USA Today: Cutting NRA ties is taking sides in culture war. That's bad for business and America.2/27/2018  In the aftermath of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., the American people are mad.
Mad at the FBI, which received a detailed and specific warning of the shooting but never followed up. Mad at the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, which visited the attacker’s home 23 times before the shooting and waited outside for several minutes before running into the high school. And, of course, they’re mad at the killer. Progressive activists and many in the news media have rather different priorities. Their ire is focused squarely on a group that wasn’t tipped off, wasn’t a first responder, and had no affiliation with the attacker. Namely, the National Rifle Association.
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 My daily travels brought me by my proud alma mater last week. As I crept along the narrow college streets lulled into complacency by a boring history podcast, a tiny car swerved in front of me, barely missing my left fender.
Usually, when a driver pulls this type of move, I call him a wide variety of colorful terms. This time, however, I immediately knew he was a thoughtful, upstanding activist. He showcased his profound civic engagement in the form of a bumper sticker: HE’S NOT MY PRESIDENT. Thank you, citizen. Swerve on.  One year ago, I counseled Trump’s many detractors to pace themselves. Following Donald Trump’s shock election, the permanent political class had gone through the stages of denial, anger, bargaining and depression, but the time had come for acceptance.
Twelve months on and acceptance is nowhere to be found. Every news cycle brings another round of hyperventilation — sometimes two or three rounds. Yes, Trump was and remains a very different sort president, especially following a polished politico like Barack Obama. But, as I said back then, “It’s going to be a long four years, and there will be plenty of real decisions to get outraged about. If you keep losing your mind every time Donald Trump acts like Donald Trump, you’re going to guarantee a long eight years.”  Washington reacted to President Trump’s proposed budget with horror.
EPA funding would be cut by 31%. Agriculture and labor were down 21%. He would eliminate all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He wants to increase spending only for Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D–N.Y., said, "It kills the middle class. It cuts education funding. It cuts transportation and infrastructure funding. It cuts money for scientific research." “It is clear that this budget proposed today cannot pass the Senate," Sen. John McCain, R–Ariz., said, while Sen. Lindsey Graham, R–S.C., added, "It's dead on arrival– it's not going to happen.” Angry protesters shouted down an eminent scholarand sent a female professor to the hospital. A crazed gunman entered a D.C. public policy shop and shot an employee before being disarmed. Someone mailed a suspicious white powder to a Scottsdale advocacy group, partially closing the office while a Hazmat team tested employees who had been exposed.
The victims in each case were targeted by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC is a non-profit heralded for its noble history defending civil rights. Founded in 1971, the Montgomery, Ala. legal advocacy organization sued the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups in the South on behalf of victims. Big settlements and harsh sanctions were levied against the racist organizations, successfully shuttering some and scaring off many others. The traditional public school model is a taxi fleet in an Uber world. It provides less options and worse service, often at a higher price.
We see schools consistently fail kids across the country, but Arizona has been somewhat insulated. Instead of locking parents and teachers into the rusty old industrial model, the Grand Canyon State remains at the forefront of school choice. Ever since the legislature approved charter schools more than two decades ago, opportunities for students have exploded. They can attend their neighborhood public school, a college prep academy, or focus at an arts, STEM or vocational school. Homeschooling has a long tradition while the far more modern distance learning is as close as your keyboard. Add in private school scholarships, granted by individuals and corporations, and our state serves as a model for education reformers across the country. But perhaps Arizona’s most important innovation is the Empowerment Scholarship Account. Since Donald Trump scored the political upset of the century, his critics have worked through four of the five stages of grief at breakneck speed.
Denial: As the cable nets showed state after state turning orange, media mavens and seasoned politicos wondered whether they had gone color blind. “If she can get Michigan, Nebraska and Wyoming, she’s still in this!” Election analysts kept reloading the vote tally from American Samoa trying to convince themselves this can’t be happening! And those poor workers at Hillary Clinton’s inaptly named Victory Party broke into tears after not breaking the glass ceiling. Anger: Progressives, many of whom didn’t bother to vote, rampaged through their progressive cities to smash the windows of their progressive neighbors. For some reason. As protesters attacked motorists, left-coasters flooded the website of Yes California, a group demanding that the Golden State secede from the union. Four months after Mitt Romney’s loss to President Obama, the Republican National Committee released an autopsy report to prevent a similar blow out in 2016. Their recommendations?
“We need to campaign among Hispanic, black, Asian and gay Americans and demonstrate that we care about them, too.” “We must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform.” The party needed to shed its identity as “scary,” “ narrow minded” and filled with “stuffy old men.” Today, most of that report’s authors have endorsed a 70-year-old loudmouth billionaire who has made a mockery of everything they proposed. After labeling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, his entire post-primary Hispanic outreach was a photo of the candidate grinning over a taco salad. |
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