ABOUT
STEPHEN SAMUELSON
The Path That Brought Me Here
U.S. Army veteran. Father. Public advocate. A Texan who believes government should be understandable, accountable, and answerable to the people.
Evidence. Transparency. Accountability.
SERVICE
I joined the U.S. military at 17, beginning service in January 2001.
Over the next ten years, I served with the 98th Division, the NCO Academy, and the Southwest Information Operations Command. My Military Occupational Specialty was 25B, Information Systems Operator-Analyst.
In 2004, I deployed to the Middle East.
My military career ended before I was ready.
While overseas, I was exposed to a nerve agent. The resulting health consequences eventually led to my medical retirement in November 2010.
EDUCATION &
CONTINUING SERVICE
After returning home, I earned my bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
For the past ten years, I have continued serving in a different way by providing non-clinical support to trauma survivors, military members, police, EMS, and others facing intense stress in their lives and professions.
My role has been simple: listen, support, and share practical tools for resilience.
THE TURNING POINT
What eventually brought me into this work was not politics.
It was accountability.
When serious issues arose within our local school district, my family followed the grievance process and tried to address them through the systems government tells citizens to use.
Instead of accountability, we encountered resistance and threats.
Then, during a school board meeting, I stood at the podium to speak publicly about what was happening.
My speech was silenced from the government's official broadcast.
That became the turning point.
FROM ONE CASE TO TEXAS LAW
The First Amendment case caused me to start asking a larger question:
I found provisions that I believe deserve much greater public scrutiny—particularly where authority moves away from individual Texans and toward agencies, corporations, private entities, or appointed boards.
How did government acquire the authority to do some of these things in the first place?
The problem was that most people I spoke with did not have the time to read hundreds of pages of legislation.
I began reading Texas House and Senate bills, following amendments, comparing versions, and looking at where authority was being moved.
So I started doing it for them.
WHY RESILIENT TEXAN EXISTS
Resilient Texan exists to make government easier to examine.
But to put the documents, laws, filings, records, and evidence in front of them so they can decide for themselves.
Not to ask people to blindly trust me.
You are not required to trust politicians.
Not to tell people what to think.
You are not required to trust me.
You should trust what you can verify.
