Power doesn’t usually crush the people’s voice head‑on — it bends it, blunts it, buys it, or instigates diversions to buy time until the “little people” have been absorbed, compromised, or simply give up.

The patterns are old, cross‑cultural, and well‑documented in political science, organizational behavior, civic‑rights history, and the Bible.

The most effective tactics are the ones that look harmless, procedural, or “reasonable,” while quietly draining grassroots energy, unity, and leverage.

The January 2025 Texas House Speaker vote was a proxy war between two Republican factions:

• Establishment Republicans + moneyed Big Business Interests(aligned with former Speaker Dade Phelan) who favor the traditional Texas House model of bipartisan coalitions and committee power-sharing;

• Conservative, Limited Government, Texas-protecting Republicans who wanted a Speaker who would
  1) ban dangerous leftist Democrats from all committee influence;
  2) prepare/secure Texas for a “post-Trump” America with the potential for a once again wide open border;
  3) pass strong legislative wins to protect families, elections, and the Texas Dream for young adults; and
  4) stop nearly two decades of “purple” drift—outsized spending, government growth, and property taxes.

Immediately after the Speaker vote, wherein Dustin Burrows was elected by 49 Democrats and 36 of the 88 Republicans, The Right Grooming Collective began to lure conservative legislators toward middle ground for a seat at the table.

How many times were the conservative State Reps. abused by the Speaker and House Rules ignored? Numerous times…

How many pieces of conservative priority legislation failed to get out of committees chaired by Republicans? Numerous bills…

And how many times were those abuses met with a united, public call – a formal House resolution – by those abused State Reps. to vacate the Chair? 

Zero.

Results?
TX GOP Legislative Priority
Bill Results
(hat tip, Tom Glass):

No Democrat Chairs – FAIL

Border Enforcement – FAIL

End Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying – FAIL

Secure Texas Elections – 10% success

End Federal Overreach – 30% success

Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids – 45% success

Secure the Electric Grid – 67% success after TEN years of effort.

Texas is Not for Sale – SUCCESS, only because of unrelenting work of conservative SRECs and the grassroots refusing to give up, playing hardball.

To all but the greenest, most naïve, Polly Anna-type activists, numerous tell-tale “Grooming the Right” signs continued throughout the 2025 (89th) Legislative Session and are now more than obvious. One would need to be blind or weapons-grade stupid not to see what’s unfolded…

• The RPT and Republican candidates now behave as if it is normal to take campaign money from trial lawyers and PACs funded by Soros and Democrats (look for yourself, it’s easy to find). Some say they’re doing it because they’re mad at another PAC that gives to both sides. How does any of that help the folks they’re supposed to be fighting for? See RPT thanking Texas Trial Lawyers for sponsoring the Texas Republican Convention.

• Speaker Burrows is now celebrated and embraced at conservative fundraisers without ANY public concession on his part to produce better legislative results for the “little people.”
• Unfinished legislative business no longer matters to the paid shepherds of the conservative right legislators. The Right Grooming Collective decided it.
• Many of the groomed are so misled that they allow themselves to be marketed by the Grooming Collective as “Conservative Titans.” This embarrassingly arrogant veneer falls squarely into the “pride comes before a fall” category. It saddens us.

State Republican Executive Committee, Conservative Grassroots Delegates and Activists

The grooming tactics of deception—as old as the serpent who first devised them…

A classic move: Identify the loudest grassroots voices and offer them:

• Appointments
• Advisory roles
• Access
• Funding

Once inside the system, those leaders are pressured to “be reasonable,” “tone it down,” “not embarrass the institution,” “be a team player.”

The conservative movement loses its edge because its champions are absorbed—no longer willing to fight the Top-Downer Groomers because they’ve now joined them!

Power thrives on fragmentation. Fragmentation distracts from the mission. Fragmentation depends on compliance.

Common methods:

• Pitting groups and factions against each other
• Creating “approved” vs “unapproved” groups (a “Cool Kids” group mentality)
• Rewarding compliant groups with favors
• Cultivating a cultic, political groupie focus for favored political figures
• Using grassroots-approved conservatives to help cover institutional failure
• Undermining time-tested liberty principles and Biblical values in favor of political convenience, all while quoting Scripture and citing the Founders
• Demeaning any elected official or leader who refuses to surrender

Conservative activists waste time and energy publicly tearing each other down and fighting instead of resisting the Top Downer Groomers.

