One of the best things about the 50 states is that each of them is an independent laboratory of democracy republican government. Meaning: We can all learn from each other’s mistakes.

Or not learn.

Texas, for example, is right now struggling to apply the lessons of Michigan in its handling of the spread of Islam, and the Lone Star State’s grade so far is a middling C. (Sorry, but I’m not an Ivy League grade inflator.)

Michigan is the home of Dearborn, after all, and it has a favorite son of that Muslim enclave, Abdul el-Sayed, tied for the lead in the Democrat Party’s race to fill the state’s open U.S. Senate seat. Michigan also has commencement-speaking college professors who feel completely comfortable in taking the side of Hamas in its unending war with Israel. In Michigan, Islam is clearly on the march.

Aww, that could NEVER happen in Texas, comes the common refrain. But who says so? When push comes to shove, exactly how will Texas behave any differently than Michigan? Remember: Muslim leaders, in their unguarded moments, have already given us their game plan: They’re going to conquer us, they say, with the wombs of their women.

As for Texas, yes, officials there have done some limited flexing lately. Yesterday, Governor Greg Abbott took to X to threaten the city of Grand Prairie for its effort to hold a “Muslims only” event in a city-owned water park. “That’s religious discrimination,” said Abbott. “It’s unconstitutional. I signed HB 4211 into law — banning Muslim only no-go zones in Texas. The City must cancel the event and commit to never allowing something like it again by May 11th, or lose $530,000 in state grants. Let this be a lesson to local officials: Facilities funded by ALL taxpayers are not just for a subset of Texans.”

Late last year, Republican Congressman Chip Roy, who’s now running for attorney general, introduced the Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act, which should have a lot more support in Congress than it currently does. As Roy put it:

America is facing an existential threat — the spread of Sharia Law. From Texas to every state in the union, instances of Sharia Law adherents have threatened the American way of life, seeking to replace our legal system and Constitution with an incompatible ideology that diminishes the rights of women, children, and individuals of different faiths.

Europe should be a wakeup call to America, showing what the spread of Sharia law looks like — the erosion of the West. America’s immigration system must be fortified to counter the importation of Sharia adherents — the preservation of our constitutional republic and its people depend on it.

That’s good stuff, but have you Texans checked out your local Costco lately? (Incidentally, if you’re looking for the perfect mood music to write a grim and cautionary column on the march of Islam in the U.S., allow me to recommend Hans Zimmer’s occasionally mournful and persistently unsettling “Black Hawk Down” soundtrack.)

If Texas can be excused for not yet having risen to the challenge of Michigan, there can be no excuse for any of us to ignore what’s happening across the pond. Woe is Europe, which, it pains me to say, is in a demographic death spiral. The home of the Magna Carta and the Renaissance and the Enlightenment has opened its floodgates to Muslim immigration, and her native citizens are unable (read: unwilling) to procreate at replacement rate. Therefore, Europe is destined to be overtaken by the only segment of its population that is replacing at and well beyond replacement rate: those Muslim immigrants. Europe as we’ve known it for centuries is going out of business, and it will likely be under new Muslim management in a couple of decades. Europe is our DEW Line, folks, our canary in the coal mine. But only if we heed the warning and pay attention to what’s happening there.

Yeah, yeah, you say. And, to be fair, Governor Abbott has lately been raising a ruckus about Islam, and he’s the overwhelming favorite to win a fourth four-year term on November 3. Meanwhile, in the race to replace outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton, the two Republicans vying to do so — the aforementioned Congressman Roy and State Senator Mayes Middleton — have both been critical of the “Islamification” of Texas, and the one who wins the state’s May 26 GOP primary will become the overwhelming favorite.

But, again, talk is cheap, and Muslims don’t tend to be cowed by talk alone. (Ask the Iranian mullahs about this. Er, never mind. Instead, ask the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps about this.) So the question is: What concrete steps does Texas plan to take to prevent the ever-increasing demographic Islamification of the state?

There are certainly some individual Texans who’ve courageously stood up for their state and their Christian heritage. One of them, a tigress named Christine Weick, famously snatched away the microphone at “Texas Muslim Capitol Day” in the sanctuary city of Austin to say, “I proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus Christ over the capital of Texas. I stand against Islam and the false prophet Muhammad! Islam will never dominate the United States, and by the Grace of God, it will not dominate Texas!”

I’ve watched that magnificent clip again and again, and we need plenty more of it. But in the end, again, those are just words. They’re a rallying cry bravely shouted, but what are the next steps?

We’re a nation founded on religious freedom, so these questions don’t come lightly. But, Texas, we love you. And we’re depending on you. Because if tough Texas can’t curb the spread of Islam across its borders, what real hope do the other 49 have?