If you don’t visit Freedom Pub and the Heartlander digital magazine every day, you’re missing out on some of the best news and commentary on liberty and free markets you can find. But worry not, freedom lovers! Heartland Weekly is here for you every Monday with a highlight show. Subscribe to the email today, and read this week’s edition below.
Butler University Offers Outrageous Anti-Trump Course, ‘Strategies for Resistance’
Justin Haskins and Katie Clancy, School Reform News
A course offered at Butler University promises to teach students the reasons Donald Trump won the 2016 election and give students “strategies for resistance.” The course, titled “Trumpism & U.S. Democracy,” will be available for students during the Fall 2017 semester and will explore the supposed “sexism, white supremacy, xenophobia, nationalism, nativism, and imperialism” of his campaign, which “is contrary to the foundation of the U.S. democracy.” A review by The Heartland Institute of other courses available at Butler shows zero course offerings that present the Trump administration in a positive way. READ MORE
Open Letter to Ivanka Trump: Serve Your Father by Relying on Scientists, Not Celebrities
Joseph Bast, American Spectator
In an open letter to the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast urges her to put down the remote and step away from the fiction-laden documentaries of Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio. “We should all do our share to protect the environment,” writes Bast, “but the campaign to reduce energy use or to switch from fossil fuels to solar and wind power is not about protecting the environment. It’s about something else.” READ HERE
Ding Dong, Obamacare Is Dead – Heartland Experts React
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 217–213 to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA). The bill repeals and replaces Obamacare – something Republicans have promised to do since 2010 and may finally accomplish with President Trump’s support from the White House. Peter Ferrara, author of Heartland’s 2010 book The Obamacare Disaster, praised this historic vote: “The Republican repeal and replace of Obamacare is the biggest reduction in government since the end of World War II. Spending will be reduced by over $1 trillion, almost all in entitlement spending.” READ MORE
Featured Podcast: Daren Bakst: Problems with U.S. Farm Policy – Subsidies for the Wealthy
U.S. farm policy is shaped by myths about saving the family farm when, in fact, most subsidies go to the largest farms and wealthiest farmers. Daren Bakst, research fellow in agricultural policy at The Heritage Foundation, talks with Heartland’s H. Sterling Burnett about the latest Farm Bill out of Congress – which is, yet again, a sop to agribusiness. Bakst explains why the time has come for taxpayers to stop subsidizing farmers, especially the largest 10 percent that receive up to 90 percent of all subsidies every year. The only thing farm subsidies grow is dependency on government. LISTEN TO MORE
Heartland Is Hiring!
Do you consider yourself a proponent of freedom and defender of the Constitution? Do you wish to help advance the cause of liberty and combat the never-ending threats to individual rights? Are you a college student looking to immerse yourself in a globally recognized think tank? Good news! The Heartland Institute has full-time open positions in publications, marketing, and government relations as well as summer internships in all departments. If you or someone you know is interested in applying, please check out the job and and internship descriptions online at our website.
States’ Role in the Trump-era Energy Revolution
Bette Grande, Washington Times
Throughout the first 100 days of the Trump administration, policymakers in energy-producing states have seen many positive developments emerging out of Washington, DC. For example, the onerous Waters of the United States rule, Stream Protection Rule, and Clean Power Plan are all going away. As the federal role in climate policy is rolled back, state regulators and the energy industry must work together to balance prudent resource development with the task of protecting the environment. READ MORE
Net Neutrality: Venezuela for the Internet
Seton Motley, RedState
One of so many walking undead issues that shamble on in Washington, DC is the ridiculous government internet overreach known as network neutrality. Anything the Left insists on imposing via unelected bureaucrats issuing regulatory fiats – rather than through legislation via our elected officials in Congress – is going to very much resemble a zombie. Because these things are never truly good and dead. When government takes over delivery of things, imposing socialism, Venezuela ensues. READ MORE
Arizona Lawmaker Proposes Abandoning Compulsory Education
Teresa Mull, School Choice Weekly
An Arizona lawmaker says society might value education more if we weren’t forced to attend school. The Arizona Daily Sun reports: “Rep. Paul Mosley (R-Lake Havasu City) questions whether any parent should ever be forced to send a child to public school, at any age.” I’m with Mosley on this one, but something tells me his “don’t make kids go to school” campaign isn’t going to get far. Teachers unions already blow a gasket every time someone suggests simply not forcing kids to attend a public school, let alone no school at all. READ MORE
Mental Health Medicaid Rule Makes Sense, Unlike ACA
Michael Hamilton, Consumer Power Report
May is “Mental Health Month,” and for certain Medicaid patients with mental illness, relief is around the corner with a new rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) taking effect on July 1. The rule change will render patients on Medicaid managed-care plans eligible for up to 15 days of inpatient hospital mental health care. In contrast to the divisive Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, the change is an expansion of Medicaid services free-marketers are unlikely to oppose. This is because ensuring mental health care access for needy patients disabled by mental illness makes sense. READ MORE
Path from Paris
H. Sterling Burnett, Climate Change Weekly
In regards to the Paris climate treaty, the reasons to walk away boil down to these two arguments: The agreement is a bad deal for America, and Trump promised to do so. While there may be a better deal to be had – the Obama administration could hardly have negotiated a worse deal for our country – no deal would be a good deal for the United States. Even Trump can’t put lipstick on this pig. READ MORE
Bonus Podcast: Twila Brase: Patients, Providers Choose Health Freedom
Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, joins Health Care News Managing Editor Michael Hamilton to discuss the patient-centered principles of the Wedge of Health Freedom. This reform allows patients to take control of their health care decisions back from third parties such as government and health insurers. LISTEN TO MORE
American Exceptionalism: The Life of Madam C. J. Walker
S.T. Karnick, The Heartland Institute
In a poverty-stricken neighborhood of early twentieth century St. Louis, a hardworking black washer-woman in her early 30s encountered an embarrassing and then-intractable problem: Her hair was falling out. The woman who would come to be known as Madam C. J. Walker rejected self-pity and set out to do something about it. Within just a half-dozen years, Walker would become a hugely successful businesswoman and a self-made model of achievement. READ MORE
National Parks Highlight Need for Civil-service Reform
Isaac Orr, Deseret News
Environmental groups predictably took National Park Week as an opportunity to decry President Donald Trump’s proposal to cut the budget for the Department of the Interior from $13.2 billion to $11.6 billion, a reduction of about 12 percent. They claim the reduction will be the death knell for America’s natural wonders. Research Fellow Isaac Orr’s personal account of his time as a National Park Service employee shows the agency has its fair share of waste, fraud, and abuse. There are plenty of places, he writes, where more efficient practices can be utilized to provide a better return for taxpayers’ investment. READ MORE
