TCR MOURNS THE PASSING OF REVEREND DAVE WELCH

The conservative community has lost one of its most stalwart leaders with the passing of Reverend Dave Welch from a heart attack.

Dave was the founder and Executive Director of the Houston Area Pastor Council, the Texas Pastor Council, and the United States Pastor Council.

Dave is best known for his efforts to engage the religious community in political activism to advance biblical principles.

Dave’s full bio can be read at https://www.uspastorcouncil.org/who-we-are/staff.html

In response to the tragic news, Senator Paul Bettencourt immediately submitted Senate Resolution 719 to honor Dave’s legacy.

Dave’s activism, affable nature and unforgettable baritone voice will be greatly missed. TCR extends prayers and sincerest condolences to the Welch family.

Thoughts This Fortnight

By Gary Polland
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

VIOLENT LANGUAGE/ANTI-SEMITIC OUTBURSTS AND TOLERANCE OF HATRED EQUALS MURDER

Lies, hatred and antisemitism all culminated tragically in the murder of two young people who were attending an American Jewish Committee to encourage humanitarian solutions for Gaza.

Leading up to the heinous tragedy was one lie after another about Israel’s battle for survival with radical Islamic Democrats.  The latest big lie, this one by the UN Humanitarian head and Senator Bernie Sanders – that in 48 hours – 14,000 babies would die in Gaza because of action by Israel.  There were others too. 

So a radical leftist, agitated by all the hatred towards Jews and Israel, gunned down, a Christian, Yaron Lischinsky, and one Jew Sarah Lynn Milgrim.

Christian Conservative Leader Gary Bauer describes it as follows, “This is what happens when a country…makes excuses for Anti-Semitism.  This hatred has been on steroids since the genocidal Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.”

Where are the Democratic leaders denouncing the growing Anti-Semitism of their so-called progressive base?  Avoiding taking a stand on this critical issue.

U.S. DEBT IS REACHING SCARY LEVELS – DOES THE U.S. HAVE THE WILL TO BACK AWAY FROM THE ECONOMIC BRINK?

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is moving forward.  There are good things in the Bill.  Your Editor would prefer a simple flat tax with limited deductions.

The theory behind “One Big Beautiful Bill” is that tax cuts coupled with deregulators will stimulate the economy, generate tax revenue, and help deal with our problematic debt that exceeds 122% of our GDP.

The Senate needs to be supportive of Medicaid Reform and SNAP to roll back the “massive” expansions Democrats doled out during Covid and  killing the Green New Deal to help control runaway federal spending.

Why?  We are headed to a fiscal cliff unless we solve our spending problem.

What to do?  Reform entitlements.  The retirement age for many workers is well past 65 as life expectancy continues to extend thanks to advances in medical care. Government should adapt to mirror reality.  And, there should be no benefits to those in the country illegally and for those above the poverty line.

Meanwhile, we have a neglected infrastructure and our deteriorating air traffic control system.  Our cities are increasingly unsafe.  This is not the country we want for our families and children.  Our military has eroded, and the world is a much more dangerous place.

CARTOON OF THE WEEK

AMERICA’S SCHOOLS
EDUCATING OR INDOCTRINATING?

By C. Bernard Schriver
Educational / Public-Affairs Consultant

One of the most serious problems impacting the ultimate fate of our Constitutional Republic is the fact that many of the folks charged with the civics/citizenship education of our young people are themselves not educationally qualified to properly prepare their students to assume their responsibilities of citizenship in a manner consistent with the principles, values & vision of our Nation’s Founders.

Why is this so?

In an article published in 1952, Doctor Ludwig von Mises, one of the intellectual giants of the 20 th Century and the premier advocate of the free-market economic philosophy (the Austrian School), wrote the following: “The pseudo-liberals monopolize the teaching jobs at many universities. Only men who agree with them are appointed as teachers and instructors of the social sciences, and only textbooks supporting their ideas are used.”

Logic and common sense alike tell us that those college graduates who go on to teach the social sciences in our high schools, for say 25-40 years, teach THEIR students year after year what they were taught by their “progressive” professors – and from the very same textbooks containing the very same leftist perspective.

I had a direct-experience confirmation of this reality recently when I asked a very popular local high school teacher if the textbook he uses in the economics courses he teaches explains the “Austrian School” of economics and references Ludwig von Mises?

The teacher frowned deeply and replied: “Who is Ludwig von Mises?” “What is the ‘Austrian School’ of economics?”

He had never heard of either.

When I asked him if his course textbook mentioned John Maynard Keynes and explained the “Keynesian School” of economics, his frown disappeared and was replaced by a wide smile of instant recognition.

“Of course”, he exclaimed.

I submit that this would be the response of the overwhelming majority of our high school social studies teachers, if they were asked the same questions I asked.

Let us suppose that a teacher is assigned to teach a course titled “Principals & Principles of Philosophy” using a textbook that covers Plato and his philosophy in great detail, but does NOT say one word about Aristotle and his philosophy – and the teacher has never heard of Aristotle, to boot.

Also, let us suppose that a teacher is assigned to teach an American literature course using a textbook that never mentions Mark Twain – and the teacher has never heard of Twain, to boot.

Finally, let us suppose that a teacher is assigned to teach an English literature course using a textbook that never mentions William Shakespeare – and the teacher has never heard of Shakespeare, to boot.

It is obvious that these three teachers would not be academically qualified (even though state-certified) to teach these courses.

Indeed, they (and the state authorities certifying them to do so) would all be guilty of flagrant examples of educational malpractice, in the very same way that the economics teacher mentioned earlier in this piece is not qualified and is guilty (along with the state agency certifying him to teach the course) of educational malpractice.

One of life’s truisms is that “we know what we know”. These well-meaning educators know what their leftist professors have taught them. What is problematic is that they do NOT know many things that they need to know in order to prepare their teenage students to gain an informed, balanced, and mature understanding of American citizenship as understood by the Founders of our Republic.

The fundamental question is this – can a society based on free-market / limited-government principles (the philosophy of individualism) survive in the long run if each rising generation is taught only the economic and political theories (the philosophy of collectivism) that systematically subvert the principles and values of the very economic system which makes possible the creation of the wealth without which the educational system could not exist – wealth that can never be produced under economic regimes based on those collectivist philosophies so strongly advocated by those “educators” guiding the civics/citizenship education of each rising American generation?

Only time will answer this question – but the signs are ominous, indeed!

About Your Editor

Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who served three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as “the most successful county Chairman in America” by Human Events – The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his twenty-eighth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. For the last twenty-three years, he has edited the Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the previous 20 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections, and city elections, all to assist conservative candidates. Gary also for 20 years cohosted Red, White and Blue on Houston Public Media TV 8 PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history and for the last four-plus years Gary has been a regular commentator on Fox 26-Houston’s “What’s Your Point” airing Sunday’s at 7 a.m. Gary serves on the Board of Directors of American Values, a national pro-family, pro-faith, conservative organization supporting the unity of the American people around the vision of our founding fathers and dedicated to reminding the public of the conservative principles fundamental to the survival of our nation. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.