to encounter a light gray wall. Down the hallway to the left were the staff offices. Down the hallway to the right was the reception area.

I took the team outside and we walked together to the front door. I opened the glass door and confronted the gray wall. I turned to Mark, the org's director.

"You've never been here before. I'm expecting to find a warm, compassionate organization to help my child and my family through this process of getting through cancer. I open the door to a gray wall. Mark, isn't that what cancer feels like? Shouldn't we knock down this wall and see immediately the tremendous warmth of what your organization offers?"

It became one of the takeaways of the sessions and three months later, the wall was gone and the door opened to a cozy reception area with bean bag chairs and soft colors and immediate smiles from the staff. Perfect for a kid with cancer and the family.

Mark later said this about the process: It "challenges you to re-think the way you 'have always' conducted your business. Brett cut a hole in the box and let you look outside at a whole new world. He pushes you to take the road less traveled and find the niche that will make your business unique."

Now take this to politics. There is so much that is accepted wisdom that doesn't prove effective. I find myself lately going back through business strategies I've seen employed or that I've employed in a business setting and putting it on a campaign. I'm re-working project management techniques for campaign work. I'm rethinking campaign management.

The book introduces good first steps. But let's go forward.

In any battle preparation, you consider the following:

• Intelligence Gathering
• Strategic Planning
• Logistics and Supplies
• Training and Readiness
• Communication Preparedness
• Resource Positioning

Campaigns are not just deciding that you're running and then tweeting your way on X to the crescendo of election victory. I believe that success from other areas of life can be laterally applied. At least they should be considered.

Lots of good work ahead to get the right people into office.

That Time of Year to Record a Video

Some of you know that many years ago I suffered a tragic loss. That loss impacted many people, and certainly continues to impact those who knew Patti - especially her wonderful family.

A couple of times a year, I try to urge you who read this to grab the cell phones of those you love, start their camera, point it at yourself and record for them a video telling them how much you love them. Tell them what they mean to you.

One day, one of you will need to see that video and hear that video over and over again. It's a free gift that will prove priceless to those who receive it from you. It costs you nothing to create this but a few minutes of your time, and everyone has a cell phone capable of doing this.

I've never really been a holiday person. I never know what day it is. I'm smart in some ways and stupid in others, and the awareness of "now" escapes me. Sometimes, I don't even know what season or month it is. Yep, Nicole would tell you it's like that for me.

But I say this to tell you that without really knowing or anticipating, the absence of Patti hits me every year at this time. It's gentle, but persistent. Almost a physical push into my being. I once likened grief to an 80-ton freight train that pushes slowly into your back. It's not aggressive, but you cannot stop it. It's an immovable weight that surges into you. So, you just kind of ride it out.

For a few days around this time, that cloud kind of hangs on me. I become very aware of what time of year is coming. It's just what it is.

God bless Nicole, she knows this and patiently and lovingly urges me to talk it through. She also loves Christmas and the Hallmark Channel and decorating and all of it. Last year, I was okay with a tree, so we had one and will again every year forward.

You don't get over the loss. You just learn to adapt. I came to call it a betterhalfectomy. You're missing a part of you. You adjust. You get on with your life. In my case, I found the most marvelous woman who loves and understands me and I continue my life with her.

I'm also very open about the fact that I miss Patti. Not a day goes that I don't think of her. So, I just ask this of you in the next few days...

While you have family who surround you, grab their phone and record for them a priceless gift. Because you love them so.

Scorched

Tonight, I learned of someone I don't really know who wants to smear me. The attack is something along the lines of "What campaigns has he worked on and how successful has he been?"

When I get calls from candidates, my first question is some form of "What can I do for you?" If it seems they are looking for someone to be their consultant or campaign manager, I'm the first to tell them that I don't do that. That hasn't stopped a few from giving me one of those titles on their reports, but I'm not either one. Not my forté.

"Well, then what are you?" they ask. I tell them that I'm an advisor, if they like what I have to say. I do strategic marketing. I train candidates. I can help them with messaging. But the day-to-day of the campaign is not what I do.

If a candidate picks up a consultant or campaign manager, then wonderful. If the person they hire doesn't like me or want my services, no biggie. Holler if you need me or think I can help.

Some people really like what I do. I have no end of testimonials from those who have engaged my services. This person who wants to smear me never did engage my services, so I'm a bit stymied as to why this is their ambition.

If they're going to be working a campaign and I happen to be working for their opponent and you believe that I'm horrible and ineffective at what I do, then rejoice!

But since I'm not a consultant or campaign manager, I'm an odd target. I'm the video guy or the graphics guy or the messaging guy. It's like attacking the printer who made your signs.

