I want to set the record straight.

The leftist publications Slate and Daily Beast published articles suggesting that a number of limited-government groups have violated their deeply-held principles by accepting Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to weather the COVID-19 storm.

These are not the first of such articles, and they certainly won’t be the last.

But the National Center for Public Policy Research will not be mentioned in any them as we neither applied for nor received PPP funds.

Even though the National Center experienced fluctuations in its revenue due to COVID-19-related economic fallout, we did not seek government funding because:

• We believe doing so would be inconsistent with our limited-government mission.
• We take pride in having never taken a dime of government money.
• We know the program is critically important to the survival of small businesses such as family-owned restaurants.

We’ve also always believed in the wisdom of the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis – about the need to save during periods of abundance for periods of scarcity.

Conservatives and libertarians acknowledge government’s authority to take private property for public use. But when it does so, the full costs should not be shouldered by the individual, but by the public. This is why the founders wisely added the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

While the National Center decided against participating in PPP, it recognizes there is a legitimate case to be made that government should clean up the messes it makes.

The liberal media should refrain from commenting on principles it clearly knows nothing about. 

As I write to you today, the left is using the crisis to expand their funding advantage over conservatives like you and me through the use of taxpayer dollars.

The massive $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act included hundreds of billions of dollars in forgivable loans for businesses to help them retain employees during the economic shutdown.

Left-wing groups that have literally billions of dollars in their bank accounts are taking millions of those relief dollars, which were intended to help small businesses survive.

The National Center WILL NOT. We’ve never taken a penny of government money and we never will.

But I know that by taking this principled position, I’m placing the National Center at a relative disadvantage.

John, The National Center relies on the generous support of individual donors like yourself. Will you help us today with your contribution of $25, $50, $100 or even more?

The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.

• The Free Enterprise Project (FEP), the liberty movement’s only full-service shareholder and activism group that’s effective in pushing corporate America to the right;
• Project 21, the liberty movement’s only public relations agency for black conservatives and libertarians that has already created over 40,000 media opportunities;
• The Environment and Enterprise Institute (EEI), which counters misinformation being spread by the environmental left.