Following Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, tens of thousands took to the streets. They marched in Manhattan and Chicago, as well as London and Paris. Rallies were held on the campuses of colleges across America.
Were the protesters lamenting the death of Israeli civilians? Not at all. Were they there to demand the release of young children taken hostage by Hamas? I missed that bit.
Instead, in the wake of a pogrom that saw the murder of 1,400 Jews, tens of thousands of Americans marched in support of their killers. The protesters literally chanted for the destruction of the state of Israel.
How can it possibly be that the great grandchildren of the generation of Americans that liberated Dachau could think this way?
For a generation, ‘woke’ ideas have been left to fester on college campuses. Over the past few weeks, we have started to see the real world consequences.
If we are to put this right, we first need to understand what has gone wrong. Looking at the protesters on social media, I was struck by the farcical contradictions.
Feminists were out there in support of an Islamist ideology that denies women rights. Self-styled democrats sided with those seeking to establish a theocracy. On social media, I saw a group calling themselves “Queers for Palestine”, holding aloft a rainbow motif. How long do you imagine they would survive in Gaza?
This confusion by the pro-Hamas protesters, which would be comical if it were not so grim, points to the root cause of the problem; for millions of young Americans, a creed of cultural relativism has been allowed to establish itself as a secular belief system.
If all cultures were of equal worth, then every culture would be as capable of producing science, innovation and political liberty – not to mention a US Constitution. Most cultures are not.
The trouble is that if you refuse to accept that some ways of life are better than others, you have no means of measuring what is good. In your twisted belief system, the head hackers of Hamas are no different from the Golani reservists prepared to take great personal risks to minimize civilian casualties.
Cultural relativism begins by applying double standards. It rapidly descends to favoring the non-Western over the Western.
Taught to believe in decolonizing the curriculum at school and university, perhaps you start to see Hamas terrorists as noble savages, battling to decolonize Palestine from the wicked West. Often unconsciously, we have raised an entire generation to see the human condition as Rousseau perceived it, rather than though the hard-headed realism of Hobbes. No wonder some then think like latter-day Jacobins. No surprise that the BBC, a once credible organization, refuses to call Hamas terrorists.
Ambivalence about the Western way of life slips into open animus.
“But what do you mean by Western way of life?” some will ask. “What do people living in the southern US or in Scandinavia possibly have in common with those in the Negev? There is no single Western culture”.
Culture is indeed complex, like the branches of a very tall tree. But within the tree of culture there is a definable trunk that one might call Judeo-Christian culture, from which extend a multiplicity of off shoots.
Culture, as with the branches of a tree, can sometimes be grafted, some cultures fused onto another. You even get what arborists call ‘inosculation’, when branches that had separated fuse back together as one again.
But as any arborist also knows, not every kind of graft will work. Not every kind of culture can be fused with every other. Some are incompatible. Nor can every way of life coexist alongside every other. Those Western feminists marching in support of Hamas seem not to have understood this. Their children and their grandchildren will.
Nor, perhaps, have Western progressives understood that Western culture, whether we are conscious of it or not, is a product of a distinctive set of ideas, both secular and ecclesiastical. I doubt many atheists would appreciate me pointing it out, but even their humanist belief system is a product of something uncontestably Judeo Christian. (Try living under Hamas as a secular humanist and see how long you last).
None of this really matters when everyone around us shares the same underlying Western cultural assumptions. To a degree that might surprise both evangelicals and atheists, they fundamentally do share a common set of assumptions. The trouble is that there is a growing body of those living in the West that don’t. There are an increasing number of people in the US, Britain and Europe – not to mention the Middle East - whose world view is shaped by the ideology of political Islamism, and Islamism’s principle proponent, Sayyid Qtub.
When political Islamism comes into conflict with Western ways, as it has with increasing frequency since the Salman Rushdie affair in the 1980s, the cultural relativists living in the West have no idea where to draw the line. Indeed, they do not even appreciate that there is a line to be drawn.
“But what about the sins of Western culture?” some will counter. “Weren’t Western countries once at the center of the slave trade? Didn’t women and minorities have to endure unequal treatment within living memory?”
Almost every contemporary non-Western culture around the world today falls short of the standards set by campus progressives. Only in the West are individual rights respected, often at times imperfectly (as the campus puritans are quick to point out). Anyone who does not know that may not know much about life outside America.