I wrote a book. It's full of ideas. People like it. Some have purchased multiple copies. But I understand if it's not for everyone.

In the book, I explain that when pitching your campaign, calling your opponent names isn't helpful toward winning. No one left Egypt because Moses declared that Pharaoh was terrible. They followed Moses to the promised land. He told them of a land of milk and honey. I tell all of my clients that their job is to paint that land of milk and honey. That approach is far more likely to garner followers than scorching the competition.

Those who work with me and know me have experience with me. It's why they continue to work with me. While I am an imperfect vessel, I keep my focus on helping people, and as anyone who has ever called me will tell you (including this person) that I don't charge for the time on the phone. If you like my approach, you can hire me to help you in some way.

If you don't like my approach, then no worries. I wish you well. Life is too short for hate.

Social Media Kills Intellectual Property

Once, it was the case that attribution was important. This is the idea that you won't plagiarize someone and cop their ideas as your own, but rather you would point to their work and give credit where credit is due.

Attribution is a nod to intellectual property rights.

Social media has destroyed the idea of attribution.

Blogs, from their inception, made a big deal about attribution. A blog would link to other sources, which is not only honest, but also legitimizes the post and its author. Books make a big deal about attribution. Footnotes and citations...

And then social media came along and every social media platform hates its when you link to another site. Why? Because it takes you away from the social media platform and its desperate need for revenue.

People on social media all the time tell you that they will "steal" your meme. "I'm so stealing that."

It's one of the reasons that I like posting here on my site, Opinion Paper. I can give proper attribution. Property rights are important. Just as social media gathered as much information from you as possible to sell it to advertisers, not caring about your rights, the platforms themselves push people to avoid property rights and deter proper attribution.

In 2003, this was a big deal because a blogger was lifting content from someone else and got busted for it.

The Agonist [a blog site], was a frequently updated collection of war news links, analysis and commentary that became popular during the heaviest Iraq fighting; at one point, the site was getting more than 100,000 hits a day and was mentioned in the New York Times and on NPR.

Another blogger, however, asserted that Kelley had been lifting information from Stratfor, a subscription-based intelligence service, and posting it to The Agonist without attribution. "I made a mistake," Kelley told a Wired magazine reporter. (Kelley did not respond to a Tribune request for an interview.) He since has provided links and attribution for all his sources, but the damage was done.

"To be fair to the world of blogging, he was caught by another blogger," says Reynolds. "That's how the blog world works - it's inherently self-policing."

"His problem is that he didn't follow the rules of blogging," continues Reynolds. "When you're posting stuff with no sources, with no links, you just become some guy on the Internet who's saying stuff."

I love that Elon bought X and it allows for you to say just about anything, but punishes you for attribution. As does Facebook. That's just true.

Here on my own site, though it has a greatly limited audience, I can at least recognize and reward property rights and I don't harvest information about you to profit from it.

The whole thing gives me incentive to expand this to a network - opinionpapers.com. I own the domain, but haven't created it yet. But I think it's important that I do.

I Don't Know, But Not That!

One of the hallmarks of Kamala Harris' failed campaign was the pronounced lack of solutions she offered for anything.

In fact, the only thing she offered was that she was not --shudder-- Donald Trump.

This is one of the reasons she never gained any traction. She offered no fix for the flat tires abounding in our society. With so many broken things, how do we fix them, Madame Vice-President? Cackle, she would reply, broken things need fixing, but not Donald Trump's way.

What would she do? No one knew. Hard to vote for that unless you just hate Donald Trump so much that anything is better than --shudder-- him.

I raise this point because there is a wing of people in politics who offer no solutions, they just constantly criticize, point their finger at a proposed solution, and hiss --shudder-- not that.

It's fair to critique a proposed solution for a broken thing, but when you perpetually offer nothing as an alternative, after a time, people tire of you pointing and hissing at those trying to fix the flat tire.

Here in Texas, we just passed a new curriculum for our broken schools. If you like, you can look over what will be given to students for yourself.

There was a solid group of people, though, who constantly pointed the finger and hissed not that. That's been their mantra for a while now. But when you critique a proposed solution to fix the flat tire and don't offer something obviously better to address the situation, then your constant critique becomes irrelevant over time.

The flat tire needs to be replaced and fixed. Not replacing and not fixing it is no solution. So, pointing and saying not that will get less and less attention over time.

People are tired of a broken society. We're tired of dumping endless money into schools as student performance worsens year after year. We're pretty done with pointing at problems and doing nothing about them.