Instead of silencing dissent, Top-Downer Groomers seek to reframe it:

• “These concerns are being addressed.”
• “This is misinformation.”
• “Only extremists care about this.”
• “This was the most conservative session ever.”
• “Now is not the time.”
• “You just don’t understand the strategy.”
• “Those who resist just don’t like us.”
• “_______ doesn’t agree with us because he/she just wants to be in charge.”

The aim is to make the conservative grassroots movement doubt its own legitimacy.

• Stay resistant by building independent centers of truth, unity, and accountability that power brokers cannot buy off, divide, or exhaust.

• Protect morale by keeping wins visible, roles distributed, pressure steady, and mission-focused so no single leader can be co‑opted and your organization quietly drained of energy.

• Remember WHY you started this journey in the first place—because you love your children, grandchildren, and Texas!

• Prayerfully strive to live and operate God’s Way.  It is all that matters.

At the link below, you will find essays submitted to Grassroots America from the candidates for the Republican Party of Texas Chair and Vice-Chair.

The vote by delegates will take place during the 2026 Republican Party of Texas State Convention in Houston, from June 11–13, 2026.

We determined that written commitments from the candidates were in the best interest of the voting delegates and Texas Republicans.

Until this release, we have not shared these essays with anyone.

We did not coach any candidate. We did not assist any candidate with their essay.

These essays are posted verbatim and in their entirety—as submitted.

We encourage you to read them, bookmark them, and share with others.

Choose wisely.

JoAnn Fleming
Executive Director
Grassroots America – We the People PAC

Joshua 1:9

Strong Endorsements

Chip Roy
for TX Attorney General
– View Facts/Reasons

Jim Wright
for TX Railroad Commissioner
– View Facts/Reasons

Thomas Smith
for TX Criminal Court of Appeals, Place 3
– View Facts/Reasons

Stan Stanart
for State Rep., District 126
– View Facts/Reasons

David Wylie
for Denton County Commissioner Precinct 4
– View Facts/Reasons

Recommended

Ken Paxton
for US Senate
– View Facts/Reasons

It is clear they don’t want answers!

Only Commissioner Christina Drewry fought to get answers for you so that the County can fix this mess! 

We spent hundreds of hours over the last 13 months inspecting County documents to get answers.  What we found was horrifying—a case study in mismanagement!  No oversight!  Not even an update on the projects until we brought it up in Feb. 2025!

Smith County’s own records reveal:

• Massive Cost Overrun — A program sold as $84.5M is now projected at ~$185M. What caused overruns far beyond inflation?
• 5‑Year Plan Now in Year 12 — No timeline. No public discussion. Refuse to hold evening town halls. No plan to finish your roads.
• Regular Budgets Still Flowing — Road & Bridge received ~$120M in operating funds. Where are the improved pavement ratings?
• Untracked Supplements — $14.5M in extra appropriations show no audit trail.

• Missing Engineering Records — No pre‑engineering, in‑project, post‑project, or warranty testing for 73% of the bond project files! The county engineer admitted he had no inspection documentation signing off on completed work!
• No Verification of Work — Claims that “only a few hundred dollars are unaccounted for” are false, but also ignore the real issue: There’s no documentation to prove many roads were repaired or met standards.

• Bond Money Diverted — $3.2M in bond funds went to a new road (Centennial Blvd.), not existing roads as promised.
• Unauthorized Projects — 25 projectscharged to Phase 1 weren’t on any Commissioners Court approved priority list.
• Policy Violated — These projects were sold to the voters as reconstruction projects with external contractors for arterial/collector roads with the Road & Bridge Department refocusing on maintaining and repairing roads. The County broke this promise.
• “In‑House” Work Billed to Bond — County crews rebuilt roads internally while charging only materials to the bond (not labor & equipment) — hiding the true cost to taxpayers…but worse…
• Missing Purchase Orders — $8.2M in purchase orders for “in‑house” work had no discoverable audit trail! 

• Reconstruction Miles Overstated — Smith County claimed 99.7 miles of reconstruction. Atkins Engineering records show only 55 miles were true reconstruction — the rest were overlays.

Bottom line:

This isn’t transparency.
This isn’t accountability.
And it certainly isn’t over!