That the West today is a far more pleasant place for minorities than it was in the past is not evidence of Western guilt. It shows that cultural progress is possible. The way we used to live is not as good as it is today. Not every way of living is of equal worth. That cultural progress is possible is proof that cultural relativism is a nonsense, and that some ways of life are worth fighting in preference to others.
Here in the southern US, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy tries to teach a cohort of young Americans some of the underlying ideas and principles that underpin Western liberty. Through our Leadership Academy, we introduce them to the history of Western thought – Hobbes, Locke and the Founding Fathers. We discuss with them the morality of the free market, and American exceptionalism.
Students graduating from our program will, I hope, see the world very differently from the day they started. The insights and lessons we teach will, I hope, remain with them for life.
When we launched the Academy two years ago, I saw it was important, but no more than a nice-to-have. After the events of the past few weeks, I see it as perhaps the most important thing a think tank in America could be doing.
In just a few days, a new legislative session will begin. Our state representatives and senators will be considering a range of bills that could have a major impact on our lives.
While some entrenched interests fight to protect their own industries and pocketbooks, our aim is quite the opposite. We seek to defend and expand freedom and ensure that the rights and liberties of each Mississippian are defended under the dome of our capitol building.
Recognizing this, we are launching a coordinated strategic press to advance a range of policies that we believe will empower free markets and free people in our state.
Here’s a look into what we’ll be fighting for this session:
Bills to Combat Critical Race Theory:
1. Combat Critical Race Theory
Having published a paper highlighting how Critical Race Theory is being advanced in our state, we are supporting legislative efforts to ensure that no public money be spent to promote this divisive ideology.
2. Promote Academic Transparency
A key way to combat the presence of toxic ideologies in the classroom is to require schools to publish details of what is actually being taught to our young Mississippians. We support legislative efforts to do exactly that.
Bills to Extend Economic Liberty:
3. State Income Tax Abolition
A number of Southern states like Texas, Florida, and Tennessee have already eliminated or are working to eliminate the state income tax. This policy proposal may be the best way to bolster the Mississippi economy and make us more competitive in the region.
4. Red Tape Reduction
Mississippi is burdened by far too many boards, commissions, and states agencies that are constantly pushing new regulations onto the people. Big businesses can navigate this minefield of market obstacles, but small businesses and entrepreneurs are often stifled. We want to mandate a significant scaling back of the existing regulatory landscape.
Bills to Improve Education:
5. Open Enrollment in Education
To improve public schools in Mississippi, we need to give moms and dads more control. We seek to allow parents who are dissatisfied with their current school systems, the ability to send their child, and their tax dollars, to a different school of their choice.
6. Cap School Board Administrative Costs
Too much of our education budget is spent on administrative costs and bureaucratic salaries. We support efforts to ensure that more money goes into the classroom instead.
7. Establish Multiple Charter School Authorizers
Charter schools are meant to offer families a better future for their kids. But a decade since they were allowed to be authorized in Mississippi, there are still far too few of them. We want to streamline the authorization process and encourage the expansion of education freedom.
8. Free Speech on Campus
We need to protect freedom of speech for college students on our state campuses. We want to ensure that peaceful assembly, protests, lectures, petitions, and literature distribution will be allowed.
Bills to Improve Healthcare Provision:
9. Repeal Certificate of Need
Mississippi has some of the worst health outcomes in America. One reason for this is that we have some of the most severe restrictions on the expansion and creation of healthcare facilities. Certificate of Need (CON) laws mean that no new health care provider can come along and offer services without the express permission of competitors. This makes as much sense as allowing a Pizza Hut to block the building of a Papa John’s because of the potential for competition. We aim to get rid of this incredibly outdated policy.
10. Repeal of Moratorium on Home Health Agencies
With more folks than ever seeking to get medical care from the comfort of their own homes, we support legislation that would make it easier to offer medical access directly. Our system currently makes this almost impossible.
Bills to Encourage Technology & Innovation:
11. Agricultural Incubator
A major portion of Mississippi’s economy is comprised of agriculture. We would like to empower innovators and small businesses to bring new technology to market with reduced regulatory burdens that could allow for Mississippi to become the nation’s leader in the field.
12. Reduce Barriers to Telemedicine/Telepharmacy
In an age of unprecedented integration between digital technology and daily life, we believe that Mississippians should be allowed to access their healthcare systems and doctors using modern devices.
Several groups from across the country, including the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, have signed a coalition letter making key policy recommendations for broadband spending.
