My Radio Appearance This Week

A few days ago I was a guest on Raging Elephants Radio where I discussed issues taking place in and around the Texas GOP. Listen to the interview here:

My new sounds: RERhotclip HUBBARD Rumblings That TxGOP Establishment Unhappy With Straus 052317 https://t.co/5I26WeAtOI on #SoundCloud

— RagingElephantsRadio (@RERadioTexas) May 27, 2017

One Voter’s Checklist for Candidates for the New CD 36

This column originally appeared over at Big Jolly Politics.

Well, it’s that time of year again—the start of campaign season!

This time around it looks like we are going to have a lot excitement in Texas and local politics: Governor Perry may run for President and Lt. Governor Dewhurst may run for the U.S. Senate (or decide to wait and see about his chances to become Governor), which will start an avalanche of moves across the state by other elected officials to run for statewide offices; there is a wide-open U.S. Senate race for the first time in at least a decade, which is attracting a varied and interesting field of candidates; and we now have finalized redistricting plans, which have created four new congressional districts and many re-drawn boundaries. Adding to the sense of frenzy that is building is the new filing deadlines for the March, 2012 Primary, which now runs from mid-November to mid-December, 2011. That means everyone from prospective precinct chairs to U.S. Senate candidates will have to make their moves soon to start raising money, get petitions signed, and qualify for office.

My home has been drawn into the new Congressional District 36. Although I was not a fan of the boundaries of this new district because it split the Clear Lake region of the Houston Metropolitan Area into three districts and combined East Harris County with many rural communities whose ties are closer to Beaumont and Lufkin than to Houston, it is now a reality. This new district, which has a recent Republican voting strength of over 65%, should elect a Republican Congressman, which means that it presents our local GOP with a tremendous and rare opportunity to send our unique voice to Washington while shaping the future of the communities of this district for the next generation. We need to use this opportunity wisely.

Since the proposed map was unveiled, I’ve been involved in several conversations about the new district, including an informative presentation this past week by Eric Opiela to the Clear Lake Area Republicans during our June meeting. Because East Harris County comprises the largest population center within the new district, it is presumed that there will be a lot of interest from our area politicians in running for the new district, as well as in running for other offices that may open-up because their incumbents will run for the new district. Based on what I am hearing, I suspect that we will see at least 5 to 10 candidates on the Republican primary ballot, and there probably will be a run-off.

Before anyone approaches me for support or an endorsement, let me make this clear: for now, I am staying neutral. However, I have thought about this race a lot, and have developed my own checklist that I will expect any serious candidate to address during the campaign, and I am going to share my list with you.

First and foremost, don’t get into this race unless you are qualified to run. By this, I don’t mean that you have to have run for office or held public office in the past (though I am sure that would help). Here is what I mean:

* The Republicans in this district are culturally conservative. If you are not pro-life, if you do not support gun rights and personal property rights, and if you don’t believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman—regardless of your position on any other “social” issue—please don’t enter this race. You won’t win, and you’ll end up diverting debate time and campaign “talking points” to issues that are not really open to debate among these voters.

* Regardless of how many grassroots volunteers you think you can muster, it probably will cost between $500,000 and $1,000,000 to win this primary (and more to run the general election). If you don’t have this amount of money personally available to spend on your campaign without depleting your life savings, or if you can’t raise this amount of money within the federal campaign limits by mid-December, 2011, don’t run. First, you never get as much volunteer work as is promised; and second, the size of this district, and the fact that there are at least 3 major media markets (Houston, Beaumont, and Lufkin) and many other small markets, makes this race structurally expensive for any candidate to wage seriously.

* Unless you have the support of your family to run (and then to work in, or commute to and from, Washington every week if you win), and unless you have the support of your employer or partners (or have the means not to need employment) to spend the time to campaign, don’t run. A race like this, with the distances you will have to cover to mount a serious campaign, is a full-time job for several months—and if you win, for over a year through the general election.

* Unless you believe you can do this job as well or better than the other candidates, and unless you really want to work in Washington and commit the time and effort it will take to do the job correctly, don’t run. If you want to run or debate to promote an issue, or if you want to get active in politics, there are plenty of campaigns to work for, and local offices to run for, don’t start by running for this type of office—999 times out of 1,000 you will lose and you will probably burn yourself out in the process.

Now, if any candidate still wants to run after thinking about these basic qualifications, here are the substantive points I will ask them to address:

Do you know and understand the district and its voters?

A map of the district can be found here, and by then going to “Basic Plan” and clicking on “PlanC 185”. The district is comprised of East Harris County, and 8 other counties between here and the Louisiana border. Although Lufkin and Beaumont are physically outside the district, their media markets impact the towns in the district, which include Orange, Winnie, Vidor, Jasper, Kountze, Newton, Woodville, and Livingston, as well as closer towns in Chambers and Liberty counties that are part of the Houston metropolitan area.

