Not Feeling Inflation? Abortion Ruling, Elections – American Family Association of Indiana
Not Feeling Inflation? Abortion Ruling, Elections
Big Races in Indiana’s Future
Two races in 2024 are taking shape. This week, former State Representative, State Auditor, and current Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch announced that she will run for Governor. She joins a current field including US Senator Mike Braun and Fort Wayne Businessman Eric Doden. On the Democrat side, former “Republican” and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jenifer McCormick is expected to announce a run next month.
The other big race is a little more uncertain. Congresswoman Victoria Spartz has stated that she is considering running for the US Senate seat opening with Senator Braun’s run for Governor. Another name out there is Fort Wayne Congressman Jim Banks who is also looking at the Senate.
Congressman Trey Hollingsworth (who took a dive on the Respect for Marriage Act by not voting) is another possible significant candidate in either of these two races. There have been no announcements on the Democrat side yet for Senate.
Not Until We Are Punished and Silenced
LGBT activists are now saying that the newly passed, and misnamed Respect for Marriage Act is not enough. Calling it just “step one”, they want to “expand the definition of discrimination” and lobby congress to pass the Equality Act. This is one reason why I pushed against the RFMA so strongly. Once you compromise on truth and religious liberty there’s no end to it. It will be people of faith and traditional values who lose rights if this continues.
There were several Republican Senators who thought they could join with Sen. Chuck Schumer and play both sides on this. Senator Young has gotten a lot of pushbacks over his joining liberals on this vote. His justification of his vote reminds me of the Winston Churchill quote: “An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile hoping it will eat him last.
Where is School Funding Going?
I have been involved in every session of the Indiana General Assembly for the past 30 years. I have never seen a budget that did not increase education funding. I expect the 2023 budget will have another increase. Still, the teachers’ unions are never satisfied with the increases. Perhaps it is not that the state isn’t adequately funding our schools as much as it is where that funding winds up.
According to the Center for Education Statistics of the US Department of Education, from 2000-2019 the population of K12 public school students increased by 7.6%. Teachers increased by 8.7%. However, school administrative staff increased 87.6%. It appears that a whole lot of the money spent is not going to classrooms.
Interesting Take on Inflation
Many observers have wondered about the midterm elections. They ask, “How bad do things have to get before people vote for change?”
Former Clinton advisor, Dick Morris has an interesting take on this. He points to research looking at those on government assistance and those who have employment contracts with automatic cost of living increases and concludes that 37% of Americans do not feel inflation like the rest of America.
How They Won
Speaking of Dick Morris, he also has some interesting information on the elections explaining how many Democrat candidates won, some of whom were inferior candidates or extreme radicals in what were expected to be losses to or close contests with Republicans.
He wrote:
“Democrats can vote any day they choose within the early voting period and avoid having to vote when it’s inconvenient. Republicans insist on voting on Election Day. But if the lines are too long, the weather is bad, their kids are sick, or a million other things that can go wrong, do go wrong, they miss out entirely and Republican candidates lose their votes.
In Georgia, for example, Hershel Walker entered Election Day about 242,000 early votes behind. He struggled mightily, like the star he is, and made up much of that deficit but still lost. We cannot expect Election Day miracles to offset the careful and skillful planning the Democrats use to get their votes.
Here’s how it works: The Democrats canvass their states and districts thoroughly to identify those who would likely vote for them. Then, each day during early voting, they get a list from the state of who has voted and who has not. Immediately they make phone calls or even dispatch visitors to the people who have not voted to encourage them to do so. If they still don’t show up during the entire early voting period, they camp on their doorsteps until they do, they don’t just pull their voters. They stalk them.
And the Democrats make voting easy. You can vote by mail or give your ballot (and usually your SS number and photo id) to a Party worker on your doorstep. Vote at home.
By contrast, although all these methods of voting are available to Republicans too, but they don’t take advantage of them and wait until Election Day, just like in olden days.
By relying on Election Day turnout, Democrats can monkey around with the Election Day voting. Printers run out of ink. Tabulation machines jam. Lines get longer and longer. But Democrats don’t care. Their people have already voted through early voting. The folks impatiently waiting their turn online to cast their ballots are largely Republicans so let them wait!
That’s how we lost in 2020. In state after state, the Democrats piled up the early votes while Republicans waited for Election Day to vote.”
Five Legal Flaws in Indy Abortion Ruling
You may have heard that a Marion County Court has blocked our new abortion law in a case involving the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. A law professor at the South Texas College of Law has written a good article giving five legal problems with the court’s ruling. Hopefully, the State Supreme Court will consider these when they review the law and rulings next month.
As I mentioned before, activists in other states have attempted to block abortion laws arguing RFRA, and failed. You can read the Professor’s points here: https://reason.com/volokh/2022/12/03/indiana-rfra-and-abortion/?fbclid=IwAR1E57eHgWWh2uef2v_KkKK2_qD4UGwzN2_K9ogSIOEs5H0Z1N8RyuJtvcQ
In Their Own Words:
“The First Amendment protects every American, including the many millions of us who hold decent and honorable beliefs about marriage. The president and Congress have intentionally threatened free speech and religious liberty with enactment of the ‘Respect for Marriage Act,’ continuing a pattern of blatant hostility against people of faith. Sadly, the president chose virtue-signaling over protecting millions of Americans, churches, and faith-based organizations that spoke out for months about the undeniable harms of this unnecessary bill. This law is a solution in search of a problem that provides no additional protection or benefits to same-sex couples. However, it does undermine the constitutional freedoms that belong to each of us.” – Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Ryan Bangert regarding President Joe Biden’s signing the deceptively named Respect for Marriage Act yesterday.
