"The road to adopting the Reagan program and changing America was paved with bitter compromises. If perfection is what you're after, then running for Congress was the wrong decision. I never wrote or voted for any major legislation that didn't contain something I opposed. If you can't compromise, you can't legislate or govern." -- Former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Author of the bill that cut spending, increased military resources and mandated the Reagan tax cuts.
Meanwhile … 1.) The General Assembly has adjourned. For four years, the Thomas Jefferson Institute has called for reining in the political power of the state's reigning power monopoly, which authored the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Green Agenda legislation and many of the cost hikes customers are paying and will be paying. Jefferson Institute Senior Fellow Steve Haner, who has earned another victory lap, will report later today that on the big energy issue in this year's General Assembly, the power of Dominion Energy Virginia was reversed for the first time and independent oversight restored to the State Corporation Commission, where it belongs -- thanks in large part to the active involvement of Governor Glenn Youngkin. It is not all we would like, but it is much that we like. The compromise is reported to save ratepayers $20 a month, and Steve's column giving you the details will arrive later today. We haven't seen it yet, but we commend it to you. Watch your "inbox." 2.) The General Assembly also passed a "skinny" budget bill, making about only about $250 million in changes where they needed to be made and providing time for the General Assembly to go home, campaign for re-election and resolve its differences over the Governor's $1 billion tax cut for Virginians (here). While home, they'll be seeking votes from voters, and those voters should let legislators know that $1 billion in tax cuts out of a $3.6 billion surplus isn't too much to ask. Governor Youngkin now has more opportunity to fight for those cuts. Since the Thomas Jefferson Institute first proposed doubling the standard deduction and reducing the corporate income tax four years ago (here), consider us in the fight. Saddle up! 3.) Securing affordable and reliable energy is a goal of conservatives and Governor Glenn Youngkin, and even The Washington Post, notes small, modular, nuclear reactors hold out promise for our energy future – especially in what was once "coal country" (here). But when the Governor pushed for state research in his proposed Virginia Power Innovation Fund, the knees of Senate Democrats jerked and struck nuclear power from the list (here). Fortunately, cooler heads on the conference committee prevailed, and research into expanded energy opportunities will move forward. 4.) Governor Youngkin has asked the Virginia Secretary of Education to review the content of the Advanced Placement African American Studies course now being piloted, to ensure it does not utilize Critical Race Theory in its instruction. The Virginia NAACP is "outraged" (here). But writing in Commentary magazine, Christine Rosen points out some of problems with the initial AP course, especially in Unit 4, among them: "Here, students would learn about reparations for slavery in an entirely one-sided fashion, since the reading materials, among them an essay by Ta-Nehisi Coates and the text of proposed legislation for reparations, only made the case for reparations" and "a section on 'Intersectionality and Activism,' which included readings by Kimberlé Crenshaw, the self-described doyenne of that very thing the mainstream media has claimed was not being taught in K–12 public schools: Critical Race Theory." (here) While Ms. Crenshaw is no longer in the revised AP course (this is a pilot; it is intended to be corrected along the way), the Governor is in full rights to ensure that high school students will be taught to differentiate between critical race theory, critical thinking and … well, just being critical. 5.) In what is surely an incident unrelated to how history is taught, Fairfax County School Board member Abrar Omeish declared Iwo Jima as "setting a record for what human evil is capable of." (here) Ms. Omeish is more famously known for having voted against a moment of silence for 9/11 victims (here) because the resolution was "not anti-racist" and failed to consider "state-sponsored terrorism." Hopefully, Ms. Omeish will not be reviewing history courses. 6.) Of less concern to the NAACP is the prospect that smart, low-income students won't be told about their National Merit Scholarship commendations in time to use them to secure financial aid. The withholding has spread to about 16 high schools in Northern Virginia. Writing in National Review, former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani filed Freedom of Information Act requests for 2,000 documents to get the story at Thomas Jefferson High School here. 7.) These and other topics are among the reasons you might want to attend the 2nd annual Virginia Education Summit on March 25, sponsored by the Virginia Education Opportunity Alliance (the Thomas Jefferson Institute is a leader in the group). Keynote will be offered by Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, and there will be a host of other speakers. For more information, or to register, click here. 8.) As we noted last week, Senator Louise Lucas seeks to prevent spending on innovative lab schools – partnerships between colleges and public-school systems because she wants to "prop up" public schools. And while lab schools are public schools themselves, they're just not the kind Senator Lucas' friends at the teachers union get to unilaterally control. Over at Cardinal News, the voice of southwest and southside Virginia, Dwight Yancey takes the Senator to task and wades into the controversy to explain the hope such lab schools offer (here) … and that the Senator would take away. 9.) The Left's degradation of merit is precisely what is motivating one presidential candidate: Vivek Ramaswamy, the 37-year-old author who took off after the notion of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing in his book, Woke, Inc., and co-founded Strive Asset Management as an alternative to politicized asset managers like BlackRock. His announcement, a call for restoring American ideals of freedom and merit, is worth more than a quick read here. 10.) The crowd comes for children's writers, too, but sometimes they fail. Harry Potter author JK Rowling got in trouble for suggesting that women's restrooms should be reserved, for safety reasons, for those whose birth gender was female, and a boycott of the online Hogwarts game ensued … but sales are soaring anyway (here). More recently the publishers (more like the Ministry of Truth) of Roald Dahl's stories hired "sensitivity readers" to purge his books of any words deemed unfit, including "whiteness (even of bedsheets), blackness (even of tractors), and the great Rudyard Kipling" reports Wall Street Journal children's book reviewer Meghan Cox Gurdon (here). After Salman Rushdie declared it "absurd censorship," the publisher quickly … well, compromised, and promised to publish "The Roald Dahl Classic Collection" giving buyers a choice (here). That's what they get for gobblefunking with the words. Let the free market reign! Buy classic. Finally …These guys and gals most certainly do not compromise. Happy Sunday, Everyone! Write your legislators: Return your fair share! Cordially, | 
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