Terror has washed over the globe as a virus has compromised hundreds of thousands of people. In an age where the world is more connected than ever, this Flu-like illness is stoking fear across the global population and humbling the economy. The year is not 2020, but 1918. As the Spanish Flu ravaged communities, many feared for the worst.
However, the similarities between these pandemics largely end there. In 1918, the world found itself amidst the first truly global war as the preeminent powers raged against each other. Millions of soldiers were dug into trenches in close-quarters with largely unhygienic conditions. Medical knowledge failed to adequately comprehend the virus or its spread. As we organize a global response to a similar Flu-like illness, it’s critically important to recognize that we are a changed society, and that the only common line between 1918 and today is the fear that is inherent to human nature. The question at hand is whether we will allow that fear to paralyze us.
During the Spanish Flu pandemic, individuals were largely forced to forego treatment as little could be done, medically, to better their condition. Nurses, instead had to simply attempt to ease suffering in patients. Today, private and public groups alike are quickly moving forward on all fronts to develop a vaccine for the long term, and countries around the world are developing more effective short term treatments as we speak.
Today, every news outlet, Twitter feed, Facebook post, and article seem to discuss one thing and one thing only: the virus. Voices repetitively echo stories that continue to provoke fear amongst the population. Our society is connected more than ever before, just as we seemed to be in 1918, yet now we have quicker access to news and updates from around the globe in an instant, for better or for worse.
Yet, if fear is our worst enemy, hope is its counter. As we continue to press deeper into this crisis, I have found that it is the moments that highlight our shared humanity which ring the loudest and serve as the brightest points of light in an otherwise dark world, whether it be a video of Italians collectively singing from their balconies or an individual taking time to sew masks from home.
Fortunately, we don’t find ourselves in the depths of a world war, as we did in 1918, but similar lessons stand true. While we fear this sickness, it is impossible to put on pause all the events of the world, and those who serve essential causes during this time prove to be inherent testaments to that fact.
While restaurants were beginning to close, people were panic-buying toilet paper at grocery stores, and employees were adjusting to working from home, my dad sent me an email. From the other side of the world he sent me a picture of a fighter jet landing on his aircraft carrier as a double rainbow shown in the distance. I was shaken by the picture. While so many stoked fear, he and his men were carrying on, going months on end without a port visit, to continue to defend critical shipping lanes and defend the American homeland.
Thousands of Americans continue to serve their communities in vital roles. While many work from home, our police officers, nurses, doctors, soldiers, and fire fighters continue to stand on the front lines, offering a semblance of order in a society that is being overwhelmed with chaos.
While nations currently don’t rage against each other, all are forced to fight against a common enemy. And, while not all of us stand on the front lines of this current crisis, each of us plays an important role in countering this invisible enemy. It is vital that we seek to minimize factors that could spread this virus, like unnecessary travel and group interactions. We can not trivialize our role, for the lives of our community members may well rest in the choices that each of us make, whether we are sick or not.
The question that is worth asking is how we can each be as a double rainbow, a small bit of light brightening somebody else’s day during this crisis. Each of us has capacity in our own ways, whether it be through prayer, the making of donations through money or blood drives, or the giving of our time to local causes.
We have come a long way since 1918. Today we respond to this pandemic with an enhanced capacity to analyze and ultimately counter it. True control over our future lies not just in the political leadership of a nation or on the researchers pursuing a cure, it lies with the everyday American. Our decisions over the coming weeks and perhaps months will decide the ultimate fate of this virus. We must not allow ourselves to become burdened or crippled by fear, for only in seeing hope and recalling each other’s shared humanity can we keep level heads and carry ourselves in a way that minimizes the spread of this virus and uplifts those who are currently suffering.
This is the second of a three-part series, Perspectives of a Pandemic.
We certainly live in unique and challenging times. This pandemic is real. But, it’s helpful to remember that our forefathers lived in really tough times too, and endured even more uncertainty.
With raised concern for our families and loved ones over the Coronavirus and worry over the related economic fallout, we all have a lot to stress about. We pray that you and your family are safe and healthy. If you want to let us know your status through an email, phone call, or social media post, we would love to hear from you and know that you are safe.
As we all do our part to help each other in this strange time, I wanted to let you know that MCPP and MJI are continuing to advance our important mission every day. For the safety of our employees, we have given everyone the option to do their jobs remotely for the time being. Wherever we work, we will continue to make the urgent case for limited government, strong families, free markets, and personal responsibility. Doing so is now more important than ever. We have cases to litigate, opinions to write, and bills to advance. Liberty needs to continue to expand so that Mississippi can be on the high road to freedom.
