Telling the Truth; A Modest Proposal

A word from guest writer Ryan McCubbin

It should be obvious to anyone paying half-attention that Texas is in the throes of cultural revolution. Scarcely a week goes by without some dive hosting a drag-queen show for brain-dead, liberal women so they can shove their children in front of a gaggle of degenerate groomers, rhythmically gyrating and shaking their genitalia. Yes, it is still legal in Texas… but the anarchy doesn’t stop there.

How about that border? For Fiscal Year 2022 there are reports that apprehensions have reached 2.4 million thus far with two more months to go. Yes, millions. While the Governor has the absolute legal authority to definitively secure the Southern border and unilaterally protect Texas from invasion, Abbott the Boneless would rather shirk responsibility, blame the Feds, and fundraise. We also get virtual radio silence from our stalwart legislators about the invasion. It’s clear none of them want to risk the wrath of the Governor for simply pointing out the obvious and encouraging him to, you know, govern. Yet, as True Conservatives™ they are “all for securing the border” aren’t they? It’s pathetic.

Hey Bryan, did Greg finally give you his phone number so you could get around to talk with him about the border?

While I have been reliably informed by True Conservatives ™ the Most Conservative Session Ever™ was not too long ago, the GOP-dominated Texas Legislature has yet to do something as simple as conserve the ladies’ room, much less confront any aspect of the cultural revolution in a serious manner. Anyone paying close attention for very long begins to catch on that the vast majority of these characters, even those pretending to be Real Conservatives™ are simply running a scam. They are there to do the bidding of the governor, speaker, and their donors; to network; make business deals; nominate Democrats to chair committees; and of course, get re-elected. We have every indication that the 88th Session will be Screw Job, Part Deux. So, what to do? How in the world do you introduce some accountability into this equation when then the voters are content to believe the lies that the Conservatives That Never Conserve Anything tell them? I have one solution: tell the truth.

Well, everyone is familiar with the legislator scorecard. It works like a voter’s guide but is supposed to give the 411 on a particular aspect of a legislator’s performance. Did they vote for or against a certain bill? Did they vote to raise taxes? Were they fiscally responsible and/or family friendly? These tools are handy and have a certain utility. There are some great scorecards put out by real patriots and some not-so-great ones that are more of a political grift. The guys at Texas Scorecard even issue an “autopsy report” at the end of every legislative session.

-A great one-

-Not so much-

I contend scorecards are good and necessary but insufficient in their current form. We need another type of scorecard — one that measures the things typical scorecards leave out. We need this principally, because let’s face it… many of these office holders are professional liars. They built a system, over the years, that obscures the real nature of what they do. Most of us have seen them get up in front of a crowd and talk about how they let Jesus into their heart in their best youth pastor voice and then go down to Austin to sell out the very people that voted for them. The worst part about it is that the voters are none the wiser.

See Jay Dean speak at the Liberty Thing; he just like me fr fr….Oh snap,

Jay is a Democrat!

Deceit Score

The most difficult to measure would be the Deceit Score because so much of the behavior that applies to this category occurs either off camera or behind closed doors… But it’s imperative throw the curtain back on these games. The gimmicks that the #TXLege plays during session are legendary. They knowingly propose and pass weak, watered-down legislation designed to generate headlines. They kill good bills in secret, deliberately run out the legislative clock, and even change their vote multiple times on the same bill. They frequently lie about the effectiveness of a bill they propose. Wouldn’t it be amazing if the public actually knew who was doing this and how often? Measuring each legislator’s Deceitfulness Score and having it emailed to every party County and Precinct chair would be a game changer.

Abbott: the absolute King of Deceit

Real Patriot Score

What is better than one contemptible body of clowns ruling over you? Why, two of course! One of the greatest things about being in the #TXlege is that you can always blame the Federal Government for whatever problems you fail to address. Austin NEVER bucks DC. Sure, Paxton may sue from time to time, but the lawsuits never change the dynamic. Whether it’s the invasion of illegals storming across the border or the latest rainbow-colored, SCOTUS-sanctioned depravity being crammed down our throats, rest assured that unless it involves corporate welfare or purely symbolic legislation, the Real Conservatives™ in the #TXLege would just as soon do nothing and blame the Feds. It works. Now imagine them being held responsible for actually doing something by placing themselves between the people and tyranny. What would this look like? Well, a lot like Florida at the moment. Has your representative or senator ever proposed or cosigned a bill that involved interposition, nullification, or independence from DC’s tyranny or are they still yammering on about Federalism and a constitution that doesn’t exist?

It doesn’t have to necessarily be anti-federal government. It could be a public statement against a governor behaving like a tyrant while he is abusing emergency powers. It could be demanding the revocation of jab mandates in the private sector. How about pushing back on a speaker that asks a representative to cast a compromising vote, or a committee chair when they want to kill a conservative bill or get a good representative redistricted because he caused trouble for leadership? We get wallpaper patriots in Austin, session after session, because we never hold these people to a standard. They continue to get away with it because the people don’t know.

Overton Window Score

Legislators live to pass legislation and they love to tell people how great they are because they pass legislation. I will assume readers of CR understand the Overton Window and further understand that as long as the Texas GOP has held the reins of political power, the Overton Window has continually moved left. When measuring the effectiveness of legislation, we should ignore the title of bills and also ignore what the authors and co-sponsors say about it. We should only look at what the bill does. The vast majority of bills passed by the #TXlege fail to have any measurable impact on society. Getting around the “I passed a bill, therefore we are doing something” rhetorical gimmick will require us to look at the bill’s actual impact on the culture and society. Did it move the needle, yes or no? If it didn’t, then no points. Pass a bill mandating a state jail felony for the operator of an establishment where alcohol is served to host minors in the company of a sexually-oriented performance? Many points. It’s that simple. We must judge our legislators by the real impact of their votes and legislation instead of taking their word for it.

The progressive slide of our cultural revolution must be arrested and countered with the force of law. Power must be employed and there’s no getting around it. That is the expectation and until we are able to tell the public the whole truth about their legislators in a way they can understand by shining a light on what they do behind closed doors, by calling out their bogus conservatism, and effectively evaluating the real outcome of their legislative work, we will never have true accountability. Until we have true accountability, the shenanigans in Austin will continue and so will the revolution.

-Ryan McCubbin

Ryan McCubbin is a right-wing political activist in Northeast Texas. He can be reached via Twitter at @RyanMcCubbinTX.