The Heartlander
The bimonthly membership newsletter for The Heartland Institute.
The Heartlander: March - April 2009 (Full Text)
CLIMATE ALARMISM: CANCELLED!
On March 8-10--after this issue of The Heartlander went to press but before it landed in your mailbox--Heartland hosted the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change. More than 70 speakers, 50 cosponsoring organizations, and hundreds of guests from around the world participated in the event ... the success of which we’ll report in the next issue!
Budget & Tax News
The February 2009 issue of Budget & Tax News highlights the successes of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, whose fiscal prudence was rewarded at the polls in November and in praise from state elected officials and national opinion leaders alike. Also in this issue:
- Organizations representing millions of taxpayers, small businesses, families, senior citizens, and shareholders are asking Congress to reject expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan.
- Ohio’s satellite TV subscribers are fighting against what they call discriminatory treatment in the state’s tax code.
- As the United States moves toward a “European-style economy” of heavy regulation and high taxation, scores of countries in Europe and elsewhere have been going the opposite direction by easing government burdens, including cutting taxes on corporate and personal income.
- Major airlines that use O’Hare International Airport in Chicago have asked the federal government to halt a planned $15 billion expansion, saying the city’s plans are “premature and inappropriate” and an “impulsive grab for funds.”
- Legislation that could force online and mail-order retailers to collect sales taxes across the country could move forward in the new Congress.
In the News
Budget & Tax News Managing Editor Steve Stanek wondered rhetorically in an op-ed in early January whether readers had heard enough about bailouts. His op-ed ran in several publications, including the Chicago Sun-Times (circ. 496,030) and San Angelo (Texas) Standard Times (circ. 37,000). Stanek noted the ever-growing list of bailout supplicants and concluded, “They are probably smart to want to be on the receiving end of the government’s largesse, but they want you and me to be on the paying end. And that smarts.”
The Washington Post (circ. 635,087) gave space January 8 to Legislative Specialist John Nothdurft to argue for a novel alternative to “throwing billions of dollars into pork-barrel projects and bailing out state and local governments for their lack of fiscal restraint.” Nothdurft noted, “Currently, an estimated $10 trillion to $13 trillion worth of U.S. capital is parked offshore and could be creating American jobs if it weren’t for the disincentives created by our convoluted tax code. A real stimulus plan would lower capital gains and corporate tax rates or, better yet, eliminate those taxes. That would encourage capital to flow back into the U.S. economy and generate real economic growth.”
Nothdurft warned that Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear’s plan to raise tobacco taxes is economically dangerous. The Port Clinton (Ohio) News Herald (circ. 16,482) and Fremont (Ohio) News-Messenger (circ. 17,560) ran his op-ed January 9, wherein he noted, “Although [Beshear] thinks cigarette taxes affect only smokers, they actually harm all taxpayers and hinder the adoption of much-needed spending reforms.”
Nothdurft, writing in the January 19 Providence Journal (circ. 148,700), said Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri’s plan to ease the state’s deficit with higher cigarette taxes was bad policy and bad economics. “By raising the already-high cigarette tax, the state could actually end up bringing in less revenue, as happened in nearby New Jersey,” Nothdurft warned. “According to the Center for Policy Research of New Jersey, since that state increased its cigarette tax 17.5 cents two years ago, the state has actually lost $46 million in tax revenue.”
WLS-TV Channel 7, the ABC affiliate in Chicago and the region’s No. 1 news program, turned the mike over to Peter Fotos, government relations manager, to discuss the Obama stimulus package on January 21. Responding to a question from reporter Sarah Schulte, Fotos doubted the package as presented holds out much hope. He said, “We need something that’s going to actually stimulate the economy long term, and most of that is going to come in the form of tax cuts, ... targeted to business so they can create jobs and attract more capital to the United States so we can open up factories and employ more people.”
Syndicated radio host Jerry Hughes spent nearly an hour January 21 talking to Stanek about the fiscal stimulus plan. Stanek noted government spending tends to crowd out private investments and divert resources from areas of the economy that may be more productive. The two also talked about how massive borrowing and deficits push the cost of today’s government onto the shoulders of tomorrow’s taxpayers.