While there is an important role for government to play in times like these, MCPP and MJI have an absolute obligation to protect your rights and ensure state and local policies are appropriate, sensible and limited. And while we certainly need the flexibility to address difficult challenges like the COVID-19 virus presents, we also need to remember that the reason we are so strong as a civil society is that we always prioritize liberty and constitutional principles, and we get the best results when we attack these challenges with free enterprise, creativity, and private institutions, and not with excessive government. We will continue to remind our policymakers and our fellow Mississippians of that in the days ahead.
Over the coming weeks, we will witness how innovations like telemedicine play an outsized role in minimizing the spread of the Coronavirus, and how lifting regulations may lead to an expedited vaccine. We will witness how flexible remote work policies and technology allow so many of us to keep our jobs and continue providing services to those who need them. We’ll also witness how disruptive innovations, like in-home delivery, allow consumers to receive food right to our doorstep. We’ll highlight for our readers and supporters how so-called “price gouging” is a fundamental misunderstanding of how markets work. If we want to ensure an abundance of something, we should let suppliers respond to market signals. If we want to ensure the scarcity of something, we should let the government institute price fixing and rationing.
During the next few weeks or months of social distancing, I encourage you to stay in touch with us and contribute to the conversation about the importance of maintaining our shared values and principles during these difficult times. We promise to continue serving as an effective voice for liberty in Mississippi, now more than ever. We appreciate and value your standing with us as our work continues.
In Mississippi, it is legal to have an abortion because the preborn child’s race, sex, or disability is not preferred by the baby’s parents.
This has prompted Rep. Carolyn Crawford (R-Pass Christian) and Sen. Jenifer Branning (R-Philadelphia) to bring the Life Equality Act to Mississippi. This proposed law would prohibit abortions from taking place because of the preborn child’s race, sex, or disability.
We should not tolerate the terminal discrimination of preborn children because some extended families do not approve of interracial relationships, or because a parent prefers to have a son to a daughter. Still more common is the termination of those with disabilities, a tragedy that no one would attempt to justify outside of the womb.
A medical review looked at seven population-based studies and found that the average abortion rate after a Down Syndrome diagnosis was 67 percent. A comprehensive survey facilitated by the Charlotte Lozier Institute took opinions of people with Down Syndrome and their families and found the following:
- 99% of people with Down syndrome are happy with their lives
- 97% of people with Down syndrome like who they are
- 97% of brothers/sisters, ages 9-11, said they love their sibling
One only has to spend a brief moment with an individual who has Down Syndrome to witness the joy they bring into a room. Many individuals with Down Syndrome go on to live independently, attend university, marry, and maintain jobs.
However, even if these facts were not the case, individuals with Down Syndrome have an unalienable right to life. Down Syndrome and many other disabilities come as heartbreaking news to expectant mothers. Some disabilities display themselves so prominently in children that they are unable to walk, eat independently, or use the restroom alone. Some diagnoses in the womb are terminal or tragically involve the early death of babies and young children.
None of this should be minimized.
What do we, Mississippi, say of these lives?
It is unfathomable to those of us who have not faced an unforeseen diagnosis of a preborn child to know the emotions and financial strain these parents face. It is up to us, Mississippi, to step up, come alongside these parents, and support them. Over 40 privately funded pregnancy resource centers provide free, confidential resources and information for families facing a diagnosis. Local non-profits, churches, and local support groups offer emotional and financial support to families with children with disabilities. We certainly have room to improve and increase these services in Mississippi, but improving the world for families with disabilities requires respect for their lives, not the promotion of abortion.
For terminal cases when infants only live for a short time after birth or have a chance of passing away in the womb, perinatal hospice and palliative care programs are available to Mississippians. Care for the mother and preborn child is the ethical response to severe anomalies. Abortion does not resolve cases where a lethal fetal anomaly exists; it merely destroys the life of one of the patients. Patients and their families can and should be offered the ethical options of perinatal hospice or palliative care to support them in the same way we do families with an adult member for whom treatment has become futile. Even a brief life has meaning.
There are times diagnoses do not result in a worst case scenario. A woman in Flowood, Tina Oates, was pressured by doctors in Mississippi to abort her son, Coit, after she contracted Cytomegalovirus. In some cases, CMV passed through the placenta during pregnancy leads to disabilities in the child. Tina’s family went against persistent medical objections, sought treatment, and have a perfectly healthy little boy today.
