The Silver Lining of a Dismal Midterm Performance

By ANDREW C. MCCARTHY, National Review, November 9, 2022 -In the long run, the much-anticipated red wave’s failure to materialize may help the GOP wean itself off Trump.

From the start, smart Democrats spotted the GOP’s glass jaw in this midterm cycle, which I’ve described a number of times, including back in March, when the party’s Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, rightly blasted the Republican National Committee’s self-destructive decision to censure GOP representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their service on the House January 6 committee:

Understandably, people’s time is mostly spent worrying about soaring prices, rising crime, failing schools, and the Biden administration’s overbearing-yet-ineffectual response to a now-endemic virus that our overmatched president foolishly vowed to “shut down.” On the rare occasion that Americans reluctantly find themselves diverted into renewed consideration of the riot, it is because Narcissus can’t let it go. The former president continues to peddle the “stolen election” tripe that fueled the riot. He still wields outsized influence over a Republican Party that lacks the self-preservation instincts to burn him. And he is toying with another presidential run. That means the RNC, under the thumb of Trump loyalists, can’t let “stop the steal” go either.

Democrats had a very good night on Tuesday, not so much because they succeeded in putting Trump on the ballot but because they expertly highlighted that the Republican Party chose to put Trump on the ballot by nominating the deeply flawed man’s preferred deeply flawed candidates. 

... Donald Trump cannot win the presidency again. He is popular in a number of places, but poison in most others. The former president will never again have what he’d need to win a national election: the reluctant support of doubters who, for the sake of stopping Democrats, were willing to take a chance on his flawed character. Had it not been for Trump’s bizarre post-election performance, culminating in the disgraceful Capitol riot, congressional Republicans would be in a position to stop Democrats right now. (Read more)

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Here’s how Donald Trump sabotaged the Republican midterms

By John Podhoretz, New York Post, November 9, 2022 - Hey, Lyin’ Ted and Sleepy Joe: Meet Toxic Trump. You know, if the former president had any self-knowledge or even the slightest ability to be self-deprecating, he might consider giving himself this alliterative nickname.

After three straight national tallies in which either he or his party or both were hammered by the national electorate, it’s time for even his stans to accept the truth: Toxic Trump is the political equivalent of a can of Raid. ... The surest way to lose in these midterms was to be a politician endorsed by Trump.  

Gibbs is an example of Trump’s monomania. A former official for Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development, Gibbs tweeted that officials associated with Hillary Clinton participated in Satanic rituals. But no matter! Gibbs believed the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, the only stance that matters to the former president.

Trump backed Gibbs in the primary to unseat a sitting Republican, Peter Meijer, because Meijer had the temerity to vote in favor of impeachment after the shame of Jan. 6.

Trump got his way. Republicans lost the seat.

This pattern repeated itself over and over and over again.

Toxic Trump’s pathological inability to accept his own failure — and his desperate need to elevate cringe-inducing boot-lickers while punishing politicians capable of an independent thought. (For more details on the winnable races Republicans lost but should have won read the full article at this link.)

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Trump Is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser

By The Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 9, 2022 - What will Democrats do when Donald Trump isn’t around to lose elections? We have to wonder because on Tuesday Democrats succeeded again in making the former President a central campaign issue, and Mr. Trump helped them do it.

Trumpy Republican candidates failed at the ballot box in states that were clearly winnable. This can’t be what Mr. Trump was envisioning ahead of his “very big announcement” next week. Yet maybe the defeats are what the party needs to hear before 2024. ... In New Hampshire, the Trump-endorsed Republican Don Bolduc lost to Sen. Maggie Hassan, 53% to 45%, ... In Arizona the Trump-endorsed Republican Blake Masters trails Sen. Mark Kelly, 51% to 47%. ... In Georgia, the Trump-endorsed Republican Herschel Walker trails Sen. Raphael Warnock, 49.4% to 48.5%. ... Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania’s Trump-endorsed gubernatorial choice, lost by 14 points. ...  he (Trump) has led Republicans into one political fiasco after another. (Read it all)

Rod's Comment: I agree with this WSJ editorial. While it appears Republicans will just barely take the house, it looks like we will likely lose the Senate.  As the editorial says this may be what the Party needs prior to 2024. I hope Trumpism diminishes and the Republican Party returns to its common sense, conservative values.  I want to be proud to be a Republican again. 