Legislative Specialist Matthew Glans warned in a January 26 letter to the editor of the Christian Science Monitor (now all online), “One of the primary causes of the rapid increase in the cost of higher education is the growing addiction to debt spending in colleges nationwide. Increasing the flow of student loans without first addressing the spending problem will only make the problem worse, and another bailout will be just around the corner.”
The Lima (Ohio) News (circ. 34,104) liked the tongue-in-cheek recommendation from Stanek on January 30: “If our political leaders are serious - really serious - about spending hundreds of billions of tax dollars on infrastructure projects to ‘create jobs,’ they can prove it by outlawing backhoes. Also bulldozers, road graders, cranes, and other heavy equipment.” He continued, “We all know there is no way this would ever happen, because what matters is productivity, a fact many in government know but do not admit.”
Legislative Outreach
On January 7, Nothdurft sent a Research & Commentary on publicly funded sports stadiums to Minnesota, where the National Football League Vikings are asking the state to help subsidize a new stadium. Nothdurft advises, “governments are getting away with taking hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers in order to subsidize wealthy team owners’ quests for state-of-the-art stadiums.” He adds, “Nearly all economists agree these investments yield little if any significant economic growth.”
On January 15, Nothdurft sent a Research & Commentary outlining the inefficiency of film tax subsidies by Colorado. He writes, “Rolling out a red carpet full of taxpayer dollars in exchange for the fleeting glitz and glam of Hollywood is no substitute for sound fiscal policy.” Nothdurft offers an alternative solution by suggesting “state governments should look to boost their economies the old-fashioned way: by reining in government spending--starting with wasteful economic development schemes--and then by implementing a low and broad-based tax system.”
On January 20, Nothdurft sent a Research & Commentary on the dangers of funding expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by hiking the federal cigarette tax. Nothdurft notes, “Financing an expansion of SCHIP by increasing a tax whose base is already narrow and shrinking is fundamentally flawed and unsustainable.” He adds, “Expanding the program to include families making more than three times the poverty level should be worrisome to all taxpayers, smoking and non-smoking alike.”
In the News
The Orangeburg (South Carolina) Times and Democrat (circ. 17,234) liked Legislative Specialist Matthew Glans’ advice to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford as he tries to patch the state’s near-bankrupt unemployment insurance fund. “Before injecting another $146 million in taxpayer dollars into an ailing system,” Glans wrote on January 16, “it’s important to know where the tax revenue is currently going, whether adequate measures are in place to ensure applicants are moving through the system and finding new jobs, and whether there is a concentrated effort to combat fraud.”
Legislative Outreach
On January 5, Legislative Specialist Matthew Glans sent a new Research & Commentary on South Carolina’s unemployment insurance program. He comments on the imminent failure of the state’s unemployment fund and discourages legislators from raising the state’s unemployment taxes. He notes, “The governor appears to recognize that real reform is needed, and increasing the transparency of the unemployment program is a necessary first step. Where is the tax revenue going? Are there adequate measures in place to ensure that applicants are moving through the system and finding new jobs? Is there a concentrated effort to combat fraud, one of the leading sources of waste in unemployment insurance? These are questions that need to be asked--and answered--before $146 million in taxpayer dollars are injected into an ailing system.”
On January 28, Glans worked with the public relations department to distribute an advisory to Florida media outlets and legislators discussing the ramifications of State Farm’s decision to pull out of the state’s homeowners insurance market. Glans collected quotes from experts commenting on the role Governor Charlie Crist and state insurance regulators played in distorting the private insurance market and driving State Farm out of the state. “Florida’s rate regulation system, which requires state approval of any rate changes, stifles the ability of insurers to react to market forces, creating a hostile business environment and depriving consumers of the benefits of competition,” Glans wrote.
Also on January 28, Glans sent a new Research & Commentary on the proposed expansion of Federal Housing Administration programs. He explains how government intervention into the economy was a key cause of the current economic crisis and how expansion of the FHA could distort the market and prolong the economic slump. “The most troubling aspect of FHA expansion is the risk of creating another artificial housing bubble,” Glans notes. “The expansion of FHA raises eerie parallels to the last bubble and creates the potential for a repeat of the last crisis--a mistake we should not attempt to repeat.”
