Just An Average Citizen

09/21/2026

Weighing in on these kind of decisions is what shapes future elections. Your input is vital to the success of our city government Please share to help others know their input is needed to weigh the benefits and costs to this program. Sadly it is not only in the public space but now in the private space as well. You giving input is critical to direct our council to do what they citizens require of them.
I heard a comment the other day about a group who had attacked everyone one of the Bill of Rights except for the 2nd Amendment. The only reason why that one was safe was because it was the 2nd Amendment. We are in a new age of digital technology coming very close if not directly violating our rights. Do you understand the costs and how it affects you?
City Council will a presentation about the Flock cameras in our city and the benefits they offer. The statement "everyone deserves to feel safe" is really good sounding, but fundamentally not true. Now whether you support these cameras is another conversation. Here isn where terms must be defined in oder to have productive conversations. Will that happen on Thursday?
The council .gov email goes to all of them and they cannot respond. If you need help with the way to word your email or public comment, message me! I am not going to tell you what to say, but help you articulate it in a way that is less intimidating for you! If you feel comfortable emailing one individually, that is even better, Link to all the emails is in the comments.
Come to the meeting. You should be done around 9 am if you want to make a public comment! What a great way to start your day! 🙂

09/14/2026

This starts tomorrow! So excited to start connecting with others who are ready to understand how our government works, how to apply it life here in Abilene, and restores confidence in the power of your voice! Lots of noise from people telling you who to vote for but never empowering you to actually understand real steps to take to make a difference.

All the power is not in out President, Governor, or even Mayor’s hands. They have power because we the people gave it to them. That’s good news! That means we do t put all our hope in one person.

Even if you are not a Christian, understanding our founding documents is key to maintaining true liberty in our nation!

Use QR code to register or link in comments. Class is free, has no homework, and you will feel empowered and hopeful that our nation is worth fighting for to ensure our kids and grandkids have a great place e to live in!

09/11/2026

What a fun two days! I had no idea what my biggest takeaway would be! I’m so thankful for average citizens!

I was never one to care about party stuff. I never thought it really mattered because I live in the middle of West Texas. But as I have learned about how our country works, how government works, I realized something. We need to start local. But guess who can help us work through those issues? People who know what’s going on at state. Guess how we work on things at state? Being connected to those who are working on nationwide stuff. As much as I care about Abilene, it is not an isolated community. We are connected.

Watching convention from home was interesting, but it never felt like it connected to me until now. Bring in person makes it real. Being in person helps you to see these are real people trying to do real things in real time. Are they perfect? No. Do I love everything they do? No. But are we all trying to work to be a part of something bigger than ourselves? Yes.

If you try to expect one person to fix our problems, you will be disappointed. I’m learning that one person should not have that much power in our country. It’s meant to be that way. If we don’t like what’s happened, it will take time to change things. That’s how our government works. It will take years. As much as it ticks me off that our city council has raised our taxes for over ten years, it doesn’t surprise me that after two years trying to work to fix it, we are making progress. This is part of the process, part of how we do it.

If I hadn’t started getting involved locally, I wouldn’t I have met others working hard to make a difference in our state. If I hadn’t connected with others in my state, then I wouldn’t have met others across the nation. But you know who I loved seeing the most? My friends who are in the thick of things working hard to get people like you and me involved so we can make the changes we truly want.

It amazes me to now recognize I have friends all across this nation who care about being used by God to make an impact in our community. It was also fun to see my fellow Abilenians! In all those people we still were able to run into each other. It makes our world seem a little smaller and our fight and little more worth it.

You have the power to make a difference. Those who want you to feel fear or like your voice doesn’t matter are people you should run away from. Those who tell you one person is the problem or one person is the answer is using you. You might not make the instant impact, but those who are willing to jump in, roll up your selves, and get to work will see how you have a lot more influence than you’ve been told you do!

09/09/2026

The more you know.

Just in case I use too many words. Here was one of the most frustrating part of the whole packet. Waiting until the motion to say the quiet part out loud. It is the quiet part they don’t want to really address. This was taken from what a councilmen has to say when making the motion.

“Increasing the tax rate.” Not a relatively flat tax. Not the lowest tax rate in ten years. Definitely not lowering the tax rate but Increasing it, by over 4%. Make that all make sense I won’t be there Thursday to say this in public comment.

I knew changing it much in August once they present the always increasing budget is hard, but we have to start somewhere. I’ve learned better what to ask for this year. But it comes through trial and error. You have to try to in order to learn from your error.

When the ever raising budget is a bragging point and it means raising your taxes year after year, we have problems. You are the solution.

Last chance to let them know what you need and how raising this budget and expanding h government is the opposite of what we need. Getting comfortable engaging with you elected official is a skill that will easier with time.

Please share to help spread the words about what is going on.

09/09/2026

It’s official. Do you see what I’ve been saying for months is actually happening like I said it would? What can you find?

09/01/2026

08/28/2026

I guess it’s never been more clear to me than this budget workshop that they are all taking as much money from the citizen that the law allows. They’re not worried about how much it cost you. They’re not worried about being mindful of how they spend taxpayer money. They just want as much as they can get without having to go to the voters to ask for it. When you realize this piece of information, then you can understand why they have been taking more money from you every year and then trying to pull it off as if this rate is lower than any other rate in 10 years. We know that when they are using the rate to compare compared to other years, we know that they’re distracting you from what they’re really doing. Ironically, the lowest rate still means you’re paying higher taxes.

Once you understand what they’re doing then it helps you to formulate the conversations that need to be had with them. I’m super disappointed that they see no need to lower the amount of taxes citizens pay and instead we find ways to spend money in order to keep taking more and more money from us

08/27/2026

You are making a difference. Your voice matters.

08/26/2026

I hope this is helping break some of the complexity of this down so you can understand and engage better in what is happening in local government! It requires us to participate! I am see some postive changes happening because the conversations we are having! Keep up the good work! We can accomplish so much more when we are working together!