Two weeks ago, I asked readers of the printed and online editions to chime in on the school cell phone ban passed by the Texas Legislature.
That measure is now law, as it has been signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, and will take effect at the start of the next school year.
By a 2-to-1 margin, East Texas residents were all for the ban.
Here’s a couple of Facebook comments summing up the two sides:
“Ban them in classrooms. My teachers used to command a student’s undivided attention. People are too distracted by things that don’t profit the soul.” — Julia Walsh
“No. Not to be used in class and only to be taken out in emergencies.” — Johnny-Beckie Barrett
Myself, I was old-schooled, meaning that we not only did not have cell phones, but we also didn’t want our parents anywhere near the school, usually because that meant we were in trouble. And even though I still have mixed feelings between the need for freedom and the need for control, it is the law and that’s that.
(It is interesting to note that even the No side felt that phones needed to be kept away except for emergencies.)
If having such a law is a problem, there is a remedy in that there are elections pretty much every year, and if your representative isn’t all that you hoped for, then you have an opportunity to make a course correction.
That goes for everything government-related, especially at the state and federal levels.
Lately, I’ve seen a lot of videos on social media screaming about the money being spent by the State of Texas on border security, saying that the $11 billion earmarked by Gov. Abbott could have gone to much better things — entitlement programs, health care, etc. — instead of stopping an unchecked invasion to march across the border.
I’ve also seen a lot of video and written pieces saying that when the things set up in the federal Big Beautiful Bill come to pass — tax cuts for the rich, ICE expansion, etc. — people in support of the bill and the legislators who crafted and passed it should just keep their mouths shut and not complain.
In all of those cases, there are remedies for the disaffected, since we celebrated last week that the country we live in is a democratic republic, not a dictatorship as some would have us believe. Laws can be challenged, laws can be changed, and laws even can be rescinded.
Joe Pesci, speaking lines in “Harvard Man,” said the genius of the Constitution, which pretty much has been copied in every state, is that the Founders knew they didn’t know everything, and knew they would make mistakes, and created mechanisms for laws and even the founding documents could be changed.
That is genius, even if it does take time, and should be a source of hope and even pride for people to understand that there isn’t a yoke of oppression being tossed out by our leaders on a regular basis.
It’s easy to criticize laws and regulations when they clash with your way of thinking, and it’s less so to get off the internet to do something about it but given that this country is founded on the principle of government of, by and for the people, change is gonna come.
So, stop thinking things are being done to you and understand that things will happen with or without you. When you vote, you can become the solution you seek.
Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard and the San Jacinto News-Times. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.