Even in non-fatal cases, evidence suggests that as many as 95% of parents receiving a prenatal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis elect to abort the child. Madison resident Joseph Edge, MBA student at Millsaps and MSU Alum, has battled Cystic Fibrosis since birth. He has endured extended hospital stays and emotional and physical hurdles due to his condition. This brilliant young man is loved by his community, loves his bulldogs, and his life is certainly no less valuable than ours.
Consider this Mississippi child, 13-year old Joseph Smith, born with Muscular Atrophy. He is adored by his community, church, and large family as the youngest of seven children. He is unable to walk, speak in full sentences, or eat orally. He requires very regular medical attention and assistance from his family for most daily functions. Joseph has favorites—cowboys and zoo animals. He has dislikes—thunderstorms and the cold. He’s friendly and loving and communicates mostly with gestures and expressions. His life is of equal value to everyone else’s. It’s time for our laws to catch up to that self-evident truth.
Each life has an inherently equal value, no matter the race, sex, or ability of the individual. Mississippi has the chance to be a national leader on this issue and can affirmatively state that it rejects the throwaway culture so prevalent in our society today. The Life Equality Act does just that and deserves to be made law.
MCPP’s Jon Pritchett and Hunter Estes recorded Unlicensed from the campus of Ole Miss this week as they talked about campus free speech, speech codes, and how we can pay college athletes with revenue from sports gambling.
A bill that would’ve required teams to be designated for one biological sex or the other died without a committee vote on Tuesday, but the idea has found new life attached to another bill.
Sen. Angela Hill (R-Picayune), along with senators Chris McDaniel (R-Ellisville) and Melanie Sojourner (R-Natchez) attached an amendment to Senate Bill 2351 concerning the state’s public high athletics sanctioning body, the Mississippi High School Activities Association.
The bill would require the MHSAA, which is a non-profit corporation chartered by the state, to adhere to the state’s Open Meetings Act.
Her amendment would prevented public school districts from having to join and pay membership dues to the MHSAA or any other sanctioning body that allowed biological males to compete against biological females in sports. While not as expansive as her original legislation, Senate Bill 2240, the amendment accomplishes the goal of keeping biological males from competing against females in sports.
The amendment passed 34-12 and the overall bill passed by a 32-15 margin. It’s being held on a motion to reconsider, meaning the Senate needs to take it up again before sending it to the House.
The problem of biological males competing against females is an issue with vast statewide support that even cuts across partisan lines. According to a recent poll by Mason Dixon, 79 percent of the 625 registered voters in the poll said they would support a law prohibiting biological males from competing in female-only sporting leagues. Seventeen percent opposed such a law.
According to the poll, 65 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of independents and 87 percent of Republicans favored the legislation.
SB 2240 would’ve required any public school, university, or community college team to be either designated for those of one biological sex or the other (in addition to an exception for co-ed teams). It died without a vote in committee on the March 3 deadline.
The legislation also had a clause that would allow any student who reports a violation of the law and is retaliated against by the school or other athletic association to have the right to injunctive relief and damages. Another would’ve allowed a student whose bodily privacy was violated to have the same rights.
A bill in the Mississippi legislature would require sports teams at the state’s public schools, universities and community colleges to be designated only for one biological sex.
Senate Bill 2240 would require any public school, university or community college team to be either designated for those of one biological sex or the other (in addition to an exception for co-ed teams).
The legislation also has a clause that would allow any student who reports a violation of the law and is retaliated against by the school or other athletic association to have the right to injunctive relief and damages.
Another would allow a student whose bodily privacy was violated to have the same rights.
The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Angela Hill (R-Picayune).
While there haven’t been any cases of those born as males competing against girls in Mississippi, the issue has become a nationwide one as 17 states allow transgender high school athletes to compete without restrictions.
Three high school girls who run track in Connecticut filed a lawsuit Wednesday to challenge Connecticut’s policy of allowing male athletes to compete with girls in sports. They are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The three — Selina Soule, Alanna Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell — have been beaten consistently in track meets by a pair of transgender athletes born as males.
The lawsuit says the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s rules allowing transgender athletes to compete with girls poses a threat to Title IX because of physiological differences between men and women after puberty. Boys and men have more muscle mass and thus run faster and jump farther than girls and women.
Since 2017, two males have taken 15 women’s state championship titles in Connecticut. The U.S. Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation in August 2019 into Connecticut’s policy. The complaint was also filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Title IX is a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funds. The law, which was passed in 1972, has led to a massive growth in the number of number of athletic opportunities for women. According to the NCAA, the number of female athletes in in 1982 was 74,239. By 2019, that number grew to 221,042, an increase of 197 percent.
Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia are the only states that have no policies toward male athletes competing against females.
A similar bill to SB 2240 stalled in committee in the Alabama legislature.
At least one college not far from Mississippi wants to make sure you think twice before sharing cards with a guy or girl you may have your eye on this Valentine’s Day.
Growing up, you may remember Valentine’s Day as a fun holiday in elementary school. Maybe you would pass out Valentine’s card to classmates, saving the best or biggest card for the person we had a crush on. Maybe that card even had a special note in it that only a 10 or 11-year-old could think up.
It was innocent fun on a day that meant lots of pink or red hearts and chocolate to go along with it. Eventually, perhaps, Valentine’s Day became more serious.
But not at the University of New Orleans. It has been awarded the “speech code of the month” violator by the Foundation for Rights in Education (FIRE) for February. This public university has a speech code so vague that an unexpected Valentine could be considered sexual harassment.
One can wonder if a secret admirer might quickly be deemed a stalker by campus code.
UNO’s ambiguous speech code cites examples of harassment as “visual displays such as leering” and “displays of sexually suggestive objects” such as cartoons. The College Fix suggests that icky handshakes and some of The Simpson’s cartoons might meet this criteria.
A Valentine should only constitute harassment if it is part of a “pattern of conduct,” FIRE asserts. If the campus regulations are not clear for students, they will be forced to interpret the fuzzy rules as literally as possible.
In that case, it is safer not to pass out little love notes or cards with puns this Thursday.
This free speech issue at UNO is part of a pattern itself—a pattern of little respect for First Amendment rights. Not only have campus rules and the collective left possibly banned hearts day; they’re on their way to ban every traditionally American holiday.
Halloween? Costumes are offensive. 4thof July? America is a constant disappointment. Easter and Christmas? Get your patriarchal religion off their quad. Thanksgiving or Columbus Day? Imperialistic. Super Bowl Sunday? Don’t even think about it.
This upcoming holiday, Harvard students will be given 100 characters to specify their gender on an online campus dating program. This option became available following a student protest and a public apology from The Harvard Computer Society for originally creating a gender binary program. And conservatives are hostile to science?
To be clear, speech on college campuses is allowed as long as campus ideology agrees.
Free speech seems to be a reward on campus only for those who meet the ideological bandwagon standard in academia. That is not the way it should be. While the war on Valentine’s Day cards allows us to poke fun at the often-goofy campus speech codes, they are no laughing matter.
Free speech should not only be tolerated, it should be encouraged on college campuses. First Amendment rights cannot be limited to just a remote area deemed acceptable by administration far from any students. Stimulating curiosity and intellectual debate has long been a hallmark of American college campuses. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case on too many campuses.
That is why every state in the country needs legislation protecting free speech for college students. Because relying on college administrations is not working.
Last summer, tragedy struck in Oxford when 22-year-old Ally Kostial was violently murdered and found just miles from the Ole Miss campus. A member of the Greek community and active as a pilates and yoga instructor on campus, Ally’s death shook her community to the core. Mississippians, alum and students, have asked themselves since that day in July — How could this have happened at Ole Miss?
Some of Ally’s friends reported that Ally was pregnant with her alleged murderer’s baby. Some of her community believes her denying the choice of abortion led to the murderous rampage of her on and off-again boyfriend. It’s been reported that her own sorority sisters knew about her pregnancy, her choice to not abort, and the anger her alleged murderer felt that she was not planning on having an abortion.
Whether or not this was the case for Ally or this was the motivation for her brutal murder, one thing is clear — the Ole Miss student body did not know where to send an unexpectedly pregnant student.
Just miles from campus, a free, privately funded, confidential place for pregnant women offers life-saving services. Pregnancy Center of Oxford is a “warm caring, judgment-free environment” to receive medical-grade pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and options counseling that is designed to look for red flags in relationships like abuse and coercion. No matter the choice a mother makes — for parenting, adoption, or abortion, there are confidential and free services for women in Oxford.
This is one of over 40 pregnancy centers like its kind across Mississippi, one that saved American taxpayers $44 million in 2018.
In the wake of this tragedy, Ole Miss students Jack Dellinger and Lauren Moses were inspired to restart a pro-life group on campus that had died off in the last few years. The Ole Miss Students for Life exists to educate and dialogue with peers about abortion, provide resources to pregnant and parenting students, and empower the choice for life when their peers face unexpected pregnancies.
Summer Farrell, the Executive Director of Pregnancy Center of Oxford comments, “We are so grateful that the chapter has been renewed, trained, equipped, and empowered to move forward and provide education to fellow students facing an unplanned pregnancy. We are grateful to Sarah Zarr, the Southern Regional Coordinator with Students for Life, for investing in the Ole Miss campus.”
