Stories of Freedom: a “First Principles” Must Read

The current edition of Hillsdale College's newsletter, Imprimis, contains an outstanding tribute by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (TX) to freedom and the career of a lady who famously said, “I am not a consensus politician.  I am a conviction politician.”  Hillsdale President Larry Arnne, a confidante of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, also remembers defining moments in the career his friend.  Enjoy a few excerpts below or click here to read the entire publication.

From remarks by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (TX)

But most importantly, freedom produces opportunity. And I would encourage each of you to embrace what I call opportunity conservatism, which means that we should look at and judge every proposed domestic policy with a laser focus on how it impacts the least among us—how it helps the most vulnerable Americans climb the economic ladder.

The political left in our country seeks to reach down the hand of government and move people up the economic ladder. This attempt is almost always driven by noble intentions. And yet it never, ever works. Conservatives, in contrast, understand from experience that the only way to help people climb the economic ladder is to provide them the opportunity to pull themselves up one rung at a time…

Innovating SC Education Policy: Why the Need for Change?

Compelling statistics below that reinforce why education transformation is so vital to the economic future of our Palmetto State:

• Reading is not taught beyond 3^rd grade, yet 38% of our state’s 4^th graders are functionally illiterate and 72% read below grade level. (NAEP 2011)
• In Charleston County, nearly 20% of 9^th graders read at a 4^th-grade level or worse. (Charleston Post & Courier, May 18, 2010)
• Some 28% of South Carolina’s students fail to complete high school within four years, most of whom are dropouts. (SCDE Graduation Report, June 2011)
• According to ACT’s benchmarks, SC students who took the test, only 19% were deemed “college ready.” (ACT Profile Report, Class of 2011)
• Nearly 50% of SC students who enroll as freshman at a four-year college fail to graduate within six years. (SC Commission for Higher Education, 2011)
• While South has a 9.5% unemployment rate, there are extensive shortages of skilled workers for high technology manufacturing. (SC Department of Employment and Workforce; The State, Jan. 25, 2012)
• Most high school exit exams measure proficiency at the 8^th to 10^th grade levels. They are set this low to minimize the number of dropouts. (“Beyond the Rhetoric,” SREB, June 2010)
• The U.S. has fallen from 1^st in the world in high school graduation rate to 18^th of 24 industrialized nations. (“Benchmarking for Success,” National Governors’ Assoc., 2008)
• Between 2007 and 2009, teacher job satisfaction fell by 15 points to 44%, the lowest level since 1986. Additionally, 29% said they are likely to leave teaching for another profession. (The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, 2011)

Education Alert: Universal Pre-K…Spending for Success?

In short, “No.”  President Obama’s push for massive federal spending on a universal pre-kindergarten program generated heated opposition over cost, government overreach and the questionable effectiveness of existing programs like Head Start.

But now this debate has landed on our front step. The South Carolina State Senate  is scheduled to vote early next week on Budget Proviso 1.83 that would create just such a program in SC.  This is the wrong choice for South Carolina’s hard-earned taxpayer education dollars.

New SC Poll Reveals Voter Concern About Medicaid Expansion

Voters fear rushing into waste, uncertainty and cost.

A statewide survey of South Carolina voters commissioned by Palmetto Policy Forum and conducted by Magellan Strategies reveals a divided and doubtful electorate on the issue of expanding Medicaid in South Carolina to include able-bodied adults up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level.  The survey was conducted April 30–May 1 with 940 likely general election voters and has a margin of error of +/-3.2%.

The rush to expand Medicaid under provisions of The Affordable Care Act in the face of waste, fraud and abuse is at the top of voter worries.  Key survey findings include:

1. Among active voters, when given no further facts, Medicaid expansion is deadlocked at 44% favoring and 44% opposed to expansion with a large partisan split between Republicans (who oppose expansion by 75%) and Democrats (who support expansion by 81%).  A strong plurality (45%) of independent voters opposes expansion.
2. A plurality of all voters (48%) believes that Medicaid is a “flawed program that wastes a lot of money, has problems of fraud and abuse, and is in severe need of reform.”
3. When presented with the wide variance in expert projections on the expected number of new enrollees, 45% of all voters oppose Medicaid expansion. Removing those who are Unsure or have No Opinion, a majority (52%) oppose expansion based on expert uncertainty over projected growth in enrollment.
4. When presented with specific cost estimates, 47% oppose Medicaid expansion. Again, removing those Unsure or with No Opinion, opposition rises to 56% based on estimated costs. While again, there is a deep divide between Republicans and Democrats on this issue, key swing voters think more like Republicans, with 75% of Republicans, 11% of Democrats and 51% of Independents opposing expansion over the question of cost.

Tough Tuesday for the NLRB

The D.C. Circuit issues a double smackdown to the politicized agency.

Wall Street Journal

Tuesday was a tough day at the office for President Obama's National Labor Relations Board. First, three judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling in National Association of Manufacturers v. National Labor Relations Board, struck down the NLRB's diktat that businesses put up pro-union posters in the workplace. That, the court said, violated employer free speech rights in place since Congress's 1947 Taft-Hartley Act. It got worse...

Roger Pilon: Graduates, Your Ambition Is the Problem

Obama's commencement speech at Ohio State on Sunday would have perplexed the Founders. 

Wall Street Journal, By Roger Pilon

Civic education in America took a hit on Sunday when President Obama, giving the commencement address at The Ohio State University, chose citizenship as his theme. The country's Founders trusted citizens with "awesome authority," he told the assembled graduates. Really?

Actually, the Founders distrusted us, at least in our collective capacity. That's why they wrote a Constitution that set clear limits on what we, as citizens, could do through government.

The Coming ObamaCare Shock

by Daniel P. Kessler, Wall Street Journal 

In recent weeks, there have been increasing expressions of concern from surprising quarters about the implementation of ObamaCare. Montana Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat, called it a "train wreck." A Democratic colleague, West Virginia's Sen. Jay Rockefeller, described the massive Affordable Care Act as "beyond comprehension." Henry Chao, the government's chief technical officer in charge of putting in place the insurance exchanges mandated by the law, was quoted in the Congressional Quarterly as saying "I'm pretty nervous . . . Let's just make sure it's not a third-world experience."

These individuals are worried for good reason. The unpopular health-care law's rollout is going to be rough. It will also administer several price (and other) shocks to tens of millions of Americans.