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Dear Jack,
Mississippi is now surrounded by states that have either passed, or are in the process of passing, laws that will give every family school choice. A proposal to do something similar in our state never even made it to a full vote in the legislature.
Mississippi is now surrounded by states that have universal school choice.
How odd that there has been so little progress towards school choice in such a solidly conservative state. School choice, surely, is one policy that unites every wing of the conservative movement across America more than any other.
School choice appeals as much to blue collar Trump conservatives as it does to conservatives in the country clubs. Donald Trump has spoken passionately in defense of universal school choice. His Education Secretary, Betsy De Vos, has fought heroically – both in office and afterwards - for school choice.
Universal school choice has universal appeal for conservatives – except, it seems, in Mississippi.
Even more odd, perhaps, is that it is not only school choice that has failed to advance in the Mississippi state legislature in 2024. A whole raft of solid conservative measures have failed this session.
Where’s the beef?
Two months ago, there were high hopes that the legislature might give back to voters the right of initiative. This measure died in the Senate.
Most conservatives, you might think, would oppose the DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) agenda that has run rampant across US university campuses. A modest bill was put forward to prevent your tax dollars funding DEI programs at our public universities. This measure was killed off in committee.
At the start of the session, many leading lawmakers agreed that something needed to be done to deal with the mismanagement of Mississippi’s Public Employee’s Retirement System (PERS). A modest proposal to change the way PERS was overseen was shot down in the Senate.
Most people accept that healthcare in Mississippi is not as good as it needs to be. HB419 could have removed some of the intentionally restrictive red tape that limits the number of healthcare providers able to treat patients. It was killed off.
At some point, I put it to you, the voters might start to notice. It is not sustainable to have voters repeatedly vote conservative but to get so little conservative policy in return.
The U.S. South is flourishing. For decades now, there has been what you might call the Southern Success Story. Texas, North Carolina, and Florida have taken off. Tennessee, Alabama, and even Arkansas are seeing strong, sustained growth, too. Why not Mississippi?
Governor Reeves with Speaker Jason White unveiling another massive inward investment project.
To be fair, we are starting to see signs of the kind of growth we need. Our Governor has helped attract so much inward investment that there is a danger we grow blasé about yet another billion-dollar announcement. It seems that there are now more people moving to Mississippi than leaving. Every time I visit Hattiesburg, Laurel, Starkville, Oxford, or the Coast, I see evidence of growth all around.
Nor is there anything pre-ordained about Mississippi being ranked 50^th out of 50 states. It is a choice to not emulate the reforms that have helped transform other southern states for the better.
If a conservative were to run for office today against tax cuts, they’d be unlikely to get very far. It wasn’t always that way, and it took people like Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform to make being a conservative synonymous with wanting lower taxes.
Rockefeller, Bush Snr, Reagan: not every kind of conservative used to favor tax cuts.
We need to do something similar when it comes to school choice. We need to make it unthinkable to run as a conservative unless you favor universal education freedom accounts.
The good news is that this is beginning to happen. In Texas, for example, a few weeks ago, almost all anti-school choice conservatives lost out in their primary elections. It would be impossible for anyone to run as a conservative in Texas to be Governor or Lieutenant Governor without unequivocally supporting universal school choice.
Why stop with school choice? I doubt it will be possible to run as a conservative unless you oppose spending tax dollars on divisive DEI or favor giving citizens back their right of initiative either.
Sooner rather than later, conservative folk will start to say “No more BS, please. Where’s the beef?”
Have a wonderful weekend!
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Warm regards,
Douglas Carswell
President & CEO
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