In case you missed it…
Kimberley Strassel in Las Vegas!
Kimberley Strassel’s bombshell reporting in the Wall Street Journal over the last several months has exposed the vast abuse of power at the FBI during the 2016 election. In June, as the keynote speaker for NPRI’s Annual Celebration, Kimberley shared some of the “inside scoop” directly with Institute supporters — but if you missed it, don’t worry! Her appearance was so insightful, and her message so powerful, NPRI has welcomed her back to speak at our Anniversary Celebration in Las Vegas on September 20th! Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Kimberley document the plague of corruption, power abuse and political bias that now besets the nation! (Click here to register.)
Free speech
Democrat Rep. Jacky Rosen has announced she is a co-sponsor of the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act of 2018. Essentially, the bill would require virtually everyone to report themselves to the government for donating or spending a certain amount on political ads — even if the ads were not a direct part of a political campaign. What Rosen, as well as the other sponsors of the bill, fail to realize is that the right to anonymously support certain speech is, at its heart, the same thing as the freedom of speech itself. After all, there’s a reason the authors of The Federalist Papers (and the Anti-Federalist Papers) used pen names to write their essays. (Read more)
Economy and growth
The economy is moving right along, with an impressive 4.1 percent GDP growth in the second quarter of 2018. Some of that growth was, admittedly, a product of increased government spending (a silly thing to include in GDP, but that’s an issue for a different time) and the threat of tariffs (a disappointing policy proposal from the Trump administration). Beyond that, however, the numbers look promising. And another positive: The massive deregulation taking place on the federal level, along with the tax cuts of 2017, were big factors in creating such a strong second quarter this year. (Read more)
Educational choice
Lawmakers and candidates had better take notice: Parents are hungry for educational choice. In fact, some of the largest advocates of programs like Education Savings Accounts or Opportunity Tax Scholarships are minority parents and millennials. This dynamic means parents — not the special interests that run the current public-school monopoly — have a real opportunity to shape the policies that lawmakers will tackle in 2019. And with more and more parents demanding choice, those lawmakers had better get their priorities right. (Read more)
Unions
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that states cannot require public employees to pay “agency fees” to unions. The reason was simple: Workers should not be required to fund political activity with which they disagree — and public sector unions are inherently political organizations. Union experts recognize that the level of political activism has caused a rift with many members, leading large numbers of workers to opt out of union membership. Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, points out that many teachers, in particular, believe their union acts “too leftist” for their taste. She notes, for example, that “only half of all teachers voted for Hillary Clinton.” Given the rift political activism has caused among their members, one would think union leaders would be anxious to act less political moving forward. In reality, however, unions are doing just the opposite. (Read more)
Pre-kindergarten education
In recent years, the public-school establishment has pushed hard to get sweeping pre-kindergarten education programs implemented in many states. What the proponents of this campaign conveniently ignore, however, is that the evidence doesn’t justify forcing kids into an early educational program. Indeed, studies show it may even hurt the child’s later academic performance. A recent study of Tennessee’s voluntary pre-K program — like earlier studies — showed that children who took part in the program actually ended up with more discipline problems, higher special education needs and overall worse academic performance later on in their academic career. (Read more)