Environment & Climate News
The February 2009 issue of Environment & Climate News reports the release by the California Air Resources Board of a carbon dioxide emissions plan that has been criticized by nearly all who’ve seen it--including the agency’s own peer reviewers. Also in this issue:
- A Minnesota environmental activist group is fighting against the construction of power lines to deliver wind power to the state, shortly after environmental activists groups successfully pressured the state government into enacting renewable power mandates.
- NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies has been caught doctoring raw temperature data in California to make a long-term cooling trend look like a warming trend.
- The Houston metropolitan area, often cited as having the nation’s most polluted air, exceeded federal ozone standards for a record low 16 days in 2008.
- Environmental activists have brought an end to the CFC inhaler.
- Local communities cannot block the construction of industrial wind farms, related transmission lines, or other renewable energy projects under local land-use laws, the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled.
NIPCC Report
We distributed 30,000 copies of Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate, the Summary for Policymakers of the Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), which we published last year. The report was accompanied by a cover letter from Dr. Art Robinson, founder and president of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, to scientists who have signed a petition that says, in part, “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.”
Response to the mailing has been positive, with nearly a dozen recipients asking to receive additional copies for distribution to friends, colleagues, and policymakers. Noted one scientist who received the report, “It’s difficult to inject sanity into the policy debates, but things such as your booklet can only help.”
The full NIPCC report--a book of more than 600 pages, tentatively titled Climate Change Reconsidered: The Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change--is currently in production. Publication is expected in May.
In the News
When Heartland Senior Fellow James M. Taylor objected to a particularly error-filled op-ed in late December by a local Sierra Club staffer in the Asbury Park (New Jersey) Press (circ. 133,241), the editor opened the editorial page to a point-by-point rebuttal. On January 2, Taylor wrote, “With the holiday season on the wane, ‘tis once again the season for fictitious global-warming scares.” Following a dissection of the offending assertions, Taylor concluded, “It is easy for environmental activists to make self-serving claims about global warming science and economics if nobody checks the supporting facts. Now, however, we know the facts.”
Taylor also took on Ben Bova, the revered science fiction author and editor, who writes a syndicated column that ran in the Naples (Florida) News (circ. 70,000). In a January 3 rebuttal, Taylor walked readers through two of Mr. Bova’s columns and ended with, “Sound science has thrown cold water on each and every one of the alleged global-warming crises, such as endangered polar bears, melting ice caps, etc., alleged to result from global warming.”
On January 9, Taylor came to the defense of John Street when the veteran “hook-and-bullet” writer expressed skepticism about global-warming alarmism in a December column in the Clarion News. In response to that column the head of the Wilderness Society in Pennsylvania ripped into Street for his opinions and asserted (we’re not making this up) that opinions on global warming should be formed by reading Time, Newsweek, and Associated Press articles rather than going directly to science-based Web sites.
Taylor countered with 800 words for the Clarion News citing example after example from those media sources of failed predictions, erroneous assertions, and biased data. Taylor concluded his devastating critique, “When choosing between the credibility of scientists publishing their research in the world’s leading scientific journals versus laymen writing for Time, Newsweek, the Associated Press, and Wikipedia, John Street is wise to side with the scientists.”
On January 22, Street, who is syndicated and blogging throughout the U.S., asked in the Clarion News (circ. 16,456), “Don’t you wonder why old friends like the National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Alliance and the Izaak Walton League are still trying to convince us global warming is real? Is it conceivable our old friends don’t know the truth? It’s possible but highly unlikely. ... There are literally dozens of scientific Web sites (refuting the crisis of global warming), but if you only have time for one or two, please see www.heartland.org or www.oism.org.”
Several Heartland friends appeared January 13 on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” as the popular cable host delved a little deeper into the global warming issue and moved a little closer to the skeptic’s point of view. Among the guests on that program were Science Director Lehr, policy advisor Dennis Avery, Fred Singer (Science and Environmental Policy Project), and Joe D’Aleo (International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project).
