Bringing Back American Institutions: Florida's Experiment

 

Recapturing the Institutions: Small Victories

If you’ve read any of my blogs of the last few years you’ll notice a lot of kvetching over the direction of institutions in this country. Institutions used to be the backbone of stability for the politically uninitiated. Churches, rooted in doctrinal truth, provided shelter from a culture hostile to faith. Businesses had every incentive to run away from political controversy. But corporations have been captured with the same enthusiasm for gender confusion and Critical Race Theory that a freshman at Evergreen State College would have. 

Nonprofits like the Boy Scouts long ago gave up their restrictions on gay scout leaders.

How and Why

At a certain point you begin to wonder if there is any fight left in the public. Even Chick-fil-A was talked out of its financial commitments to groups (like the Salvation Army) that support traditional marriage.

A good picture of collapse is that final scene in Casino Royale. The centuries old buildings in Venice start sinking as James Bond shoots out their supports. But American institutions aren’t collapsing as much as being hollowed out. This is the thing you never see because it’s sneaky. Leadership compromises a little to avoid an expensive lawsuits and next thing you know, outside groups are effectively steering the ship.

The most straightforward example is how climate change has been used as a wedge to control energy companies. In the early days of public consciousness over the environment, (early 70s) the EPA regulated most laws under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Pollution was a major problem. Factories dumped what they wanted and created big clean up projects that took years to fix.

But the EPA started being used like a cudgel.  This is inevitable for most federally run programs, at a certain point they add too many layers of legal red tape. The Department of Education forces schools in various districts to meet the same standards as urban ones. Or, they add opaque ‘diversity and inclusion’ programs that change with the whims of an administration. The EPA is supposed to write regulations under specific acts of Congress, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and so on. Without getting into the weeds too much, the problem has always been that the EPA is exceeding their mandate. They’re supposed to interpret laws in limited fashion.

The Supreme Court ruled against the EPA’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act this summer. The short version is that energy companies complained about being hamstrung, shut down and heavily regulated. SCOTUS agreed. Congress, under Obama, gave the EPA a blank check to decide America’s energy future.

Where We Are

The EPA is a microcosm of how a lot of federal agencies are run. They get a mandate from Congress and use it to gum up the works. Large companies, especially energy companies, need to play ball with regulators or get shut down. After a while their corporate boards are in sync with ‘environmental’ concerns. After a little longer the difference is almost negligible. Remember Rex Tillerson, Trump’s first Secretary of State? He looked and sounded like an old time oil man, but politically he was as moveable as natural gas. After a lifetime of being taught by the EPA on where to step, he'd become the perfect Washington man--unprincipled. He was one of Trump’s biggest mistakes.

Churches and Christian culture is close to my heart. I’m a product of both Sunday services and a Christian education, but a lot of the national Church is little more than a club. They don’t oppose the culture as much as they should. Abortion, adultery and greed are all sins but don’t you dare hurt anyone’s feelings! The existing philosophy seems to be God is my biggest fan and wants me to succeed. That’s why Jesus went to cross after all, to ensure my happiness. It’s as if Christians got beat up in the 80s and 90s and decided to make a truce with secular forces. We won’t go after you if you don’t go after us.

It’s in this institutional mess that we occasionally hear some good news.

The Good News

Governor DeSantis of Florida appointed Christopher Rufo to the board of New College of Florida. Chris is a Manhattan institute fellow and anti-Critical Race Theory activist. A move like this is exactly the kind of direct attack on that Republicans need to start practicing. The traditional way a conservative governor might handle this is to get a consensus pick and avoid a fight. But he’s seen the value of being an advocate for education and families. He was elected in a landslide this past year and so were others who supported him, like congressman Gaetz. Obviously the choice of Rufo is a small step toward un-woke (ing) higher education. But it’s in the right direction and it’s a strong move that the old party (Jeb Bush) would’ve never made.

Maybe it’s not too late to save institutions like education. It’s going to take people committed to the fight though. 

More like this please.