The Lunatic Mainstream
If the Grassroots are Going to Prevail, They Need to Look to the Word of God
Starting today, I’ll be traveling here and there around Texas into the fall discussing with grassroots Texans the state of the Texas Legislature and Texas government overall. Below are the slides I’ll be using in our talks. I explain in a recent post where I got the term “Lunatic Mainstream,” the current theme of my talks. Before this round, my theme in recent talks was the “Two Chamber Problem” and before that, “The Big Problem with Big Government.”
As I said in my recent post, I’ll be the first to admit we are doing better in Texas than in most other large states. But I’m a glass half-empty guy because it could be so much better. Republicans are allegedly in charge of the entire state government, yet one house of our Legislature has ceded power to Democrats. The other house seems afraid that, if they act too much like Republicans are supposed to act, they’ll get voted out of office. Or perhaps they imagine some other disaster will befall them if they are viewed as conservatives; your guess is as good as mine.
So while I’m a bit negative in the short term, in the long run I’m all-in optimistic—what I’d call postmillennial in theological terms. Christ is King, He rules over the heavens and earth—including all civil governments, His people are discipling the nations, and He is making all things new. We couldn’t ask for a better future. We just need to patiently and obediently persevere in the troubling present, using the Great Commission (and the rest of God’s Word) as our guide (Matthew 28:16-20).
For you national readers who may not be as interested in Texas as some, you can skip down to the bottom of the slides and see a brief overview of four foundational elements of a biblical civil government. You can also find a pdf version of a longer PowerPoint presentation on this topic here.
If you have a problem loading the slides below, you can find the original PowerPoint here or a slightly different .pdf version here.
Also, if you are interested in having me come talk with your group, please send me a note through Substack or email me at present@tortillacoast.net and I’ll get in touch with you. I can talk about most aspects of Texas state and local government, as well as on a number of national issues. And can talk all day long about the biblical foundations of civil government. Some call this Christian Nationalism, I just call it applying God’s Word to our family, church, and civic lives. Please also reach out if you’d like to discuss this topic.
Finally, I’d greatly appreciate if you would join the (slowly) growing ranks of paid subscribers to ExcellentThought. The more of you who sign up (see link below), the more time I can devote applying God’s Word to the public issues of our day.
Right now, you can sign up as a subscriber for $5 a month or $50 a year. Or you can be a Covenant Supporter for $240 a year. One benefit of being a Covenant Supporter is that I'll send you a copy of one of these three books: Race in America: Liberalism’s Attack on Minorities and the Church (my book), The Maker versus the Takers by Jerry Bowyer, or Slaying Leviathan by Glenn Sunshine.
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