Grassroots America will not “move on” until the Commissioners Court explains how they plan to fix this!

Taxpayers deserve better.

Dumping any more tax dollars into Road & Bridge without reforming the entire thing from top to bottom is like flushing your tax dollars down a sewer! Stay tuned! We aren’t done with this!

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Today is Election Day!

Polls open 7 AM – 7 PM

• Citizen-First vs. Special Interest “Insider” Spending

• Transparency vs. Back Room Shady Deals

• Wholesomeness vs. Culture Rot funded by your tax dollars

• Wise Planning/Management vs Foolish Governance

• Keeping more of your money

• Keeping more of your liberty

Protecting What’s Yours for Your Family!

Don’t know about your local elections?

Find your voting precinct # to determine where you vote today: click here and fill in the Are You Registered? section.

Find your county’s website, by clicking here and then scrolling down to the middle of the page to find County Sources. Click on your county to find your county’s posted election information for sample ballots, early voting/Election Day dates, times, and locations.  If your county’s link has not been updated, that’s your County Government’s fault. Instead, search for “_______ County, Texas, Elections Office” or “What’s on the ballot in _____ County, Texas today?” 

Smith County (our home base) Election Day info is here.
Grassroots America’s endorsed candidates for Smith County only:

John Nix

for Tyler Mayor, proven conservative, votes Republican

Cody Levrets

for Tyler ISD District 4, proven conservative, votes Republican

TJC Bond:

Because no volunteers have stepped up to invest the time in regularly attending TJC Board meetings, Grassroots America’s Board of Directors takes no official position on the bond proposal. Instead, our board members Tom and Toni Fabry worked with TJC officials toward more transparency. Regular engagement of trustworthy volunteers is a requirement before we will spend money on any campaign.

5 Facts about Bond Elections

How Do I Know if May 2nd Candidates are Republican or Democrat?

By law, city, school board, community college, and special purpose district races are non-partisan on the ballot; therefore, there will be no party designation listed there; however, you can find out which party primary they vote in, if they vote at all, or if they are only general election voters (which means there’s no way to tell what they are).

Click here to find your county’s Republican Party Chairman to see if he/she published the voting history of the candidates for the May 2 elections in your county!  

Click here for a GREAT example of what Republican Party County Chairs should do to help voters avoid voting a leftist into office! Checking voting records to determine if a candidate is Republican or Democrat or doesn’t vote at all is the minimum first step in determining who should get your vote. This is how your Republican Party County Chairman can help you keep socialists and cultural Marxists from taking over local government. The next step is to determine whether a candidate who votes Republican will actually govern as one. That’s where local conservative groups can help voters.

Recommendations & Endorsements: Sadly, due to an excess of conflicting information, we cannot share endorsements and recommendations from local conservative groups as we have in the past. We have no time to mediate conflicts among conservatives over their local ballot choices; therefore, we cannot risk sending out flawed information.

Protect what’s yours today

VOTE before 7 PM today!

Statewide May 2nd Texas Election Alert!

Gov’t Fuzzy Math:

Seniors, Bond Elections & Property Taxes

When officials say new debt won’t raise taxes on over‑65 homeowners, what they’re really doing is shifting the tax burden onto younger families — the very people trying to buy homes, raise kids, and build a future. And the burden doesn’t stop there: local businesses get hit too, which means higher prices on goods and services for everyone — including seniors.

Those “average monthly cost” numbers are calculated using the entire tax base, including seniors whose tax bills are capped. If seniors make up a large share of the district’s tax base, the “average” is artificially lowered — meaning younger taxpayers may pay far more than the advertised number in bond campaign materials. That’s not transparency. That’s tax creep disguised as a snack‑sized bargain.

The over-65 exemption freezes the maximum a senior can be charged. If a taxing entity pays off debt, refinances, or lowers the debt repayment portion of the tax rate, seniors’ tax bills can actually go down. But when new debt is added that possibility disappears! The claim that bond debt “doesn’t affect seniors” is flat out false.

When landlords get higher tax bills, those costs don’t magically vanish. They show up as higher rent, fees, or reduced maintenance. Seniors on fixed incomes feel it immediately — and so do younger renters.

Most small businesses can’t absorb repeated tax hikes. They’re forced to cut wages, cut workers, delay investments, or raise prices on everyday goods and services — including those famous “cheeseburgers.”