Dear Friend of TJI, Current foreign policy advisors should consider Colin Powell’s “Pottery Barn Rule”: “You break it, you own it.” That they didn’t and don’t is tragic. Left and Right will disagree over the policies Powell fostered but there should be no dispute about his character or his directness (“Our strategy to go after this army is very, very simple. First we’re going to cut it off, and then we’re going to kill it.”). This son of Jamaican immigrants, who rose to become the first Black general to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff, never lost his love of country or the opportunities it afforded him, and never articulated it better than he did at a citizenship ceremony at Monticello in 1997. RIP. Meanwhile, lots to cover and lots of clicks ... 1.) Should Republicans do well a week from Tuesday, it will be in no small measure due to foundations laid by former Delegate Frank Hargrove, who passed away October 16. Elected in 1981, seven years later he professionalized the Joint Republican Caucus by hiring young fellows named Steve Haner and Jim Beamer as staff, leveraging personal business relationships to build a financial base for the organization. Among the last of the World War II veterans in the General Assembly, he passed at his home in Cool Water, the 18th century farm frequently visited by Patrick Henry. Among his passions: the Virginia War Memorial, to which his family requests memorial contributions. RIP. 2.) One of the first assignments of the aforementioned Mr. Haner was a fight to conform Virginia’s tax system with the reforms of the Reagan Administration at the federal level. Now Senior Fellow with the Thomas Jefferson Institute, he continues the battle to slow the state tax gravy train (here). Except now, he’s aided by social media advertising (here). 3.) In 2013, we argued that gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli “stood with parents,” and that Terry McAuliffe did not (here). He has affirmed our eight-year-old assertion. Since committing unintentional honesty in this year’s second debate (here), McAuliffe first doubled down (here), then purchased ad time to say he was misinterpreted (here), citing as an accomplishment the scaling back of state Standards of Learning tests. This, Politifact says, has led to a lowering of academic standards and a weakening of accreditation (here), which will have repercussions for this generation of students. 4.) This is, of course, what happens when parents aren’t in charge: In Loudoun, a student was allegedly sexually assaulted in one school, the perpetrator shifted to another school where he allegedly committed the act again and was finally arrested, the father of the victim arrested for speaking out at a School Board meeting and prosecuted by the Soros-backed Commonwealth Attorney for what amounts to a misdemeanor, the School Superintendent denies knowledge of the assaults, and a School Board member resigns (all pretty much summarized in multiple links here). A school system’s job is to teach, but the first priority is to keep the children safe. Loudoun’s lurch to the Left has done neither. 5.) Into the fray marched Attorney General Merrick Garland directing the Justice Department to probe and potentially prosecute parents for making violent threats against School Board members. Violent threats should certainly be prosecuted, but unlike the feds, we have confidence that local law enforcement agencies have the ability to do so. That confidence is not shared by the National School Boards Association (NSBA), which wrote comparing such threats to domestic terrorism under the Patriot Act. The NSBA did not consult nearly 20 of its state organizations (including Virginia School Boards Association, which quickly repudiated the letter), but it did take the time to coordinate details with the White House before sending it (here). Remember the good old days, when the Left considered “collusion” to be a serious threat to Democracy?
6.) This all started when parents objected to certain books in school libraries and available to children as young as twelve. Independent Women’s Voice created a video showing some of the scenes from those books and sought to buy time on late night (after 11:00 pm) television, so parents could judge for themselves. They were denied because federal law prohibits such images on television. We think parents should judge for themselves. You can view both the censored and uncensored versions of the book images here. Parental caution advised (except in school). 7.) In Richmond, meanwhile, the School Board has voted to initiate public employee collective bargaining, leading to monopoly union contracts (here). Jefferson Institute Visiting Fellow F. Vincent Vernuccio argues this will give parents even less control (here). The Board’s action was followed two days later by School Superintendent Jason Kamras’ announcement that school would be closed the first week in November in order to give staff additional mental health days (here). He apologized to parents, who are now scrambling to find child-care arrangements. He did not apologize to students, who are already suffering learning loss from almost a year without in-person classes. 8.) Richmond is not alone. Back in Fairfax County, the Board of Supervisors voted to join Alexandria and Arlington in allowing collective bargaining (here), with only Supervisor Patrick Herrity in dissent. Board Chair Jeff McKay indicated “collective bargaining will only provide a reason for people to work with us.” To learn how “work with us” is defined by union negotiators, check out the Institute’s webinar with Vernuccio and former New Haven Fire Fighters union negotiator Frank Ricci here. The real reason many local government officials endorse collective bargaining may actually be here, here and here. 9.) Fairfax Again: Virginia law requires that, as a security measure, a voter voting Absentee must include the last four digits of their social security number. Two weeks before the election, the Fairfax General Registrar has decided to unilaterally change the rules. Our sister organization, the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, is taking them to court (here). We predict victory. 10.) Polls indicate that President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates have reduced support among black voters (here) and Latino support is getting softer (here). Virginia is proving a test of what that means at the polls for both political parties (here, here and here). And winning those votes means not taking them for granted (here). 11.) It may well be that old coalitions are breaking down. Conservatives looking to learn more will want to read John McWhorter’s new book, Woke Racism (here), and to attend the Jefferson Institute’s Federal Policy Dinner on November 10, with Robert Woodson, editor of Red, White and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers. Click here to register.
12.) Certainly one coalition is weakened. The McAuliffe campaign sent out a "Get Out the Vote" video from Vice President Kamala Harris to 300 Black churches, expecting it to be played before Election Day (here). Problem is, churches are non-partisan and cannot expressly advocate. Virginia's first Black Governor is not pleased (here). 13.) Big Business is stereotyped as conservative. But the stereotype is wrong, and Big Business is very happy to support the Left and even suppress voters if that’s what it takes. No business is bigger than Dominion Resources, which spent $200,000 in a secret scheme to suppress turn-out among rural Virginians. They got caught. Excuses were made. See here, here, and here. Once caught, they asked for their money back. But won't say if they got it (here).
Happy Sunday, Everyone. Don't let us down.
Cordially, | |
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