Texas Republicans, are they really patriots?

Republicans including our own Representative John Kuempel often talk about being patriots, they talk the talk but do they walk the walk? They’ve cut the budget and setup a tax system in which there is little to be gained by raising local tax rates beyond a certain point because the state will just shift funds away from that district.

One of the grievances against Mexico in the Texas Declaration of Independence says: “It has failed to establish any public system of education, although possessed of almost boundless resources, (the public domain,) and although it is an axiom in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity for self government.”

The Texas Constitution, Article 7, Section 1 says “A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.”

It sounds to me like the citizens who wrote Texas Declaration of Independence and the Texas Constitution felt very strongly that educating Texans is an obligation not only to the youth of this state but to all its citizens. People always think protecting freedom is just about the military, but really it starts and ends with free public education for all.

So ask yourselves is John Kuempel really a patriot?

Are you sure that Republican Party values really align with yours?

Lately I’ve heard from quite a few well-meaning people that say they vote Republican because the party generally espouses their values. These conversations have led me to wonder to which values they’re referring. Do they mean carving a hole in education budgets across the state such that a whole generation of Texans receives an inferior education? After all Texas already spends less per student on education than almost every state but Mississippi.

Do the values of these well-meaning people require such extensive cuts to the state's Medicaid program that seniors, in need of daily medical care which their families are unable to provide, be thrown out on the street in the name of low taxes for millionaires?

While one may argue over when life begins based on one’s interpretation of the bible or science or some combination thereof; are the values of these well-meaning people really such that making abortions almost impossible to get for low income women more important than the non-abortion related women’s health care services provided by Planned Parenthood which are 97% of its budget?

Are the profits of Halliburton and other energy companies valued more highly than the lives and health of people who live near virtually unregulated gas drilling sites where you can ignite the water from your kitchen faucet with a match? All these and more are brought to us by the Republican Party of Texas whose values you say align more closely with yours, I’d like to know if you’re sure about that?

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.

Letter to John Kuempel, State Rep HD 44

January 13, 2011

The Honorable John Kuempel

P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768

Dear Representative Kuempel,

Congratulations on your overwhelming win in the special election. Now that you have officially assumed your duties as our representative in HD 44 I urge you to recognize the massive budget shortfall Texas is faced with and the need to restructure the state budget. It is imperative that you and your colleagues act on the wishes of the vast majority of Texans, 70% plus, that want social services and education to be funded at or above existing levels. The state budget has already been cut to the bone and any further cuts will damage the health and future of this great state.

Education is not an expense, it is in fact an investment in the future of Texas as I’m sure you recognize given that your personal success and that of your employer could not have occurred without an educated work force. The new Caterpillar plant would not have been built in Seguin without access to an educated workforce. If we fail to invest in the future of Texas by not fully funding primary, secondary and university educations for all Texans you will suffer the shame for the rest of your life. I urge you to remember that your own children will be live in the future Texas that you, even now, are going to shape.

Sincerely,

Hope for the State Board of Education

Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau, candidate for the State Board of Education District 5, spoke at a meeting I attended recently and I found her presentation refreshing. She told us about her years in education as a teacher and her experience developing programs at Texas State University to improve student retention. Dr. Bell-Metereau also told us about the academic challenges faced by Texas students who attend out of state colleges due to their poor preparation in Texas public schools.

Dr. Bell-Metereau explained her work on a community board in San Marcos where she successfully worked with people across the political spectrum to accomplish the board’s goals. She is running for a seat on the SBOE because she was asked to run and was encouraged by her daughter who has suffered under the current board’s dumbed down curriculum standards which are supported by inaccurate texts chosen to meet a political agenda. She told us she respects the all volunteer writing teams and the hard work they do in an effort to give students the best possible curriculum but is appalled at the disrespectful attitude displayed by the incumbent who casually discards their work in favor of hastily crafted partisan based materials.

Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau promises to responsibly and ethically manage the Permanent School Fund without regard to personal financial rewards. I’m confident that if elected Dr. Bell-Metereau will be able to enhance the quality of our children’s educations through respectful exchanges with the other members of the SBOE.