Writing on January 13 in the Chicago Tribune (circ. 512,000), and then syndicated to several other papers, including the Honolulu Advertiser (circ. 141,934) and Hartford (Connecticut) Courant (circ. 179,795), London correspondent Laurie Goering surveyed the cold winter in Europe and the U.S. and asked, “where has global warming gone when we need it most?”
In an incorrect paraphrase of an essay by Heartland President Joe Bast, Goering wrote, “The chilly weather has fueled arguments that man-made global warming is bunk. ‘This [climate] “crisis” is over,’ insists Joseph Bast, president of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, which will sponsor a conference for climate change dissenters in March in New York.” Heartlanders will know Joe wrote that the global warming crisis is over; climate will continue to change.
A January 25 survey from the University of Illinois at Chicago purported to show Antarctica has warmed over the past half-century, countering a key argument by skeptics who say climate change is overstated. Several news organizations sought out James M. Taylor, Heartland’s senior fellow for environment issues.
Bloomberg.com, the international financial news service, reported, “The research didn’t impress James M. Taylor, senior fellow for environmental policy at The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based research group that’s planning an international conference March 8-10 in New York City for scientists and analysts who ‘question the theory’ of man-made climate change.”
Continued Bloomberg, “‘I would be very hesitant to assign much value to this study,’ Taylor said in an interview today from his Tampa, Florida, office. ‘There are a number of studies over the course of many years showing Antarctica is cooling. Now we have a single study from authors who are well-known global-warming alarmists claiming they have ‘statistically blended’ data to show something entirely different.’”
The Detroit News (circ. 202,029) and Jamestown (New York) Post-Journal (circ. 25,000) opened their op-ed pages to Taylor, who scored the study’s scientists for changing their earlier positions: “Far from supporting a sound scientific theory that humans are creating a global warming crisis, last week’s assertion by prominent global warming alarmists that Antarctica is getting warmer illustrates the flip-flopping nature of global warming predictions.”
The next day, the Port Huron (Michigan) Times Herald (circ. 31,853) also ran Taylor’s op-ed.
Leslie Patton, a reporter for Medill News Service, a national wire service run by Northwestern University’s graduate journalism program, asked in a January 29 story whether wind energy (windmills, etc.) can weather the economic climate. She turned to Heartland Science Director Jay Lehr, who said the future of wind-generated energy is easy to predict. “Wind will never be a significant part of our nation’s energy,” Lehr said. To be as productive as a power plant, a wind farm would need to have 7,500 windmills covering 200 square miles of land. A power plant takes up only one-third of a square mile, Lehr said. Wind power, Lehr declared, exists only because of the tax credit. “The government mandates that we have to produce it.”
On the Road
Senior Fellow James M. Taylor explained “Climate Change Policy and Economic Issues” for an audience of 50 at a January 13 event in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The event was sponsored by the Rio Grande Foundation and the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE).
Taylor gave an encore performance on the evening of January 14 in Santa Fe. The event, which drew an audience of 80, also was sponsored by the Rio Grande Foundation and CARE.
Also on January 14, Taylor delivered the lunch keynote address at the Western States Land Commissioners Association Winter Conference. The audience of 60 included state land commissioners for more than 20 states, as well as various other state government officials.
Science Director Jay Lehr debunked global warming myths in Mankato, Minnesota on January 21 before 350 agriculture industry people assembled by AgStarFinancial, an agricultural lender and insurance company. Lehr got his usual standing ovation and was followed by a fear-mongering local weatherman. Said Lehr, “I actually felt sorry for the weatherman. The crowd kept laughing at his admonitions.”
Health Care News
The February 2009 issue of Health Care News opens with Managing Editor Jeff Emanuel’s report on President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of former U.S. senator Tom Daschle as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. (Daschle withdrew from consideration after the issue went to press.) Also in this issue:
- Arizona Proposition 101, which would have enshrined consumer-directed health care into the state’s constitution, failed at the polls by fewer than 9,000 votes--0.4 percentage points.
- Hoping to impose a huge, government-heavy overhaul of the U.S. health care system, incoming Members of Congress and Obama appointees are planning to “act fast and get it passed” before opposition can become well-organized.
- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is proposing to move some of the state’s Medicaid recipients to the private sector, where the cost is lower and outcomes better.
