The Cocky Rooster in Comfort, Texas, is one of those joints where everybody knows everybody. Creedence Clearwater Revival pumps through the speakers, friends laugh over longnecks, and there are casual mentions that the folks around here come armed. There is also a Trump sticker on the fridge. And that’s the twist about most small Texas towns: they will chat you up. Even when you inform them that some Right-Wing Christian fundamentalists want to open their incorporated town just miles down the road. I got a lot of “wait, what?”
Former Texas state representative Rick Green touts himself as “America’s Constitution Coach.” He founded Patriot Academy, a nonprofit civic training organization under the Torch of Freedom Foundation, offering constitutional instruction, firearms training, “Biblical citizenship” programs, and immersive leadership simulations. Patriot Academy promises to "equip America's future leaders" with a Biblical and constitutional worldview, offering everything from mock legislative sessions and firearms training to a year-long leadership program that costs $14,997.
Founded in 2003 under Rick Green’s Torch of Freedom Foundation, Patriot Academy now claims to have trained over one million people with its brand of Right-Wind ideology. His latest initiative is to formally incorporate the Academy’s 177-acre campus in Kendall County, Texas, as a municipality called Constitution City, governed by a mayor and commissioners. But how do you incorporate a city in an unincorporated county, and you hate taxes and basically forms of modern government?
Living in an unincorporated county in Texas means you’re outside city limits, so there’s no municipal government, just county-level services — fewer regulations, fewer amenities, and a lot more room for both freedom and loopholes.
Comfort is a small community in the rolling Hill Country, it’s a beautiful place where people from Austin and San Antonio take day trips to sip wine and shop for kitschy knickknacks with their bachelorette parties, or just hanging with Granny.
The Patriot Academy sits on a country road in Kendall County. Cars zoom past, but there is only a gate and a brick sign. There’s also an empty guard tower. (Neither the Patriot Academy nor Rick Green returned requests for interviews.) As I stood in the driveway, a guy with a truck full of lumber punched in his code and went onto the property. He was the only person to enter the property while I snapped a few photos of the signage.
What does “Biblical Citizenship” look like? According to Patriot Academy, the course lays out what it means to be a Christian citizen in modern America, with lessons on “The Foundation,” “Religious Liberty & Other Rights,” and “Being Salt & Light.” Mix this with gun training and things start to become clear on the type of person the proposed “Constitution City” is aiming for: a well-to-do “Patriot” with the not-in-my-backyard mentality and some bucks in their pockets. Tyranny is already here; it just doesn’t share the same tax bracket or skin color. The academy's website boasts about teaching 'constitutional defense' through scenario-based training where students practice responding to 'government overreach.' (Overreach is constantly happening, though.)
Driving around Comfort, it’s a small, tight-knit community. Residents said Democrats and Republicans live together in a live-and-let-live harmony, choosing not to socially engage on politics. One person told me their general feelings are similar to the founders of Comfort, who didn’t want to be under the thumb of religion or government (ironic): “we ain’t the incorporating kind of folks, you know?” But as I stopped into the Chamber of Commerce, the 8th Street Market, and other spots, the vibe was the same: “don’t get me started on those people.” The more people I spoke with, the more they had no idea this was going on, and didn’t want to talk on the record for fear of reprisal. One person who did offer a comment was resident Deborah Shaw, who was not in favor of kids being trained on the grounds of the Patriot Academy: “It’s been something that’s concerned me ever since I saw that sign go up.”
Locals kept raising concerns about what Green and his compatriots are up to. While some expressed support for living freely, the overwhelming consensus was that they were not excited about sharing the same zip code. “This is really scary,” a front desk clerk said as we chatted. It’s easy to understand why people didn’t want to go on record; this town is their home.
Green’s political career wasn’t exactly fighting for progressive values. He’s been a controversial figure since his Texas Legislature days in the early 2000s. He faced ethics investigations for lobbying violations, was censured for filming infomercials in his Capitol office, and admitted to punching a fellow legislator in 2006, resulting in assault charges and probation. His failed Supreme Court bids drew opposition from former justices concerned about his record.
He represented Melvin Cox, a family friend and business associate convicted of defrauding investors of $30 million. Green successfully lobbied Cox's parole board, helping secure the fraudster's release after serving less than three years of a 16-year sentence. When Green made his own political comeback attempts, running for Texas Supreme Court in 2010 and 2016, the legal establishment mobilized against him. Five former justices publicly endorsed his opponent, underscoring concerns about Green's fitness for the bench.
And then came Patriot Academy, with Green's boldest gambit: transforming his 177-acre campus into an actual incorporated municipality. The plan would create a "Type C" general law city housing roughly 200 residents—primarily staff and student families—making it one of Texas's smallest municipalities. Local commissioners initially greenlit putting the proposal on the November ballot, but the initiative quickly hit legal roadblocks. Critics questioned whether a gated community that blends religious, educational, and civic functions should operate as its own government entity.
It was reported that the ballot initiative passed, and in November residents would vote on whether Constitution City could happen, until the plug was pulled. Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk ultimately rejected Green's petition, writing that he "cannot say that satisfactory proof has been made that the community contains the requisite number of inhabitants." He revealed Green had first approached him during a disaster emergency “when I was without the advice of General Counsel.” That Green's claimed precedent “appears that no such legal precedent exists.” Stolarczyk has now requested guidance from the Texas Attorney General's office before considering any future attempts.
Some of the legal snares involve wording, such as the difference between what is a “resident” and an “inhabitant,” but does that really matter? Also, how do you pay for lights, maintenance, new construction, amenities? Those are usually built into a condo complex’s structure, but with a larger housing project, wouldn’t that equate to taxes in a different name? If the anti-big government crowd starts building small, enclosed communities like this, when do we get to start calling them what they are: Cults. (Gated compound, ideological training, financial exploitation, authoritarian structure.) It’s hypocrisy at its finest: I don’t want to live by your rules, but if the cash goes in my pocket, it’s totally cool.
In Texas, Ken Paxton is the Big Cheese, and he loves backing ultra-religious, Right Wing anything, so there’s an excellent chance the issue will find its way onto the ballot, because Texas. If the guy with the wood was any indication of their plans, the site has no plans of slowing down, and residents of Comfort should care who they’re calling “neighbor” even if they come draped in a flag, carrying a cross – because who knows what lies underneath? A fat wallet if you can shell out $15 large for classes, just imagine what a house costs. God only knows.