The letter calls on policymakers to ensure that they spend broadband funding in an accountable and responsible way. In the wake of an almost unprecedented amount of federal spending, the coalition calls on policymakers to ensure that they responsibly manage broadband funds by prioritizing areas with the biggest connection gaps.
There have been some calls in Washington to redefine the legal definition of broadband by raising the speed benchmark. The coalition letter urges policymakers not to raise the benchmark when many areas have not even met the prior benchmark yet.
Raising the speed definition for broadband would hurt rural areas as funds would likely be diverted to allow for urban areas to upgrade their speeds to meet the new broadband speed benchmark. This a time that the nation has needed broadband access more than ever before and raising the broadband benchmark would put many rural and suburban communities only further behind as they compete for broadband funds with areas that already have service.
The letter notes:
“With billions of dollars available for broadband and other infrastructure, many densely populated areas with political clout have lobbied for these funds. State lawmakers should ensure broadband funds flow to areas that lack broadband access, as defined as 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, rather than providing funding for areas that already meet these benchmarks. Expanding access should be lawmakers’ No. 1 priority.”
The letter also makes specific recommendations for policymakers to increase efficiency and lower costs by rejecting government-owned networks, cutting red tape, and pursuing free-market solutions to expanding broadband access. The letter notes again:
“Many of our states have had experiences with costly government owned networks which have done little to expand access or adoption… The money flowing to state coffers is not without limits. States should work to stretch every dollar as far as possible by removing red tape.”
The full text of the letter is available here. It was signed by Tech Policy Specialist, Matthew Nicaud, on behalf of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy and the Mississippi Technology Institute.
Policymakers must treat taxpayer funds with fiscal responsibility and public accountability. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy is proud to support sound policies that uphold the best interests of citizens and pursue real solutions to broadband expansion.
A coalition of groups from around the nation, that include the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, have joined together in common cause against new overreach by DC politicians. The group is signaling their opposition to new policy that could limit states’ ability to cut taxes.
The recent “American Rescue Plan Act” serves more as a slush fund for fiscally mismanaged states and localities than as a serious attempt to help those struggling with recovering from the economic consequences of COVID-19 and government-imposed shutdowns.
The Act includes $350 billion in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. These funds come in addition to the hundreds of billions in federal assistance to state and local units of government through the CARES Act and other legislative actions taken by Congress in 2020.
Furthermore, Congress has decided to spend this massive amount of money although total state and local revenues actually increased in 2020, and many states have even seen their surpluses expand.
However, the Act goes a step further than just recklessly spending taxpayer dollars. The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal noted that the new law bars states from using the influx of new funding to reduce state taxes directly or indirectly through 2024. This language is vague and no clarifications about it have emerged from the Department of Treasury so far.
The ambiguous language has many rightly concerned that any efforts at the state level to reduce the tax burden of its citizens could be stymied by the federal government.
Recognizing this vast federal overreach, a coalition of concerned leaders has signed onto a new letter to signal their opposition to the unprecedented move. The campaign was organized by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
The letter notes, in part:
“Using federal coercion to artificially elevate state tax burdens at a time when small businesses and hardworking American taxpayers need real tax relief is nonsensical. Our groups have spent decades working with state policymakers and watching them achieve more economically competitive business climates through pro-growth tax and economic reforms. Having the federal government use “the power of the purse” in an attempt to curtail the use of competitive federalism is incredibly damaging to our American system of government.”
It continues, “[w]e will work to protect the fundamental principle of federalism and allow states to continue their progress in pursuing economic gains as the 'laboratories of democracy.' Restricting states from providing pro-growth net tax relief tips the scales of federalism inexorably toward central planning and micromanagement by the federal government.”
You can read the letter in its entirety here. It was signed by MCPP President Douglas Carswell.
This entirely new level of dramatic fiscal recklessness and federal overreach demands opposition. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy is standing for federalism and the ability of states to conduct and control their own tax policy without new limitations.
“What happened in our nation’s capital yesterday was wrong”, said Judge James Herring, Board Chairman, speaking on behalf of the Board of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. “Those ugly scenes in our legislature should sadden every American patriot.”
“The Mississippi Center for Public Policy stands to advance the constitutional ideals of liberty. It can never be consistent with those principles to resort to mob violence”, he added.
“As a leading Conservative think tank in Mississippi, we believe America is at her greatest when she remains true to her Founding Ideals and to the Constitution.”