The major employers and industries include two ports in Houston and Orange; the energy industry from the wellhead, to the pipeline, to the refinery, to electricity production; timber, farming and ranching; small manufacturing and businesses; and recreation and parks in the Big Thicket.

There are many small towns and school districts with local governments and diverse local needs, as well as larger cities and towns like Pasadena, Baytown, Cleveland and Orange. You will need to educate yourself on the diverse issues these communities face, and their diverse interests in and interactions with the federal government.

Do you understand the different responsibilities between the federal government and the state and local governments, generally, and as they affect this district and its voters?

We conservatives all say we want a strict construction of the Constitution and want respect for the 10th Amendment, but you will need to understand what that really means and how that affects the new district.

Remember that the Constitution has been amended at least 9 times to expand the scope of responsibility of the federal government to include, among other things, authority over civil rights issues and the power to impose an income tax. So, even a strict construction of federal authority must recognize broader limits than existed in 1789. Moreover, the people in this district live with the federal government in their lives on a daily basis, from environmental, agricultural, energy, and transportation regulations, to small business loans and taxes. When something goes wrong, or when a constituent wants action related to a regulated activity, they will look to you for action—theory about the 10th Amendment won’t matter to them at those times.

You will need to be able to articulate your plan for addressing the real issues that these constituents face, and how you will address them as their Congressman.

If you believe in reducing the size and cost of the federal government, what is your vision as to how the activities currently addressed by federal programs will be addressed in the future?

Now if the GOP is successful in finally reducing the size and cost of government through the Ryan Plan, or any similar approach, the next question your constituents will have is “now what?” How will returning power to states, local governments, the private sector and individuals affect them, their families, their schools, their towns and their businesses?

You need to have an understanding of this district as to what changes will impact the lives of your constituents, and you need to articulate a vision as to how these changes will improve their lives and their communities. Then you need to work with local leaders to help them create transition plans to maximize the use of the new responsibilities they will have in a way that improves their communities.

What are the most pressing issues facing our nation, which are within the scope of responsibility of the federal government to address?

These voters will want to know how you will use your vote in Congress to address the great issues of the day, including whether to raise the debt ceiling and how to control the national debt; what to do with Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security; how to wind-down the foreign wars and return civil liberties that have been limited since 9/11 without jeopardizing our national defense and homeland security; how to address border security and illegal immigration while maintaining our historic openness to newcomers who want to become Americans, and many other issues.

You need to develop a list of the issues about which you feel strongly, and then be able to articulate in 30 seconds why those issues are important and how you will address them if elected. In a field of 10 candidates, you’ll be lucky to ever get 30 seconds to talk on any given issue, so you must be prepared to effectively communicate your views quickly.

How will you carry-out your work in Washington?

Finally, you need to soberly reflect on the fact that, if you win, you will have to actually work as a Congressman. What will you do, and how will you do it? How will you divide your time and structure the management of your office to simultaneously participate in legislative committees, educate yourself on pending legislation and vote, communicate with your constituents, and provide constituent service—all with the goal of accomplishing what you ran to accomplish? Where will you live, where will your family live, and how will you accommodate both?

Frankly, I don’t want to vote for someone who has not thought about this last issue, because if you have no experience or plan for running your office and managing your time effectively, you will not be an effective legislator for this district.

Well there you have it, my checklist for considering the candidates for the new congressional district. I am sure that each of you can think of other points to add to your own checklists as you evaluate the candidates over the next few months, and my list probably will grow and change during that time, but it reflects my starting point—that is, I don’t want to waste time educating someone, simply fulfilling someone’s life-long ambition to hold public office, or feed someone’s need for power and prestige. Instead, I want to use this opportunity to elect someone who will effectively represent us and actually promote the Republican agenda of returning responsibility back to individuals, communities and states. The time for talk and posturing is long over.

We can not wait to re-organize--the time is now!

This post originally appeared at Big Jolly Politics.

This past Tuesday was an active and interesting day. First, I attended the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club’s weekly luncheon and heard the CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership discuss issues related to the future of our community. Immediately after work, I visited with some friends at a fundraiser for a local official, where the key topics were redistricting, the initial proposed budget out of Austin, and the state of our mental-health system. Next, I attended the meet and greet for prospective GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain in Webster. Finally, I got home in time to see the end of the State of the Union speech and the responses. After absorbing all that I heard I have some thoughts to pass along.

