Time to Stand Up to Billionaire Bullies

Two West Texas oil and gas billionaires want you to do what they say: think the way they say, raise your kids the way they say, practice your faith the way they say, and vote the way they say. Knowing that Texans don’t much like being told what to do, you might just tell them to take a hike. Freedom means making those decisions for yourself, right?

So, these two guys decide to trick you into doing what they want. They create a bunch of political action committees, with names like Defend Texas Liberty and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. They come up with marketing campaigns that encourage Texans to focus on the “bad” things that are supposedly happening to the students in public schools, where they tell us that teachers and administrators are corrupt radicals intending to indoctrinate and brainwash our kids starting in kindergarten. They bankroll divisive and destructive candidates where there used to be hard-working, cooperative citizens who wanted everyone’s voice to be heard.

Oh, did I mention that both these billionaires are also “preachers”? You can’t even go to church to be at peace with the Lord without each of them stoking fear and distrust, and making sure you know who the bad guys are (hint: the bad guys are Democrats, immigrants, minority groups, the urban poor, and supporters of human and animal rights). One of their avowed goals is to replace the public school system in Texas with private religious schools and homeschools, but not just any religion, of course, only Christianity. I’ve written before about my term for these folks who preach hate and fear in the name of Jesus: CHINOS. Jesus would be appalled, I think.

Welcome to Texas, the kingdom of Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, who are determined to remake our state in their own image. Fortunately for them, but not for us, Texas is one of only ten states that allow unlimited political contributions by individuals, and political contributions are what they love to do. For instance, many millions of dollars changed hands during Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recent impeachment trial; Dan Patrick, the “judge” of the Senate trial, received $3 million just for himself. Paxton’s legal bills were paid by…? Republican Senators were explicitly told that they would be “primaried” if they voted against Paxton. Primaries are notorious for advancing fringe candidates since only a small, rabid core of voters tends to show up at the polls. With enough campaign financing, Bozo the Clown could win a primary in Texas (some might argue that this has already happened).

The next stage of the Dunn and Wilks master plan is to pass legislation authorizing school vouchers, so that more funds can be drained from public schools and shifted to non-accountable, unsupervised private “Christian” schools and homeschools. The irony is that these guys are wealthy enough to start private religious schools all over the state, but that’s not what they want: they want your child to have to go to religious school because there are no more public schools to attend. The other irony is marketing vouchers as “school choice”, as if anyone is currently prohibited from sending their child to private school or homeschooling them. You are free to send your child to any school you choose, but I don’t want my taxes to pay for that. Public education is a right that is available to all citizens; private school is an option that some may choose if they prefer.

Guess why vouchers have never passed in the twenty years they’ve been floating around the Legislature? Because rural legislators in the Texas House of Representatives know a scam when they see one. The public-school districts in rural Texas are the lifeblood of many communities, and yet the state barely provides enough money for them to educate our children as it is. This is one of the reasons why the proposed bond for Bandera Independent School District is so vitally important. The state doesn’t provide enough funds for every student to function in a safe environment and to have the advanced preparation needed to make it in the world after high school. Passing the BISD bond is our way of ensuring that we have our kids’ backs even though the state wants to provide less and less for their education. Dunn and Wilks don’t want your kid to flourish in public school either. Think about that for a minute – no matter how they spin it, that’s the essence of their game plan for our children.

This is not a partisan issue; big donors pull the politicians’ and voters’ strings in both parties. Big money, and especially “dark money”, whose origins are hidden, have ruined politics across the nation. But here in Texas, it’s the Republican billionaires who are deciding we don’t need public schools anymore, and it’s our own rural Republican representatives who are standing up to the bullies and saying, “No vouchers in our towns!”

The last day to register to vote is October 10. Go to votetexas.gov for easy registration. Educate yourself about the other items on the ballot in addition to the BISD bond. Don’t let Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks decide how you and your family are going to live. Support the BISD bond as a statement that we will stand behind our public schools with pride as our kids go out into a world that has room for them to be the strong, independent people we’ve raised them to be.

Even if the billionaire bullies don’t like it.

Susan Hull is a retired clinical psychologist, a supporter of animal and human rights, and an Independent voter. She is proud of our rural Texas representatives who are telling the billionaires to go jump in their infinity pools.