At a Mississippi Center for Public Policy panel discussion just a month after Ally’s death, a question came from the audience regarding resources at Ole Miss for pregnant women on campus. This question was like a call to action for Jack.
“My co-president and I have always been pro-life, but that tragedy was a wake up call to Lauren and me. It showed how abortion affects so many people around us. We just don’t normally see it.”
Since then, the Ole Miss group has held campus events, had meaningful, peaceful dialogue with those who agree and those who disagree on campus. They’ve had dozens of peers interested in joining their group.
Just last month, the co-presidents attended the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. This 47-year-old march was the largest ever, attracting over 225,000 people, with half of marchers estimated to be younger than 30 years old. President Donald Trump spoke at the event this year, becoming the first president to speak at March for Life.
The students then received apologetics and practical training for their group at the annual, National Pro-Life Summit, held by Students for Life of America, Live Action, Heritage Foundation, and Alliance Defending Freedom. They were joined by students from other campuses in Mississippi like Pro-Life MSU and Mississippi College Students for Life.
Less than a year later, this brutal tragedy has ignited a fire in our state. Oxford as a community and Ole Miss as a student body are prepared to serve women in a crisis like Ally Kostial may have been. The hope of these students and the pregnancy center community is that students know where to send their friends facing unexpected pregnancies. Pro-Life students at Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Mississippi College, and the over 40 pregnancy centers sprinkled across our state are free market resources, providing help to those in need.
The sun light provides the best opportunity for our flowers to blossom. The warmth and light are critical for repair, growth, and blooming. Such is the case with another Mississippi treasure; our public higher education system and its eight colleges and universities. Perhaps nothing is more important to the future of our state than developing and preparing our best and brightest.
Yet, we have had very little meaningful discussion about how we do that. I think that is because Mississippians treasure their colleges and universities at a deeper level than many other places. In many ways, these schools and towns represent our fondest memories and strongest bonds. We are reticent to question, challenge, or critique them because they are like precious heirlooms. But like our most valuable heirlooms plants, a pruning is necessary for a longer, healthier, more bountiful future.
In an effort to provide both sun light and guidance for pruning, our organization, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, began a collaboration with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) about six months ago. The goal was to produce an independent, non-partisan review and analysis of higher education in the Magnolia State.
The results of that project will be presented to the public and to the media on February 5 at a luncheon at River Hills Club in Jackson. Tickets to the event can be purchased here. ACTA is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to academic freedom, excellence, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities.
The reason we chose to work with ACTA is because of their outstanding reputation and their critical mission: “the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across America to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of idea on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives a philosophically rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.” Amen.
I encourage you to visit their website, examine their work, and look at their Board of Directors.
Some national trends should alarm us. According to the OECD, we spend more per student than any other country except Luxembourg, but we rank 22 of the 36 countries measured in terms of the percentage of young adults who have completed college.
Student loan debt in America is greater than $1.6 trillion, which is $600 billion more than our credit card debt. More than eleven million college borrowers are in forbearance or default.
In 2015, colleges and universities spent $11.5 billion on construction and maintenance, increasing higher education’s footprint by 21 million square feet. We’ve tripled space per student since the 1970s. Utilization data and future costs analysis portend financial problems.
We’re seeing big growth in non-academic employees on campus, without corresponding student body or faculty growth. This is happening all across the country as the administrators and non-academic programs proliferate. Long-term misallocation of resources leads to bad results. We should all be interested in reforming higher ed.
The report from ACTA will focus on four areas: corporate governance, curricula, financial stewardship, and freedom on campus. A few key issues to be discussed at the luncheon:
- Graduation rates among several IHL universities are unacceptably low.
- No school in Mississippi currently requires students to complete a single course in American government, history, or economics.
- Is Mississippi’s higher education governance structure effective?
- How much are students paying?
- Where is the money going?
- Do schools promote a free exchange of ideas?
- What are students learning?
At the end of the report, there are 18 policy recommendations. Our job is to first make sure as many people as possible are aware of this study and then to work with leaders across the state, which includes trustees, alumni, donors, students, parents, and the legislature, to make sure policy ideas are turned into actions that can ensure Mississippi’s public colleges and universities are prepared for a long, healthy, bountiful future.
Our heirloom treasures deserve nothing less.
And we owe it to future generations to give them a chance to make their own fond memories and to build their own strong bonds. In a place with such powerful Southern Exposure and rich soil, we should be producing beautiful booms.