More Than Abortion At Risk

I am an adoptive father and the uncle of a foster child, I have first-hand knowledge that society is not prepared to handle a sudden increase in the number of unwanted children that would be the result of allowing states like Texas to make abortion illegal. A massive increase in the number of children in the foster care system and those in homes that can’t provide three healthy meals a day is only one consequence of conservative zeal to return to the days when abortion was illegal.

In “What Roe Could Take Down With It” published in The Atlantic, Kimberly Wehle, professor of law at the University of Baltimore, outlines the very real consequences of the Supreme Court’s likely vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that found a woman has a right to an abortion until the fetus is viable at around 24-28 weeks of gestation.

Professor Wehle points out that the reason overturning Roe v. Wade is about more than abortion is that the legal logic which threatens it could quite easily extend to other rights. Reversing Roe v. Wade invites states to try out new laws that regulate such choices as who you can marry – miscegenation laws made inter-racial marriage illegal until the Supreme Court ruled such laws unconstitutional in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia. Also at risk is the right to choose with whom to be intimate, as homosexual acts were illegal in  several states until 2003 when the Supreme Court ruled those laws unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas. It was 1965 when the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction is protected by the constitution. The education of one’s own children is also at risk as some states made private schools illegal until the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional in Pierce v. Society of Sisters. They are all at risk because none of these rights we are now so accustomed to are specifically stated in the constitution and the current SCOTUS majority claim to be originalists arguing that if it isn’t stated in the constitution it isn’t protected by the constitution.

Wehle says the Court identified a “constitutional ‘right to privacy’ based on the Bill of Rights; in particular the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments” reasoning they operate to shield “an intimate relation of husband and wife and their physician’s role in one aspect of that relation” from government intrusion. The “Court in Roe acknowledged that ‘the Constitution does not explicitly mention any right to privacy,’ but seized on the earlier Griswold case’s recognition of ‘a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy’ to strike down a Texas law criminalizing abortion.”

Professor Wehle goes on to list other rights and other cases which hinge on the implicit “right to privacy”  or meaning and scope of explicitly stated “liberty” a term which is nowhere defined in the constitution leaving the Court to make that determination. Many of the freedoms we currently take for granted are not specifically stated in the constitution yet many seem to believe they are. The same reasoning that currently protects a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy was used to determine that couples have the right to use contraception, get married, and decide how to educate their children.

Wehle concludes that “from a legal perspective, if Roe falls, it’s hard to see what else will still stand.” As with other arguments made by conservatives on a variety of topics they don’t seem to understand the consequences of achieving their goals.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 8, 2021

Constitutional Amendments

In theory the election this November is non-partisan, we’ll have mayors, city council and special utility districts seats on the ballot as well as ten constitutional amendments. Most of the candidates will avoid using partisan labels as is appropriate for these races. The amendments proposed for the Texas constitution are non-partisan in as much as they passed the legislature with the votes at least a large fraction of each party.

The League of Women Voters and others publish non-partisan guides to the constitutional amendments, you can find them and the candidates on your ballot at Vote411.org. Our own state representative, John Kuempel, included the amendments and the state legislature’s approved pros and cons on the last page of the missive he mailed to voters a week or so ago.

I can only support Amendment 2 and 10. Amendment 2 provides for the Texas Water Board to issuing bonds to provide financial assistance in developing water projects in economically depressed areas that would otherwise be unable to provide adequate resources for their citizens. Amendment 10 would allow law enforcement animal handlers to take ownership of their service animals when those animals are retired leaving them in the hands of people they have come to know, love, and trust rather than the current process of auctioning the animal to the highest bidder. The auctions only generate a few thousand dollars a year and it seems unnecessary and inhumane to take the animal away from the only family it has known for many years in the last years of its life.

Amendment 3 is designed to allow yet another property tax exemption, this time for property damaged in hurricanes and similar instances. As it stands now if the property is that badly damaged its assessed value will be decreased and therefore the taxes lowered anyway.

Amendment 4 is a big no. The stated purpose is to prohibit the imposition of a state income tax. First state law already does that, as it requires a vote of the citizens to start taxing “natural persons”. The real kicker and reason to vote no is that passage of this proposition changes the language of state law to prohibit an income tax on “individuals”. To most of us such a difference of phrasing seems innocuous but in the legal world, that change is very significant as corporations are treated as “individuals” which means that Amendment 4 prohibits an income tax on corporations whereas current law does not. That’s why state law provides for what is known as the Franchise Tax which Republicans have been trying to kill by increments since the day it passed.

This week I received a mailer on Amendment 5 pushing to dedicate sales tax revenue from the sale of sporting goods to the state parks system. I’m fundamentally opposed to dedicated taxes as it hamstrings legislators and prevents them from addressing budget problems, particularly when the economy suddenly drops like it did in 2011 when the state cut 6% from the education budget. Amendment 5 would just make that situation worse.

Amendment 9 authorizes another tax exemption, this time for the wealthy and big businesses that stock significant amounts of precious metals, gold and silver among others. Right now those precious metals are eligible for property taxes so if they were to be exempted your community may find the need to increase your property taxes in order to make up the difference.

