In Lak’Ech and the Good Samaritan: Texas State Rep. James Talarico and the Redemptive Politics of Radical Neighborliness
by
Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.
September 17, 2025
With tens of millions of views on TikTok and a steady stream of national coverage, State Rep. James Talarico (D–Round Rock) is being talked about as “the next big thing” in Texas politics. In a July 1, 2025 special edition of Austin InSight/Austin PBS, host Laura Laughead sits down with Talarico for a wide-ranging conversation about what’s happening at the Capitol, how his openly professed Christian faith shapes his politics, and where he’s headed next.
What makes this interview worth watching isn’t just Talarico’s rising profile; it’s the way he frames public service through a moral vocabulary—love of neighbor, dignity, and the common good—while pushing for policies that address material needs here and now. That juxtaposition, rare in our polarized climate, comes through clearly in the full, unabridged conversation now available through PBS.
Talarico also speaks openly about his calling beyond politics. He’s an aspiring preacher studying at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and he treats faith not as a weapon but as a compass. For Texans who are weary of performative culture wars, that posture offers something different—an appeal to shared values, even when his policy positions may not be your own.
I find myself in strong agreement with his view that the separation of church and state protects both. It not only prevents the state from privileging one faith tradition over another, but also safeguards the integrity of the church by ruling out the possibility of political co-optation. It’s no wonder that the Austin Seminary has publicly expressed support for his journey.
As we know and have ourselves heard, Texas politics is often narrated as a clash of ideologies. Talarico reframes it as a contest of imaginations: What kind of neighbor will we be to one another? What do love, safety, and opportunity look like when translated into law and budget—not just rhetoric? Agree or not, he is modeling a style of leadership that could broaden rather than narrow the public conversation, especially among younger voters who may first encounter him on TikTok before meeting him at the ballot box.
Watching this episode also stirred something personal. I realized that Talarico and I share a spiritual inheritance—our grandfathers were both Baptist preachers. My granddad was my pastor throughout my entire youth. My own father—my late grandfather's son-in-law—continues in ministry today as a missionary in Peru. Incidentally, my grandfather was also a minister, for a time, in the Mexican Presbyterian church in my hometown of San Angelo, Texas, which he viewed as theologically similar to that of the Baptist Church.
I am deeply grateful for having grown up in my grandfather’s Mexican Baptist church where we believed deeply in the Golden Rule: to treat others as we ourselves wish to be treated. I've previously mentioned on this blog how this ethic is practically universal in faith traditions across cultures, including the Mayan philosophy of In Lak’Ech, rooted in empathy, reciprocity, and the recognition of our interdependence and the responsibilities we hold toward one another in a community and in society.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is fully about the Golden Rule and In Lak’Ech, speaking to a deeper principle of radical neighborliness. It teaches that compassion requires crossing boundaries of identity, tribe, and nation to see the humanity in the other—and to act on that recognition. These traditions remind us that true faith and true justice are not abstract ideals, but lived commitments to care for those around us, especially the vulnerable and marginalized.
Abundant thanks to Rep. Talarico for modeling a politics rooted in faith, imagination, and radical neighborliness—neighborliness that is not so radical after all, considering it echoes the Golden Rule, In Lak’Ech, and the shared moral teachings at the heart of nearly every faith tradition. His example reminds us that compassion and justice, far from being fringe ideals, are the foundations of the democratic society we aspire to build.
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