- A Pennsylvania board that identifies potential cost cuts and quality improvements in the state’s health care system faces dissolution because of a political dispute.
- Advocacy groups are pressing state governments to require insurance companies to include coverage for autism behavioral therapy.
- Minnesota is shifting 18,000 SCHIP-ineligible adults to Medicaid, with Bush administration approval. Only problem: The shiftees are also ineligible for Medicaid.
More Choices, Better Health
We mailed copies of More Choices, Better Health, which develops a “dual tracking” model for easier access to pharmaceutical innovation, to more than 1,800 health care journalists. The booklet, written by Heartland policy advisor Bart Madden, describes a model that empowers doctors and patients with wider therapeutic choices and enhances individual, problem-oriented decisions regarding experimental products.
In the News
Insure.com, an online news source for health insurers, reported January 1 on the confiscation by Brussels police of more than 2 million counterfeit medicines in a Brussels airport, sparking concern over the safety of the prescription drug market, in particular from online import sources. Insure.com quoted Greg Scandlen, director of Consumers for Health Care Choices at The Heartland Institute, who argued that allowing drug manufacturers to sell directly to consumers from their Web sites would be one way to avoid the problem of people unwittingly purchasing dangerous drugs from other countries.
The Obama administration’s health care plan was a work-in-progress in January, but several trade and mass-media outlets turned to Scandlen for analysis. He stressed the need for consumer-driven health care in the pages of Employee Benefit News (circ. 50,000) and Insurance & Financial Advisor Monthly (circ. 11,000).
Scandlen warned in the pages of the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal Gazette (circ. 86,049) that the federal Institutes for Health is trying to turn the health care debate in the direction of more command-and-control regulation.
Two other key trade periodicals, Drug Week and Medical Devices & Surgical Technology Week, quoted liberally during the week of January 12 from Health Care News as they probed ways that consumers could reduce health care costs.
On January 13, the Reading (Pennsylvania) Eagle (circ. 17,300) cited Health Care News data showing the efficiency and value of health savings accounts. In another section, the same paper cited Health Care News in a consumer analysis, “Out of a job? You can still get health services.”
Research Fellow Jeff Emanuel, managing editor of Health Care News, landed an op-ed in the Panama City (Florida) News-Herald (circ. 35,256) warning the Sunshine State’s legislature that “Tobacco taxes are unreliable as a revenue stream.”
Legislative Specialist John Nothdurft brought the same message in a separate op-ed to the pages of the Providence (Rhode Island) Journal (circ. 148,700) on January 19.
InfoTech & Telecom News
The February 2009 issue of InfoTech & Telecom News leads with Managing Editor Jim Lakely’s on-the-spot report from the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show, where the as-yet unknown regulatory agenda of President Barack Obama and a Democrat-dominated Congress left the technology industry and consumers in limbo. Also in this issue:
- Washington State has tabled a proposal to treat blogging as “Internet lobbying.”
- A coalition of public policy groups is calling on President Obama to make the federal government the nation’s primary driver of technological innovation.
- The successful rollout of wi-fi service in a small town in Arizona involved no long-term commitment of public funds. Analysts say it shows the private sector can bring broadband to rural communities better than government-directed schemes.
- Houston’s latest attempt to provide free home broadband has failed like its predecessors, once again because costs were too high and demand too low.
- Google CEO Eric Schmidt has called for federal bailout money to support new telecommunications infrastructure and encourage innovation.
- Spam email was recently cut by more than 40 percent virtually overnight. Analysts say the victory, though short-lived, points to the market’s key role in battling spam.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has ordered the state university system to require students to earn a quarter of their credits through online courses by 2015.
- New York Gov. David Paterson is proposing to close the state’s budget gap by imposing nearly 100 new taxes and fees, including an “iTunes tax” on downloads of digital media such as music, books, games, and movies.
In the News
The Chicago Sun-Times (circ. 496,030) published an op-ed by research fellow and IT&T News Managing Editor Jim Lakely laying out four reasons why Congress should spurn President Obama’s request to delay the deadline for switching America’s television signal from analog to digital.
