The Thursday edition of the Morning Jolt takes a slightly different format than usual, offering three segments on why the state of the country may be better than we think, a succinct portrait of what we’re up against, and why we can’t give up.
Begin with good cheer…
Hey, Conservatives! Look on the Bright Side!
There was a strange, almost gloomy vibe among many of the National Review cruise-goers last week. Yes, the cruise arrived shortly after Obama’s announcement of Iran deal, the Chattanooga shooting and the Supreme Court decisions on Obamacare and gay marriage. A lot of folks on the Right feel like they’ve been smacked around by political events.
From the way conservatives talk, one would never know that Republicans have 54 U.S. Senate seats, 246 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives (a majority that the party could easily hold for the next decade), 31 governors, 68 out of 98 partisan state legislatures. Republicans control the governorship and both houses in 23 states; Democrats control only seven.
Abortions have dropped 12 percent nationwide since 2010 and are down in almost every state. The divorce rate declined significantly in the past generation and is staying down, while the marriage rate is up a bit. Slate concedes, “most Americans have given up on achieving meaningful gun control in their lifetimes or in their grandchildren’s lifetimes.”
The president’s plan for an executive-order amnesty is effectively blocked:
On February 16, 2015, Judge Andrew Hanen issued a temporary injunction blocking both programs from going into effect. Current DACA requirements and two-year terms were supposed to remain unchanged and DAPA has not been implemented.
On February 23, 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) asked Judge Hanen to lift his injunction while it appealed his ruling to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. This request was denied. On May 26, 2015, the DOJ’s appeal of Judge Hanen’s injunction to the 5th Circuit was turned down, leaving the injunction in place.
Judge Hanen has required that the three-year work permits be returned by DACA applicants and two-year permits issued by the end of July, issuing another court order on July 7 requiring DHS Director Jeh Johnson and four other DHS officials appear at an August 19 hearing to confirm that this issue has been resolved or “be prepared to show why he or she should not be held in contempt of court…
As James of England observed over at Ricochet, total government spending, which includes federal, state, and local, is 34.63 percent of GDP – which sounds bad, until you realize that in 2010 it was 39.7 percent of GDP. In 1990, it was 34.84.
This year Wisconsin became the 25th Right-to-Work state. Public sector unions did pick up some members in 2015, but they still represent just 35.7 percent of public sector workers.
School choice has expanded dramatically in our lifetimes; now there are “21 voucher programs, 16 scholarship tax credit programs, one education savings account program, and two individual tuition tax credit of significant size” with “$1.2 billion in dedicated funding available for school voucher and scholarship tax credit programs nationwide in 2013-14.”