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TN Right to Life PAC Applauds Pro-Life Election Results

 NASHVILLE, NOVEMBER 11, 2022 - The Tennessee Right to Life Political Action Committee and pro-life Tennesseans are celebrating the outcome of Tuesday’s elections. 

Roger Kane, President of the Tennessee Right to Life PAC summed up the election results, “With the strong contingency of pro-life freshmen and the pro-life incumbents who were re-elected, the General Assembly will have a majority of members who are committed to protecting the right to life of Tennessee’s most vulnerable citizens.”  

The PAC endorsed 81 legislative candidates in the General Election (70 In the House and 11 in the Senate) and 76 of those were successful in their campaigns. Governor Lee was also endorsed by the PAC.

Kane touted the Governor’s strong stance, “Governor Lee has been a champion for life in our state. He signed the Human Life Protection Act into law in 2019, which, upon the overturning of Roe, ended abortion-on-demand in Tennessee. During his re-election campaign, the Governor publicly defended the law and made it clear that he wants it to remain as the legislature intended. He has emphasized his initiatives to assist women and their children and to strengthen Tennessee’s foster care program and adoption efforts.” 

“We are always one election away from the threat of our legislation being repealed, and we feel confident that, with this group of pro-life legislators, our pro-life laws are in safe hands,” said Will Brewer, General Counsel & Director of Government Relations for TN Right to Life.

“Tennessee Right to Life PAC appreciates the strong stand the candidates took in their campaigns.  Pro-life candidates stood boldly against abortion proponents who ran on a platform of unlimited, unregulated abortion and campaigned on overturning Tennessee’s law. When the votes were counted, the abortion agenda failed in Tennessee,” Kane continued.

Tennessee Right to Life looks forward to working with legislators and the governor to ensure that Tennessee laws represent Tennessee values and that the right to life of unborn children is respected and protected.

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Fantastic news, the Right to Work Amendment 1 has passed!

Yesterday, Tennesseeans in all 95 counties voted in favor of securing our right-to-work laws in the Tennessee state constitution, guaranteeing all Tennessee workers the freedom to decide for themselves whether or not to join a union in their workplace.

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Odessa Kelly says her loss to Mark Green was due to "white supremacy" and "voter suppression."

Odessa Kelly

by Rod Williams, Nov. 10, 2022- In Tennessee's 7th Congressional District incumbent congressman Mark Green beat Democrat candidate Odessa Kelly by over a 20-point margin. Kelly said her midterm election loss was the result of "white supremacy" and "voter suppression." Kelly is a Nashville activist and a progressive affiliated with a group called "Justice Democrats."  

Just as the default position for some Republicans when they lose is "stolen election," the default position for some Democrats is "white supremacy" and "voter suppression."

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November 7 is National Day for the Victims of Communism

We remember the 100 million people around the world who have been killed in the name of communism in the past century. We remember communism has always been and will always be incompatible with liberty, prosperity, and dignity of life. We remember the dissidents and freedom fighters who stood in opposition to communism and courageously paid the ultimate price. On this day, we must remember.

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Poor performing Programs: The Tennessee university programs that leave students with the most debt as a percentage of earning.

From a Beacon Center study:

Tennessee public universities have 24 programs that leave students with higher debt compared to their annual earnings (100 percent DPE or greater). Ranked from highest DPE, the 24 programs that will leave students straddled with debt are listed below;

To view the full report, follow this link.

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High Costs and Low Earnings

JASON EDMONDS

BY JASON EDMONDS, The Beacon Center, November 1, 2022 - With President Joe Biden’s plan to use up to $1 trillion in tax dollars to forgive student loans, there is no more meaningful time than now to look at how public colleges and universities are serving students and taxpayers. Thankfully, the U.S. Department of Education publishes data on colleges and programs and their financial impact, or in other words, what is the debt a student takes on to complete a unique program and what can a graduate expect to earn three years after graduation.

With this data, we looked at how well Tennessee public colleges and universities are serving students and taxpayers. In our most recent report, Higher Education and Higher Debts: Which College Degrees Cost More Than They’re Worth?, we uncovered 24 programs that leave students with a median debt that is higher than their median annual earnings, resulting in graduates that would have difficulty repaying their loans. The worst-performing program in the state was the bachelor’s degree in anthropology at Middle Tennessee State University. This program had median annual earnings of less than $22,000 with the median debt being over $38,000, meaning students were taking on 178 percent, or nearly two times the amount of debt for what the degree would bring them in annual earnings. Across the state, there were an additional 23 programs that left graduates with more debt than annual earnings.

