This Fourth of July weekend, Americans will celebrate something that we have all desired for a year and a half – a return to normal.
 
Our nation’s 245^th birthday will be a more joyous occasion than usual, as we can finally gather together again to commemorate our nation’s independence with family and friends.
 
But as we turn the corner on Covid-19, much work remains to restore California’s and America’s economic health to the roaring prosperity we saw before the pandemic.
 
As we continue the important fight for our freedom, PRI’s team has been hard at work proposing forward-thinking ideas to address the major challenges facing our state and nation.  Below are highlights of our recent work. 
 

• Fighting for More Affordable Health Care Choices
  
  Many Democratic Members of Congress have been pushing for a single-payer health care system that would outlaw private insurance, while President Biden supports a so-called “public option” that is a steppingstone to government-run health care.
  
  In my new weekly Newsmax column and my regular op-eds for Forbes.com and the Washington Examiner (click here to read my recent commentaries), I have been working to educate the American people on what a Medicare for All system would mean - longer wait times, rationed care, less access to specialists, reduced quality of care, higher and new taxes, a doctor shortage, and patients no longer having access to prescription medications they rely upon. At the same time, I have been promoting market-based reforms to give Americans more affordable health care choices that better meet their budget and individual health needs.
   
• Helping More Americans Climb the Economic Ladder Through Entrepreneurship 
  
  Millions lost their jobs over the past 18 months and unemployment rates are higher than before Covid-19.  As New York Times bestselling author Carol Roth shared on a recent exclusive PRI webinar (click here to watch), government policy during the pandemic has amounted to a “war on small business.”  This is a tragic mistake that is prolonging our recovery.
  
  PRI senior fellow, Dr. Wayne Winegarden argues in PRI’s Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity series (click here to read) that it should be a priority to adopt market-based reforms that promote entrepreneurship so more people can get a good-paying job.
   
• Ensuring Every Child Has a Great Education
  
  Parents have been demanding that public schools fully reopen, but teachers’ unions have strongly resisted.  In his Capital Ideas brief “Road to Reopening” (click here to read), Lance Izumi shows that charter and public schools have quickly returned to in-classroom learning, advocating that every parent and student be given abundant school choice options. 
  
  School choice gives every child the opportunity to learn in an environment that best meets their individual needs.In the PRI book A Kite in a Hurricane No More, read the story of Mia Giordano, a young woman who overcame serious learning disabilities that conventional schools could not help.Only through school choice can every student have the chance to succeed.
   
• No Way to Address California’s Homeless Crisis
  
  Homelessness in California grew much worse during the pandemic.Unfortunately, the response of Gov. Newsom and politicians at the State Capitol has been to just throw more money at government programs that have proven ineffective in getting people off the streets.
  
  The new PRI book No Way Home, published by Encounter Books, promotes a market-based view of how we can help get people off the streets, into recovery, and on the path to prosperity.The book includes several long-term policy reform ideas that have the greatest potential to reduce homelessness in California (click here to learn more).

The ideas put forward by PRI’s scholars are needed now more than ever before to help our nation fully recover from the pandemic and restore America as a land of freedom and opportunity for all.

On behalf of everyone at PRI, I wish you a safe and healthy Fourth of July weekend.
 
Cheers,

Sally C. Pipes
President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy
Pacific Research Institute
 
P.S. While lockdowns and restrictions are ending, some politicians are working to expand government power.  As the Los Angeles Times recently wrote, California is now viewed as “the de-facto think tank of the Biden-Harris Administration.”  They are pushing to restrict worker freedom, enact government-run health care, and impose “green energy” mandates that increase energy poverty.
 
As we celebrate liberty this Independence Day, I invite you to visit our new “Been There, Done That” website (www.pacificresearch.org/beentheredonethat).  Our goal with this new campaign is to stop California’s costly, big-government mandates and regulations from going national.