A few days ago in a post about Texas politics, I mentioned that I hoped Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton would challenge John Cornyn in the 2026 primary for the U.S. Senate seat he currently holds. Cornyn is a “Republican” whose actual constituency appears to be the federal bureaucracy rather than the Texas voters whom he takes such pleasure in betraying.
I received via email a very polite and respectful objection from “J.R. in Texas” who feels that Ken Paxton’s ethical history is a bridge too far for him. Without making this post all about the specifics of Mr. Paxton’s ethics, I’ll note that he did at one point accept community service rather than have a securities fraud case go to trial. Paxton is also alleged to have been unfaithful in his marriage. This is what J.R. wrote:
Buck, I almost always agree with you, and look forward to reading your insightful commentaries. However, based on the evidence adduced at the Paxton impeachment trial and discussions with one of the whistleblowers who exposed him, I strongly believe that Paxton is corrupt and unfit for office. And for the record, I have NEVER voted for a Democrat, and strongly support Trump and the ouster of RINOs like Phelan and Cornyn. I want my House rep, Beth Van Duyne, to enter the primary against Cornyn. But under no circumstances will I vote for Paxton - I will skip over the Senate race in the general election if he is chosen (as I did the last time that worthless John Cornyn ran).
Thanks. - JR in Texas
J.R.’s gracious disagreement deserved a gracious response about why I am willing to accept a politician such as Paxton representing me, even though he may have engaged in conduct which I do not condone. Having written and sent the response to J.R., I decided that our correspondence is worthy of being today’s post.
Hi JR:
I respect your opinion. I've read about Paxton's ethical and personal peccadillos, and all things being equal, I would certainly prefer to have a culture warrior whose personal conduct is closer to the standards to which I try to hold myself.
It took me a while to accept that it is better (in my opinion) to elect a person of questionable integrity who will fight the battles I want fought, than to only vote for people of high integrity if the person of high integrity will not fight my battle. In fact, I've been betrayed so many times by people with "high integrity" such as Romney, Ryan, McCain, Bush, etc that I I'm not sure what the term even means any longer, at least in politics.
If a reputable, teetotaling Republican who has never betrayed his wife wins office and compromises with Democrats on barbarities such as open borders (e.g. human trafficking) or child mutilation, then his level of integrity is lower to me than anything a Paxton could do for personal pleasure or enrichment.
I also realize that in this era where the media aligns with Democrats to destroy the reputation of any conservative who wants to challenge the ruling class, that incentivizes good people to stay out of politics, and leaves only people with an indifference to being smeared to fight our battles. I personally know plenty of ethical, rock-solid conservatives in the private sector who would make excellent political candidates, but they won't go near the water, because they don't want to be smeared, nor have the worst day in their lives made public. Thus we are left with imperfect people like Trump and Paxton to fight our battles.
So, I am grateful therefore to the Paxtons and Trumps, who - although they may be personally flawed - are willing to take the incoming flak and keep fighting the battles that polite Republicans won't fight. There are so few Paxtons who are willing to fight that I wouldn't dare try to replace him with someone else who probably won't fight. I'd rather have a drunk General Grant than a sober General McClellan in an arena where there are an unlimited number of McClellans but very few Grants.
But - I absolutely respect your opinion and appreciate your values. I suspect we are very much alike in the conduct we expect of ourselves and of those with whom we surround ourselves.
Thank you very much for taking the time to write, and for your kind words.
All the best,
Buck
Among the current battles that Attorney General Paxton is fighting, two weeks ago he filed a lawsuit against three of the largest money management firms for their illegal ESG activities, and he got 10 other red state Attorney Generals to join in the lawsuit.
Paxton is also cracking down on doctors and medical facilities that are trying to circumvent Texas’ ban on transing children.
In less than a month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued three doctors who provide gender-affirming care to minors in an attempt to enforce a state law that bans such care.
The more I think about, maybe I don’t want Ken Paxton running for the Senate. He is doing more for this country in fighting the culture war as state Attorney General’s than he could ever accomplish in the U.S. Senate.
[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]