Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.
Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.

Massive New Border Numbers Show Biden's Policies "Driving This Crisis" – We have a crisis on the border, even though the Biden administration still refuses to acknowledge it. Today’s numbers are just more evidence of this undeniable reality – and proof that President Biden’s policies are driving this crisis. The president has stood before the American people and falsely claimed that the massive surge of illegal aliens across our sovereign border is just a ‘seasonal’ phenomenon. The facts tell a different story. In February 2020, Border Patrol agents apprehended about 35,000 illegal aliens attempting to enter the U.S. In March 2020, it was around 33,000. In April 2020, illegal crossings numbered less than 20,000.Heritage experts: Lora Ries and Mike Howell

Biden’s Tax-and-Spend ‘Infrastructure’ Plan Would Slow Economy, Deepen Swamp – Many goals of the Biden plan would be better accomplished by getting government out of the way rather than handing more power and money to Congress and federal bureaucrats. For example, we could have better roads and bridges using existing spending by getting rid of federal red tape that makes construction projects take longer and cost more. Deregulation and further tax reforms can aid businesses and add permanent jobs throughout the country. Local reforms to boost residential development would improve housing affordability far more than hundreds of billions in federal spending. Despite the big promises surrounding this latest multitrillion-dollar spending package, Americans should recognize that the plan would do tremendous harm to the economy and our foundational system of divided government. Heritage expert: David Ditch

The Resegregation of America – America hasn’t always lived up to the promise of equality laid out in the Declaration of Independence. Slavery and segregation ran alongside our institutions and culture of liberty. But the founding generation designed our system to bend toward justice and the truth. In time, we have built upon our cornerstone of freedom and corrected our flaws as a nation. The intellectual vanguards of wokeness and critical race theory demand that the most fundamental aspects of self-government and preservation of individual rights be abandoned to serve the cause of destroying “systemic racism.” Arguing to the contrary may be racist and, if Kendi gets his way, practically illegal—at least illegal for anyone in a position of power. So, not only is America to be resegregated, but unlike in our past—when the American people were persuaded and freely chose to abandon and prohibit race-based policies—this time we will have no choice, and will simply be at the whim of woke apparatchiks. Heritage expert: Jarrett Stepman

Branding Georgia Election Law, Senate Filibuster ‘Racist’ Is Vile Tactic to Justify HR 1 – HR 1 would effectively ban voter ID laws and severely hamper the ability of states to verify the eligibility of voters. It would force automatic voter registration through government databases, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and public assistance offices, without sufficient safeguards against noncitizens or other ineligible voters becoming registered. It would also block the cross-checking of voter rolls across different states to prevent people from registering more than once. It also violates the First Amendment by restricting protected political speech and activities. There’s no chance that HR 1 will attract the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Therefore, liberals say, the filibuster must be eliminated to achieve their objective. Heritage expert: Tim Murtaugh

US Far Left, Chinese Communist Party Are Ideological Kissing Cousins – They both share an interest in blaming former President Donald Trump—and not the lies of the Chinese Communist Party—for the spread of the virus. Like China’s leaders, the American left has let Trump, a real estate magnate, live rent-free inside its brain. Both sides will also use the current rise in crimes against Americans of Asian descent for their own expedient political purposes: China, to make the case to the world, but especially to its own people, that the U.S. model is inferior to its own, and the left, because the success of Asian Americans is a rebuke against its ideology. These Americans, especially Chinese Americans, work and study hard, and enjoy the rewards. They pursue the success sequence, abide by the law, learn the civic environment of their new country, and successfully organize to stop racist practices. That’s why the woke left must jump on the opportunity to instill grievances and try to make sure that they see themselves as victims. Heritage expert: Mike Gonzalez

Ending the Filibuster: A Power Grab by the ‘Slimmest Majority’ – Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) pledged to oppose “any effort to curtail” the legislative filibuster that she has voted for 205 times. So did Leahy, who has voted to do so 228 times, and Senator Jack Reed (D., R.I.), who has 198 filibuster votes to his credit. Are they just as “united” in their “determination” to oppose any changes to extended debate now that they have the majority? Is parliamentary brute force, especially with now the slimmest possible majority, still an abuse of power to advance a power grab? Is the Republic still better off when the Senate maintains its checks and balances? Or has power so corrupted Senate Democrats that they will simply abandon all of what they claimed the Founders had in mind and what they themselves proclaimed only a few years ago? Actions certainly do speak louder than words. Heritage expert: Tom Jipping

DC statehood requires a constitutional amendment, and I’ll put that on my yard sign – All district residents already enjoy significant benefits by the very nature of living in the seat of the federal government, including close proximity and personal access to hundreds of federal officials. And yes, district residents can even make their views on this or any other subject known to virtually every member of Congress with a simple act such as placing a sign in their yard or window. If someone in Wyoming takes a similar action, how many members of Congress will see it? Maybe three? In the district, many, many more inevitably will. Apparently, though, it’s controversial to point out this obvious fact. Heritage expert: Zack Smith

6th Circuit Reaches Right Conclusion on ‘Preferred Pronouns.’ Other Courts Should Follow Suit. – In a victory for free speech, the rule of law, and common sense, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has ruled that a philosophy professor could not be forced to use a transgender student’s “preferred pronouns,” and that his suit against the university for violation of his First and 14th Amendment rights could proceed. The court’s decision is the first of its kind, and establishes a needed boundary against American culture’s new, brutish sexual orthodoxy. At least within academia, one can no longer be compelled to say things one doesn’t believe. Heritage expert: Sarah Perry

Does Race Get Short Shrift in Education Research and Teacher Training? – In academia today, a heightened focus on issues of diversity and race has been accompanied by claims that education research, teacher preparation, and colleges of education have shortchanged these issues. Donors, university trustees, legislators, and those concerned about the state of higher education should understand that the evidence does not support such claims. There is, however, a place for hard questions about just what is being taught under the banner of race, diversity, and equity—and how much intellectual diversity is on display in those institutions charged with preparing America’s future teachers. Heritage expert: Lindsey Burke

U.S. and China: Some Perspective Needed on Human Rights – In addition to being analytical failures, comparisons between the United States and the world’s worst rights abusers are reckless. China is trying to convince the world that the values for which the United States is the global standard bearer fail to deliver superior human rights and other outcomes from despotisms like its own. They understand that stripping America of its moral authority makes it easier for them to defend their own far worse records and, especially in the case of China, to achieve their geopolitical goals. None of this suggests that anyone should be satisfied with the United States’ place in the rankings cited earlier, or with the recent tumults that have wracked the country. The United States, despite the undeniable progress it has made, must always be vigilant to ensure for its people the freedoms its founding documents promise. That should be possible without drawing spurious moral equivalencies with Nazi Germany, apartheid South Africa, and China itself, which is arguably the most able competitor Washington has ever faced. Heritage expert: Joshua Meservey

How C. S. Lewis Accepted Christianity – The pagan stories, Tolkien insisted, are God expressing himself through the minds of poets: They are “splintered fragments” of a much greater story. The account of Christ and his death and resurrection is a kind of myth, he explained. It works on our imagination in much the same way as other myths, with this difference: It really happened. Perhaps only Tolkien, with his immense intelligence and creativity, could have persuaded Lewis that his reason and imagination might become allies in the act of faith. Heritage expert: Joe Loconte