There’s not enough space to cover the rest, all I can say is that in my opinion you would be best served by voting no to all but 2 and 10.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - October 18, 2019

Greg Abbott isn’t confident he can win on the issues

Most of the analysis of Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott’s withdrawal from the only statewide televised debate talks about it in horse race terms. The various talking heads say it’s a smart move because it removes a chance for Democratic candidate Wendy Davis to get statewide exposure and possibly close the increasingly tight gap. Unfortunately I haven’t heard any analyst talk about what the citizens of Texas lose by not getting the opportunity to hear from both candidates on the issues.

Abbott’s withdrawal is called smart by Republicans and cowardly by Democrats but it’s really a disservice to the people of Texas. We should be exposed to both candidates and their ideas on how to best service our state. We should hear from them in their own words and not some script read for a 30 second television spot.

The real problem here is Greg Abbott isn’t confident he can win on the issues so he’d rather play it safe and hide until the election is over.

In education as in life "you get what you pay for"

We’re all familiar with the old adage “you get what you pay for” but Rick Perry and the Republican controlled legislature seem to think it doesn’t apply to public education in Texas. It should be no surprise that with Texas education funding lower per student than 45 other states we have high failure rates and many of those who do graduate from high school aren’t really prepared for college. Now District Judge John Dietz has ruled that state funding is so low as to be unconstitutional. The Republican leadership wants to drag things out by appealing the ruling to the state Supreme Court even though the ruling is consistent with what the Supreme Court said in 2005.

The Comptroller’s office has now reported that it has collected $8.8 billion more in taxes than projected in 2011 which could easily cover the $5.4 billion that the legislature cut from education funding in the last session but the Republican leadership is holding up using those funds with claims that we should wait and see what the Supreme Court says about Judge Dietz’s ruling.

Most school districts in the state have had to request waivers of the student to teacher ratio rules because they don’t have the money to hire enough teachers. Every year we delay adequate funding of public education we damage the children of Texas and their futures. Call you state legislator today and demand that they address education funding like the critical issue that it is.

What New Orleans should know about presidential candidate Rick Perry

As a New Orleans native transplanted to Texas a decade ago I thought your readers should know a little more about our Governor, Rick Perry, now that he’s announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

Perry talks about the Texas economic miracle and touts the states high level of job growth as proof that his business friendly policies are successful. While it’s true that Texas is creating jobs faster than most other states you should also know that the Texas also has the highest percentage of minimum and low wage jobs in the country.

Rick Perry boasts of low taxes and no state income tax but fails to mention that Texas also spends less per student on education than almost any other state and ranks near the bottom in high school graduation rates.

If it’s true that you can judge someone by the company they keep consider that when organizing his recent prayer rally, The Response, he partnered with such men as John C. Hagee who claims that the Catholic Church is "the Great Whore," an "apostate church" and a "false cult system." and Dr. John Benefiel who believes the Statue of Liberty is “a demonic idol”.

Response to a letter to the editor in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung

Jim Alston’s letter "Balanced Budget Can Be Achieved Without Raising Taxes" claims all can be fixed just by cutting spending. Anyone who owns a car or a home knows what happens when you cut spending so much that you don’t maintain what you already have, the car stops running and the house falls down around your ears.

Hubert Humphrey, our 38th Vice President, is quoted as saying “It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped”.

The proposed 33% cut to Medicaid endanger the sick, needy and handicapped. The similar proposed cuts to education will damage the lives and income potential of the children of our state for a generation. The government of Texas is failing Humphrey’s test. When any government fails such a test it is incumbent on the people to replace that government.

2012 can’t come soon enough.

What does Texas AG Greg Abbott think about human waste in our water?

The state of Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have refused to implement Clean Air Act protections against carbon pollution so the Environmental Protection Agency has taken up the task as is mandated by law. Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision which requires the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate CO2 Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has sued the EPA in federal court to stop it from doing its job in Texas.

Mr. Abbott said in a radio interview today “It is the height of insanity to have the EPA regulate something emitted by all living things.” Does Greg Abbott believe that the Environmental Protection Agency shouldn’t protect our clean water from human waste because we all defecate?

Thomas Jefferson wasn't much of a political thinker according to Ken Mercer

I frequently hear from folks on the right that they admire the Founding Fathers but this only seems to apply when they agree with the particular founder. Ken Mercer, member of the State Board of Education for District 5, voted last week to remove one of the greatest of America's Founding Fathers from the World History standard regarding the influence of great political philosophers on revolutions from 1750 to today. Thomas Jefferson, a man who played a key role in the two most prominent revolutions in the history of the Western world, was removed. Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, is acknowledged around the world as an important political thinker but Ken Mercer doesn’t think he’s important enough for our high school students to study.

Mr. Mercer and his extremist cabal also rejected a proposed standard requiring students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.” The First Amendment specifically states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” what else does Ken Mercer think it means?

Replacing the extremist Mr. Mercer who insists on politicizing the public school curriculum should be a very high priority with voters in District 5. Electing Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau would bring a breath of fresh air to a body whose reputation Ken Mercer has helped sully.