In a January 18 New York Post (circ. 667,119) op-ed , Lakely urged the president to help the tech sector regain its vibrancy by resisting the urge to tax downloads of music, books, games, and other digital media purchased on the Internet. Lakely noted New York Gov. David Paterson proposed a slew of new Internet taxes, and he offered five reasons why each of those proposals is a bad idea.
On the Road
From January 8-11, Brian Costin, Heartland’s assistant director of government relations, and Lakely attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. They met with many legislators and industry insiders promoting Heartland’s work on the issues.
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I long for the day when a majority of people, once again, start taking personal responsibility for their lives and actions. That is the world I grew up in. I am not sure when it changed. If I had to guess, it was the beginnings of the “Great Society” that Johnson promoted in the 60s. Let the Government take care of us and our needs was the Mantra of that era. My 6 siblings and I were “forced” to go to private schools (Catholic) when growing up, even though that put a huge financial burden on my family. Most of my rural neighborhood friends went to the public schools and did not have to study nearly as much as I did to get decent grades. I complained about this to my Dad and he said that one day I would thank him for his sacrifice and my learning good study habits. He was right. We believe that the private school our Grandkids go to (Rancho Solano) will give them the opportunity for a distinct leadership advantage in our Global community. We are not alone in this belief. The school is culturally diversified and the boys have classmates from around the world. They offer parenting classes (reservations required) that align with the practices the kids experience at school each day. Thanks for listening and choosing to be a part of the solution. |
School Reform News
The February 2009 issue of School Reform News reports on a Florida rally that attracted Gov. Charlie Crist and more than 600 local dignitaries, corporate donors, and parental choice supporters celebrating the continued success of the state’s Step Up For Students scholarship program. Also in this issue:
- More than 200 parents and their special-needs children showed up outside the Arizona Supreme Court in December as justices heard arguments as to the constitutionality of the Arizona Scholarships Program.
- Democratic Party groups supporting school choice are pressing President Barack Obama for options such as charters and merit pay.
- An organization promoting education equality is organizing its second annual gathering in Harlem to rally families and politicians in support of charters and school choice.
- Public school figures in Massachusetts want to change the state’s funding mechanism so regular public schools can keep more money when students leave for charters.
- A new Web site in Utah provides families with videos, news updates, school performance information, and suggestions on how parents can get involved in the education system.
- Reactions to Obama’s appointment of former Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan for U.S. Secretary of Education have been largely positive.
In the News
On January 16, Heartland Senior Fellow Robert Holland made the case for school vouchers for special-needs children in a letter to the Vacaville, California Reporter. “As several states have discovered in recent years, a voucher for half the amount being spent per-pupil in the public system can give a child a passport to a good private school responding to special educational needs. And that also means a savings for the state budget.”
Holland topped the Letters page of The Wall Street Journal (circ. 2,011,082) on January 21 when he took on Al Sharpton and others who advocate “adoption of national standards and assessments, a step that would complete the creeping federal takeover of education and seal the triumph of mediocrity in American education.”
On the Road
Illinois state Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst) invited Legislative Specialist Zonia Pino to participate in a taped roundtable discussion on school choice that he chaired on January 21. Pino, a former middle-school teacher, was joined by the principals of two religious high schools. She discussed how families of poor or modest means would benefit most from school choice, and how an effective and constitutionally acceptable voucher program could work.
Rediscovering Black Conservatism
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Rediscovering Black Conservatism can be downloaded in Adobe’s PDF format from Heartland’s Web site at http://www.heartland.org/books/rediscovering.html. Heartland donors and members may also request printed copies by calling administrative assistant Cheryl Parker at 312/377-4000. Others may purchase copies for $8.95. |
Rediscovering Black Conservatism, an important new book by Heartland Senior Fellow Lee H. Walker, was released in February to talk radio show hosts and print media outlets, black ministers, donors and friends, and our think tank colleagues--nearly 3,000 books in all.
Walker’s new book is a primer on black conservatism and addresses the ideas, people, and issues that have shaped the movement. The two central ideas animating the book are that conservatism is not a new phenomenon within black America, and that it is the source of powerful ideas that can finally solve some of the long-term social and economic problems facing black Americans today.
