07-17-2022 From the Right

On Tuesday June 12, Jill Biden, wife of President Joe Biden made a blunder of Presidential Proportions when she said Hispanics in the United States are as unique as breakfast tacos in San Antonio. Is it something in the White House water or do the Bidens share the same speech writers? Across the country, Hispanics were outraged with angry comments from the National Association of Hispanic Journalist as well as the left leaning Univision Network. For centuries, the Democratic Party has considered Hispanics as slow thinking, simple minded, under- educated, lower income, guaranteed voters, but recent polls and elections have proven that this is no longer the case for the South Texas Hispanic voter. Strong family values, and the willingness to do what is necessary to provide for family through hard work and education is quickly shifting the Hispanic community to the Right.

In a recent poll asking to choose between, “America Is Not the greatest country in the world” and “America Is the greatest country in the world,” those that consider themselves strong progressives chose “Not Greatest” over “Greatest by 66% to 28% while Hispanics were almost opposite with 23% saying “Not Greatest” while 70% said “Greatest”. This poll shows the huge contrast between liberal progressives and the modern-day Hispanic. In the same poll Hispanics opposed systemic racism and transgender-ism while favoring funding for law enforcement and the belief that hard work generates success. Hispanics more and more look like “working class Americans” in their ethics and attitudes.

On another story broken on June 13 th by Sebastian Castro reporting for The Texas Scorecard, Charles Butt, the CEO of the Texas HEB chain sponsored a so called “family friendly” drag queen show and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars opposing school choice campaigns. In June, HEB sponsored an LGBT pride event in downtown Austin. The event called Rainbow on the Creek included a drag queen story hour, a drag queen show performed by a self-named group, the Hydrated Queer Kitties and a Gay Pride Parade all under the title “family-friendly for all ages”. Besides supporting LGBTQ groups, the Charles Butt Public Education Political Action Committee with a donation of $750,000.00 from Mr. Butt gave money to 22 political campaigns which includes 16 Republican campaigns including Texas Speaker of the House Dan Phelan. Butt has also heavily funded Raise Your Hand Texas, an organization which opposes school choice and advocates spending more tax dollars on the public school system. A recent Morning Consult 2022 poll found that 76% of Texas Parents would support education money following the student to the parents’ school of choice.

Again, I am going to tie the Hispanic voter and school choice into a single conversation. Traditionally, Hispanics have resided in poorer communities usually encompassing the poorer school districts. Their children were trapped in low performing schools with little chance of opportunity for higher education. With great sacrifice some Hispanic parents found the way to have their children educated in private parochial schools offering the opportunity for a better education and life opportunities. Like all parents, Hispanic moms and dads also want the best possible opportunities for their children. With the Republican Party of Texas once again selecting School Choice as a legislative priority, parents are anxious to see how the Republican dominated Texas Legislature will respond especially with Charles Butts funneling hundreds of thousands of anti-school choice dollars into campaigns.

Last week, Texas Comptroller announced the expected surplus of $26.9 billion tax dollars. Surplus as defined by Webster is “a quantity over and above what is needed.” It will be interesting to see how many ways the Texas Legislature finds to spend this surplus. They find great joy in spending your money. May I suggest you start calling and writing your State Senator and House Representative demanding a refund or a suggestion of a property tax pay-down. With the current economy, maybe they will consider spending a little less of our hard-earned tax dollars. Don’t forget to call!!!

Terry Harper

Past State Republican Executive Committee man for Senate District 21