Samuel's Warning
Politicians prey on our fears to stay in power. Follow your principles, not your fears.
“Is Gene Wu Back in China?”
Texas State Senator Mayes Middleton asked this question about State Representative Gene Wu on August 4, 2025.
No citizen — and certainly no duly elected representative of the people — should be subject to such questions. It’s an ugly allusion to the presumption of alienness, the act of “othering” someone based on heritage or appearance. It betrays the ideals of our country and underscores the dangers Governor Abbott and others court through their silence and abuse of power.
Ambitious GOP Politicians Are Playing with Fire
My family’s story is one of grit and persistence. The first generation in America paid the down payment for my future with sweat and tears. My great-grandparents and grandparents endured hardship — including incarceration in desert camps during World War II — to give my parents a foundation. That foundation made everything else possible.
Some struggles were the natural cost of building a new life in a new country with an unfamiliar language. But too many obstacles were born from fear — fear of difference, fear of change, fear of the imagined “other.”
We cannot let that same fear drive our politics today. We cannot give the greedy or the bigoted a license to exploit our anxieties and make all of us less safe. Leading Texas Republicans are stoking the embers of our racist past, and we all stand to get burned.
They tell us we need strong executives to protect us from enemies all around. But history is clear: the greatest enemy to a democracy is not a foreign invader but the unchecked power of those who claim to “protect” us. Our strength lies in our communities and institutions, not in the ambitions of would-be autocrats.
The Power to Label as Enemies
In May, the Texas Legislature passed a ban on land ownership by residents and related entities from certain foreign countries — with broad power for the governor to add to the list without oversight. On its face, the policy might seem reasonable. But the danger lies in its capacity for abuse.
Suspicion of foreigners — or of those merely perceived as foreign — is a persistent menace in any diverse, dynamic society. Whether the authors of such laws claim noble or narrowly partisan intent, these powers overlap too neatly with the ambitions of bigots and chauvinists.
Our Constitution was designed to check government power, not expand it without scrutiny. If conservatives truly value limited government, they should be just as wary of Senate Bill 17 as they are of federal overreach.
Because power serves only itself. And left unchecked, it consumes everything around it.
We want a king!
In the Jewish scriptures, the Prophet Samuel resisted Israel’s demand for a king. He warned them of the abuses that would follow — the conscription of their sons, the taking of their land, the grinding down of their freedoms. And he told them plainly: “You will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
Yet, the people insisted. They wanted a king not because it was wise, but because it was familiar — and satisfied their vanity.
Conservatives today should take that warning to heart. The modern push for ever-expanding executive authority isn’t about any specific geopolitical threat. It springs from the same ancient instinct: fear of the unfamiliar and a longing for the illusion of security.
That instinct is dangerous. It breathes life into movements that weaken our democracy from within. And it’s why extraordinary measures — even quorum breaks — can be both proper and necessary. Process is vital, but it cannot become an excuse to surrender to gross ambition.
Only Courage Contains Power
I am running for office to be a fighter — not a rubber stamp. I intend to serve with dignity and reverence for the office, but that is not an invitation to be taken for granted.
I am prepared to sacrifice, to put in the work, even when there is no immediate promise of success.
Support me, and I will stand for hope, not personal ambition. I will fight to make government matter for everyone — including the most marginalized.
I know what I want my legacy to be. Do you?