If the point-and-hiss crowd wanted to improve the situation, then cough up and showcase the better solution. Stop saying, "Not that!" and start saying "THAT!" and demonstrate the superiority of THAT solution. But THAT never happened. We just got a lot of "Not that!"

I often told my kids as they were growing up that if you're stuck, any movement in any direction is better than no movement at all. You can course-correct as you go, but not moving is no option. You'll just remain listless and stuck.

No one is satisfied with a flat tire.

Focus on Your Strength

I'm a tool. But I mean that in a good way...

My daily prayer is that God will guide me so that I am in the center of his will and use me for his purposes. I see my role in this world as to serve others and help them also be useful for his purposes.

In a multipurpose knife, every component is useful for a different purpose. Some will go without use for a period of time, but each has its purpose and time for use.

My friend, Christin, is chomping at the bit to get started with the legislature and the wonky policies that will be negotiated and ultimately passed or killed. I don't care about that at all. It's not my wheelhouse. Certainly, the bills and what passes into law matter to my life, but she loves that sort of thing and is good at it. That's her purpose.

My strength is strategic marketing and organization. I love elections. I work with candidates and help them become strong enough to engage bad incumbents.

Said simply, I'm candidates and elections and she is legislators and bills. Both are necessary and both have their season.

I also do grassrootspriorities.com, which is very legislator/policy based. But that's just reporting, really, and not about pushing or crafting legislation. The data there is useful toward both elections and legislative sessions and the organization necessary to be strong in both.

My friend, JoAnn, is top shelf when it comes to connections and guiding people. My friend, Robert, has a terrific bullshit meter and is good at seeing a path to getting things done.

I could go on... everyone has their strength.

It's important to know your utility and stick to that. It's what you do best. God gave you that talent for a reason. Find it, hone it, and put it to use.

Don't try to do those things where you are bored or where you struggle. You'll be unproductive and unhappy for being unproductive.

Surround yourself with people who have found their strengths and work together, each doing their part.

All of this sounds a lot like I Corinthians 12, specifically in verse 24: "God composed the body..."

The word "composed" in the Greek is interesting. One definition of this word might be "mix together into a superior compound." I think that's right. There is an essence of unity in the word.

It's a good day to unite with others for God's purposes. I'm glad to work with those who, when combined, are much stronger and better for the mix of our talents.

Putting Priority into the Priorities

In GP2, we will have the architecture for not just RPT Priorities, but for the priorities of multiple organizations.

Additionally, it be not used to not just advocate for a bill, but to advocate against a bill.

Our experts will be able to comment on bills and if advocating for a bill, assign a number of either stars to it.

I'm going to have a few interface challenges for this feature, but I have time to get it right before the session kicks off.

Better to aim too high and miss by a little, than to aim too low and make it.

Owning Nothing

Back when Apple's iTunes started, I scoffed at the idea that you couldn't put it on more than a few devices. Apple would prevent you from doing that. I was glad I bought my music from Amazon, where it came as an MP3 file that didn't care about how many devices I used for the music I owned.

Then later, music services popped up and you could listen to anything you wanted, but you didn't actually own any of it. I've got children who love being able to listen to whatever they choose, but none of it is theirs. Instead, they get a playlist - usually not of their own choosing.

Software by subscription, car leases... recurring revenue is all the rage if you own a company. You'll own nothing and be happy. That WEF mantra is happening in many areas of life.

You might have heard the phrase that "they are turning us into a nation of renters." Ask yourself who is the better risk: a large institutional investor who buys 100 homes at a time to rent them, or 100 individual homeowners? This is why lenders are eager to finance investors; it's less work and provides more stability for the lender.

Dave Ramsey refers to leasing as "fleecing." As he sees it, it's setting your money on fire. As with anything you don't own, your ability to modify it to your satisfaction is limited. Whether it's a home you improve, a car you modify... when you don't own something, your incentive to make it better dissipates.

Everything becomes temporary. It's not that all subscriptions are bad. But I think as a rule, if it's a physical product, ownership should be the goal, and a service can be subscripted. Seeing more and more things in life as temporary is a dangerous turn...

The founders understood that ownership of property leads to the pursuit of happiness. That phrase referred to home ownership. The American Dream is tied directly to home ownership. Property taxes are increasingly seen as government rental income where you don't actually own your home under threat of confiscation if you fail to pay the tax (rent) for the home you supposedly own.

When someone produces a work with their hands, we respect that. A painting, furniture, car repair, a rocket that flies into space... all of that requires ownership.

When we slip into a drowsy acceptance of leasing and not owning important aspects of our lives, we lose the respect for the property leased. We decrease the potential to changing it and improving it. The pursuit of happiness slips away from us silently and often without notice.

