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Dear Jack,
The Mississippi Center for Public Policy has been busy in 2023, helping secure a number of clear wins for our state.
1. Mississippi’s budget: Our Responsible Budget for Mississippi, published at the start of this year, proposed keeping spending under control and not squandering the surplus. I was delighted that the budget passed by the legislature was largely in line with our recommendations.
2. Protecting women’s rights: We helped mobilise support to protect women’s rights against radical activists. We had the idea of inviting Riley Gaines, the champion swimmer, to come to Mississippi to highlight the need for a change back in the spring. There seems to be growing support for Riley’s campaign!
Riley Gaines speaking in Jackson
3. Providing the “antidote” to woke: Concerned about what young people are taught at college, we launched the Mississippi Leadership Academy to teach young Mississippians about the morality of the free market and the US Constitution, as well as providing practical lessons on how to defend liberty on campus. The Academy is now in its second year.
Mississippi Leadership Academy
So far, so good – but Mississippi is still too often ranked 50^th out of 50 states. Too many young people in our state are moving to other states.
We need bold changes in public policy that will improve the lives of Mississippians. That is why we have been hard at work on plans to promote key innovations in public policy:
* Education freedom: Mississippi is now surrounded on three sides by states that have either implemented education freedom (Arkansas), or are moving towards it (Alabama, Louisiana). Why aren’t we?
To kick start a campaign for Arkansas-type education freedom in this state, we are holding a public meeting on November 15^th with Corey DeAngelis, families who have benefited from education freedom, as well as some of the key architects of change in Arkansas.
Find out more about this event by clicking on the image below.
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Click on the image above for more information!
* More affordable healthcare: Too many people in Mississippi struggle to find affordable healthcare. Medicaid expansion will not solve this problem. We would like to see the removal of those restrictive laws know as Certificate of Need (CON) laws, which restrict the range of healthcare providers.
Our legal division, the Mississippi Justice Institute is spearheading the fight against CON laws, with a case before the US Federal 5^th circuit court.
* Full income tax elimination: To make Mississippi more competitive, we need to reduce the tax burden. In 2022, our Governor signed into law the Mississippi Tax Freedom Act, which gave over a million Mississippi workers a tax break.
Mississippi continues to have a healthy budget surplus, and we believe that full elimination of the state income tax is achievable, with tax revenue threshold triggers to ensure it is affordable as well.
I am delighted that we have been supported in recent months by some key national conservatives:
* Betsy DeVos, former Secretary for Education, talking about education freedom.
* Riley Gaines, top US athlete talking about protecting women’s rights.
* Alex Epstein, author, on the case for oil and gas.
* Rafael Mangual from the Manhattan Institute on the dangers of the anti-police / anti-prison agenda.
Betsy DeVos in Jackson
In the past three months, I have spoken at meetings from DeSoto county to the Coast, and from the Delta to Meridian. Plenty of great things are happening around our state – and if we get public policy right, I am 100 percent certain we will see Mississippi prosper.
As an immigrant to America and recent arrival to this great state, there is not a day that goes by when I don’t feel fortunate to be here.
If you have any thoughts or ideas on what else we ought to be doing to elevate our state, please do let me know.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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Warm regards,
Douglas Carswell
President & CEO
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