The election of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States makes the ideas and issues addressed in this book especially timely. It is also a good time to make it clear that not all blacks are liberals, and (as Walker likes to say) “that is a good thing!”
The book explains how conservative ideas grew out of the black experience in America, and how their strongest advocate – Booker T. Washington – got air-brushed out of black history during the politically charged 1960s and 1970s. With the failure of the liberal welfare state during the 1980s and the subsequent world-wide rise of free-market ideas, it’s a good time to reexamine Washington’s philosophy and its relevance to today’s social and economic problems.
CORE Partnership
On January 5, Local Legislation Manager Ralph W. Conner collaborated with Bruce Gibb, scriptwriter, producer, and director for the “2A Today for the USA” Second Amendment project organized by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO). Conner provided research to the group and coordinated participation in the project by Roy Innis, national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
On January 16, Conner traveled to JPFO headquarters in Milwaukee to tape a segment to be included in the movie about “the racist roots of gun-control.”
On January 19, Conner attended the 24th Annual Martin Luther King Birthday Celebration sponsored by CORE in New York. He distributed more than 300 copies of the CORE Freedoms newsletter developed by Heartland.
We distributed more than 2,000 copies of CORE Freedoms, a newsletter on energy and environment issues, to lists of friends, donors, and allies of The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change, including black ministers and media outlets. A more extensive distribution is planned for March.
REVISITING ...
Welfare Reform
Heartland’s 2008 Policy Study, “Welfare Reform after 10 Years: A State-by-State Analysis of Anti-Poverty Success and Welfare Reform Policies,” is still generating media and legislative attention. The Delaware State News (circ. 20,655) reported January 3 that Delaware ranked 20th overall in welfare reform and received a C-plus grade in the Heartland study.
The statewide newspaper quoted the report’s lead author, Gary MacDougal, as saying, “My hypothesis would be that even though Delaware has very effective policies, they are not being integrated effectively.”
Airport Privatization
On January 12, Local Legislation Manager Ralph W. Conner distributed a Research & Commentary on airport privatization to the mayor and city council members in Gary, Indiana. The city has struggled with airport development since becoming affiliated with the City of Chicago airport authority.
DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT REPORT
Exclusive Heartland Member Conference Call Series
On December 4, Heartland’s exclusive member conference call series featured two members of Heartland’s Board of Directors. Directors Jeff Madden and James Fitzgerald shared their industry expertise with regard to the financial crisis. Fitzgerald provided a community banking industry perspective while Madden gave an equity investment point of view.
On January 29, we addressed “The Obama Administration: The First 90 Days.” Callers heard from three of Heartland’s policy experts: Senior Fellow James M. Taylor, managing editor of Environment & Climate News; Research Fellow Jeff Emanuel, managing editor of Health Care News; and Research Fellow Steve Stanek, managing editor of Budget & Tax News. The call was moderated by Government Relations Director Peter Fotos, who prior to joining Heartland last October served for eight years in various legislative capacities on Capitol Hill, most recently as the principal advisor to U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) on issues related to taxes, health care, Medicare and Medicaid, and Social Security.
To find out how you can participate in the monthly donor conference call series, please email Gwendalyn Carver at gcarver@heartland.org. Recordings of past conference calls can be accessed at www.heartland.org/donate/conference.html.
Calling All Heartland Members!
We’d like to hear from you! We are in the process of compiling testimonials to post on our Web site. What makes Heartland special? Why do you support Heartland? How would you describe Heartland to a friend or colleague? Please email testimonials to Membership Manager John O’Hara at johara@heartland.org.
Kristine Esposo is Heartland’s new corporate relations manager, responsible for communicating and maintaining relationships with the organization’s corporate contacts. Prior to joining Heartland, Kristine worked for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in development and event planning. She also has worked at Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Tax Reform. Originally from the Washington, DC area, Kristine graduated from The George Washington University in 2006 with a B.A. in political science.
Christopher Whitehead joins Heartland as a graphic designer, primarily responsible for the look of the monthly publications. He spent nearly 35 years at the Chicago Sun-Times as a page designer, copy editor, and a weekly columnist for the newspaper’s business section. He and his wife live on Chicago’s South Side.