On top of leaving graduates with mountains of debt compared to their earnings, taxpayers were also shouldering the cost for higher education and the support of these programs, with billions of tax dollars a year going to higher education. In the last decade, Tennessee taxpayers’ investment in higher education has increased 28 percent after inflation, far outpacing tuition, federal funds, or other sources of revenue. Surprisingly—or unsurprisingly—higher education is following the same trend we have witnessed in K-12 education, with decreasing enrollment and an increase in administrative and professional staff. While student numbers have decreased around 15 percent in the last decade, administrative/professional positions have seen a nearly 30 percent increase, and increases were also seen in the number of faculty on staff.

There was some good news, however, as the vast majority of programs do offer a positive return on investment for students. At public colleges and universities across Tennessee, 72 percent of programs offer less than 75 percent debt compared to earnings, meaning graduates are making more than their degree cost and debt repayments would be manageable. Obvious trends existed in the best-performing programs, with healthcare, engineering, and sciences taking top spots. Registered nursing (RN) associate degrees were especially beneficial to students, with four out of the top five programs being RN degrees. The best-performing program left nursing graduates with less than eight percent of debt compared to earnings, or median incomes of over $51,000 and debt is less than $4,000.

This data gives a clear choice for prospective students, university leadership, and state lawmakers. For prospective students, they can now see what they can reasonably expect to earn—and pay—for a degree. For university leadership, this gives them the information to address which programs are not serving students and taxpayers, and for them to take steps to address that. For lawmakers, they can use this information to better align state spending with programs that will actually benefit students as well as taxpayers.

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Why I'm am not voting for Governor Bill Lee

by Rod Williams, Nov. 7, 2022- I am not voting for Governor Bill Lee.  Don't get me wrong, I like Lee.  I voted for him four years ago.  I like his policies, I approve of his priorities, and I believe he is a good man. So why and I not voting for him?

I am not voting for Governor Lee, because he will win in a landslide without my vote and the vote on Amendment One may not and Amendment Number One is important to me.  I am voting strategically.

Amendment One is the Right to Work Amendment. It would add to the constitution this language: 

It is unlawful for any person, corporation, association, or this state or its political subdivisions to deny or attempt to deny employment to any person by reason of the person’s membership in, affiliation with, resignation from, or refusal to join or affiliate with any labor union or employee organization.

I do not think one should be forced to join a union to have a job.  Mandatory union dues are often used to support Democrats and I am not a Democrat.  A person should not be forced to financially support a party or policies he does not support. This should be fundamental. There are other reasons to oppose mandatory union membership, but the requirement forcing one to support political candidates for whom one would never vote appears to me to violate a basic democratic principle.

Right to Work is already in place in Tennessee but it is not a part of the Tennessee Constitution.  Unions would like to see that right taken away and some future State legislature could take it away from us.  The Right to work is so fundamental, that in my view, it should be enshrined in the constitution.

There are three other proposed amendments on the ballot. Number two and four are housekeeping amendments and I support them also.  I have reservations about number three and will be voting "no."

So what does my vote on the amendment have to do with not voting for Governor Lee?  In addressing how the Constitution is amended, the Constitution says:

 And if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments by a majority of all the citizens of the state voting for governor, voting in their favor, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of this Constitution.

I think Amendment Number One will pass but the unions are opposing it.  The Tennessee teachers union represents a lot of people across the state, and Tennesee teachers have spouses, family, and friends. The passage of Amendment #1 is not a slam dunk.  

A certain number of people will go to the polls, and not have enough information about the amendments in order to feel they can cast an informed vote and they will simply skip voting on the amendments. So what happens?  Let us look at an example and assume there are only 1000 voters:

• 1000 people vote for governor.
• 900 people vote on an amendment. 
• 499 in favor
• 401 opposed.
• The Amendment fails.

The Amendment fails because it did not get "a majority of all of the citizens of the state voting for governor." So what would have happened in the above example if 22 fewer people had voted in the governor's race but still voted on the amendment?

• 978 people vote for governor
• 900 people vote on an amendment
• 499 in favor
• 401 opposed
• The Amendment passes

Governor Lee will win. Most people can not even tell you the name of his opponent. Lee does not need your vote; Amendment One does. 

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