Texas Independence!

It was 176 years ago today that a group of settlers and adventurers gathered in a small house along the banks of the Brazos River and declared their independence from Mexico. On the day before, 32 volunteers from Gonzales, including my great-great-great grandfather, rode through the lines of the Mexican army to join William Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett and the other defenders of the garrison at the Alamo.

I was born in Texas, and I have lived here my entire life (except during the time I was in the military). I attended Texas public schools, where courses in Texas history were required of all 7th graders. I grew up hearing about the exploits of great Texans, ranging from Stephen F. Austin to Lyndon B. Johnson. I have traveled to many places in the world, but there is no other place I would rather live.

My love for Texas does not mean that there is not much that can and should be improved. Texas' rich culture is predicated upon the idea of rugged individualism; that a person is endowed with a right to determine his or her own destiny. However, as modern Texans look more and more to the government as the solution to all kinds of problems and difficulties, a "culture of entitlement" has arisen. In the process, individual liberties are sacrificed.

Under the Mexican Constitution of 1824, Texans were guaranteed that right. However, sensing pressure from American immigrants, President Santa Anna suspended the guarantees of the 1824 Constitution, and that action gave rise to revolution. Parallels to what is happening today are hard to miss. The only difference is that we, as citizens, in our effort to make sure that we get our slice of the public pie, are standing by and allowing our freedoms to be eroded.

The world is much more complex today than it was for our ancestors in 1836, and the task of balancing individual liberties with necessary restraints for the public good is no easy one. But fundamental change in the minds and attitudes of our politicians and the people who elect them must occur if that task is to be successfully accomplished.

Whenever we ask the question of what might be "in the public good", let's consider the proposition that individual liberty is, and always has been, "in the public good".