We are, perhaps, less free. We certainly assist the investors who lease to us. We own nothing, and make them happy.

That just seems un-American.

While You Were Sleeping...

Back before the election of 2020 was stolen from President Trump, I predicted the major problem that mail-in ballots presented in a meme I created in September of that year. That meme is the image to the right.

I put it on Facebook and immediately it took off. 174 shares.

Obviously, this was before censorship was so utterly rampant across the platform. Today, I'm lucky if I get 10 likes for any meme I post.

A month later, I reposted it again, more confident that this was to be the outcome.

Once again, it took off and got a bunch of shares.

I did it because it was predictable. Every election, we know that somewhere around 4 AM, a bunch of illegal, unsigned or mis-signed mail-in ballots will be found, long after the deadline for mail-in ballots, and it will always skew toward the Democrat.

This happened again in the Wisconsin Senate race, where Hovde was forced to concede yesterday to Baldwin.

"Dem U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin early this morning declared victory after Milwaukee's final tally of its absentee ballots pushed her to a nearly 16,000-vote lead over GOP businessman Eric Hovde."

The same thing happened in Houston for a judicial race.

"A final count of provisional and mail-in ballots on Friday flipped the outcome of a tight Harris County judicial race, keeping the seat in Democratic control."

Every time.

And now two weeks after the election, there remain races where ballots are "still being counted." The Associated Press refuses to call a handful of races despite the fact that Decision Desk, widely seen as the definitive clearinghouse for election results, has declared a winner in some of these.

Why the disparity? Absentee and provisional ballots.

No one can ever tell me with a straight face that voting machines are efficient and accurate. Nor can they tell me with a straight face that Democrats don't cheat. Both of these common practices need to stop, but far too many in the Republican Party just shrug and let the left get away with it.

While it continues, it's always this:

Getting Started on What's Next

I have a lot of people asking "What should we be doing now?"

It might be that they're thinking of running for office. It might be that they want to help push our Texas Legislative Priorities through the legislature. It might be that they want to get ready for departments of the federal government to disappear (like the DOED).

My answer is always the same: plan early.

A discipline you don't often see applied in grassroots organization is project management, but it definitely applies. One of the first things you do in any project is identify your stakeholders.

A stakeholder is someone who can help, hinder, or impact the success of your endeavor. So you begin by making a list of these people - and include groups as well and the leader of those groups.

You're going to need a relationship with these people. Set some time to nurture that relationship.

Also, determine your project's scope. What are the goals? Milestones toward that goal? Timeline for those milestones? How do you measure the success of a milestone? Who is necessary to complete the milestone?

You don't need to complicate the definition of your scope. Here's a somewhat simplified approach to it.

So what does all of this accomplish? For one, it makes you think through what you want to achieve. It helps you pinpoint key dates, connect with the allies you'll need, and helps to breakdown the assumptions you have in what you want to do. Assumptions can kill a project.

"Projects are built on assumptions. Without them, it would be impossible to proceed. But some may lead to unanticipated or even tragic consequences. The root cause of catastrophic failures is often traced to flawed assumptions or poor risk management."

Any level of planning will help you succeed. Project management is a discipline worth your investment and I encourage you to buy a book to discover how it might increase your odds of success.

As they say, if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. Get started with your planning in the right way. Whatever you aim to accomplish in politics, applying project management can only help you.

The Dumbest Protest Ever

No one wants to have sex with an angry, bitter person. It's just unattractive. It won't begin or end well.

So when a cadre of women who hate President Trump's election declare to everyone that they're entering a period of abstinence, the response is generally relief.

I mean, let's play this out. Whoopi announces that she'll probably join the post-election sex strike.

The strength of any strike or boycott is numbers. Was Whoopi planning to serve that many people?

Boycotting Bud Light worked because millions of people stopped drinking it. At most, a sex strike affects one person (or perhaps a few people) who might have had relations with the angry, bitter thing withholding sex.

To the contrary, it seems like a plus. Fewer conceptions - and for the record, we're totally okay with less people like this in the world. Fewer abortions - because you know that would have been the goal with this bunch.

Men married to these harpies realize that through no fault of their own their wives choose to punish them. Not that I am a fan of divorce, but this could free up a few good men from an ungrateful spouse.

And what's the goal? That the world declares a mulligan and decides to redo an election?

It's the dumbest protest ever. It affects almost no one and is a net benefit to the rest of society. The trash kinda takes itself out here.

You angry, bitter things out there, you rock on with your bad self. Have a cupcake.