Texas has enjoyed success and prosperity over the past decade due in large part to conservative leadership at the state level, and high engagement from dedicated conservatives who help put good, principled people in office. One of the most encouraging qualities of true Texas conservatives is their support for one another, no matter where in the state they may reside.
Conservatives unite to end abortion, protect the Second Amendment, and defend religious freedom in all arenas. I would write to you, Texas conservative, to come to the aid of rural Texas and help us stop high-speed rail.
Life, liberty, and property are the timeless principles on which our country was founded, and Texas Central Rail’s (TCR) proposed high speed rail line between Dallas and Houston threatens to destroy the liberty and property of every citizens in it’s path.
For the uninitiated, TCR is a Japanese funded company seeking to gain eminent domain authority to build a private high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston, cutting the eight rural counties between in half.
The company has crawled more and more into the public spotlight over the past couple years, but catapulted into infamy during the 2018 primary season due to a series of public hearings held in every county between Dallas and Houston.
I attended two of these such hearings—the ones in both Navarro and Freestone Counties. While they aimed to “educate” residents about the train, in reality, they were dog and pony propaganda meetings.
TCR trotted out silver tongued salesmen to convince residents of the jobs and gold that would flood our towns. They spoke of the riches of increased tax revenue infusing our cash-strapped communities. They spoke of modernized transportation for our rural counties. TCR cared nothing for the residents they sang this siren song to, only for the land they could scare out of their hands. We circulated petitions opposing their proposed rail lines at these meetings, receiving the signature of almost every citizen who attended.
As Colonel Travis issued his famous cry for aid, I implore all Texans to join in our opposition to high speed rail. Private property rights are of greater importance than a foreign company’s aspirations for riches. Our whole nation has watched the high-speed rail boondoggle in California—construction dragging out years and years, taxpayers drowning in billions and billions of dollars more in debt, landowners being crushed by the heavy hand of crony capitalism and corrupt politicians.
We have worked too hard to create a free and prosperous society to allow Texas to suffer this same fate.
Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of this high-speed rail saga is the propaganda that TCR has dumped thousands and thousands of dollars into. TCR has sponsored Texas A&M athletics in hopes of convincing students they can ride the train from College Station to Houston or Dallas—in reality, the “Brazos Valley” stop is located in Roan’s Prairie, almost 45 minutes from A&M’s campus (if there’s no traffic, of course).
Even more disheartening is the high-speed rail lobbyists involving themselves in Texas elections to try and plant friendly representatives in the legislature. For example, in the Texas House District 8 election, Cody Harris’ campaign consultant is a paid lobbyist for Texas Central Rail.
Harris’ two-faced stump speeches opposing the rail directly conflict with the thousands of dollars he’s paid a TCR lobbyist for consulting.
Conservatives across Texas have always been stronger as one force. Rural Texans need the entire state to come to our aid to protect not only our private property now, but the precedent of private property for our future.
Resisting TCR and their Japanese funded boondoggle has the potential to be the greatest victory in defense of life, liberty, and property that our state has seen in recent history. But without the support of every conservative across our great state, rural Texas faces a future of uncertainty.