Charles Dickens summarized the era of the French Revolution as follows:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way …

He then went on to say,

in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

I think Dickens’ summary could apply to this moment in our history, too. If we are to avoid the consequences of that time, figuratively and literally, we need to keep in mind some critical points:

• We indeed are at a “cross-roads” (or “tipping point,” or whatever metaphor you want to use to describe it this moment) in our history, and we are going to have to choose a turn in direction—staying on the same path is no longer a viable option;

• The problems we currently face with the current path have been in the making for over 100 years, and will not be fixed by making a quick turn in direction;

• There is no Golden Age or Dark Age in our country’s history, the narrative for which will give us absolute guidance in making our choice of direction, but the principles that helped guide the settlement and creation of this nation are still the most effective guardrails for the continuation of our journey;

• We must be bold and courageous in facing and making our choices, while avoiding reckless decisions that could imperil our future.

With these points in mind, I want to pull together some thoughts I have written about recently into a proposal for action in Texas for each of us to consider. But before I lay out that proposal, I want to digress for a moment to something our Founders said.

Immediately after the reference to our inalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote the following sentence:

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Unfortunately, because the Declaration was written in the context of a revolution, whenever this sentence is quoted in the context of a policy debate, some people begin to fear that the speaker is advocating violent action against our government. But the Founders’ own use of this quote tells of a different intent. In at least three of the Federalist Papers, Madison and Hamilton both refer to this right “to alter or to abolish” the government, or even the Constitution itself, as a basic political right essential to republican government. In Federalist Paper No. 39, Madison discusses the provision in the Constitution providing for amendments as creating a blended process for altering or abolishing the Constitution involving both the people and the States. In Federalist Paper No. 40, Madison cites this right “to abolish or alter their governments” as providing the Philadelphia Convention with the authority it needed to draft a new Constitution, rather than just amend the Articles of Confederation. In Federalist Paper No. 78, Hamilton explains that, while the right to alter or abolish the Constitution rests with the people, neither the legislature, nor the courts can make laws that would violate the Constitution even if they say they are acting on behalf of a majority of the people.

Consistent with what the Founders said, I believe it is time for the people to demand that their elected representatives alter and re-organize government at all levels in a manner consistent with the original federal framework provided in the Constitution, which emphasized the primacy of local governance. This demand must be made knowing that the process will not be easy, and that it will take years—but it must start now. And Texas is the best laboratory in which to start the process.

To start this process, I urge the legislature to consider taking the following steps before the General Session ends in May:

• Adopt a budget based on the $72.2 billion revenue projection and on the current structure of our state and local governments through the next biennium; and, then,

• Begin the process of re-organizing the role of state and local governments from the bottom-up.

To accomplish the re-organization, I propose that the House and the Senate appoint a joint committee for re-organization, with sub-committees to address physical and mental health care, education, infrastructure, and the judicial and penal systems. Then, each sub-committee should work with a task force constituted as follows:

• For health-care, the task force should be comprised of county government officials, public hospital district administrators, and administrators of key charitable and educational hospital systems; and its focus should be on creating or maintaining community-centered hospitals and clinics as the primary vehicle for providing all public health care and financial assistance for health care in this state, and for establishing a local revenue stream for such a system to be administered at the county or regional level;

• For education, the task force should be comprised school board trustees and district superintendents, and community college trustees; and its focus should be on re-structuring the educational delivery system from the classroom up, on streamlining the school district network by breaking-up districts that are too large and combining those that are too small, on establishing a fair revenue stream derived from local or regional taxes to be collected and administered by the local governing bodies for the schools;

• For transportation, the task force should be comprised of city and county officials and transportation and flood control administrators; and its focus should be on streamlining the process for identifying local infrastructure needs and providing the local revenue streams and administration for such projects, and for the coordination of such projects with the transportation and infrastructure needs for the entire state; and

• For the judicial and penal systems, the task force should include county officials, judges, sheriffs, and jail administrators; and its focus should be on streamlining the appellate judiciary, reforming judicial selection, creating innovative monitoring systems for first-time offenders, and other issues to reduce the overall cost and increase the overall efficiency of the systems.

Then, based on the work of these sub-committees, a blueprint should be created for the next biennium that would redirect the administration, costs and taxes to as local a level as possible with as little state involvement or administrative overlap as possible. Each school district and county, as well as the state, should then be encouraged to create zero-based budgets based on this new blueprint, while the proper legislative committees should prepare enabling legislation or constitutional amendments that may be needed to implement the blueprint. This legislation should include a new sunset-review process that requires zero-based budgeting for each biennium at the state level, and zero-based budgeting at all levels of government.

I know, you’re now probably thinking that this can’t be done, so why even consider what I’ve just outlined. Well, consider this—three years ago, did you ever think we would win back the U.S. House of Representatives and gain a 101-seat majority in the Texas House? You see, the improbable can be accomplished if we have the will to do it.

If we don’t choose a path this bold, another path—the path of continued muddled, expensive and ever-expanding government—will destroy our economic future. The status quo is not only unacceptable, it is no longer viable. We must start down another path now. If we in Texas take this lead and show it can work, the nation will follow.

On the other hand, if you think we shouldn't take the path I’ve proposed, then what do you propose?