We have the best investors in the world! Of course, our operation runs on money. But we’re the Independence Institute, so we also run on political incorrectness, inappropriate jokes, and workday drinking. Get this: Different supporters came in today, at different times, to give me three different bottles of scotch whiskey! I’m sure that happens all the time at the teachers’ unions. Well, maybe it does, but it would be blended whiskey in large plastic bottles and they sure wouldn’t be bragging about it.
We put the drink in think tank.
Over the years as we’ve worked for educational choice, we have run into many elected Democrats who’ve told us privately they want competition in education, but they can’t vote for it because the teachers union would make their lives miserable. But the enemies of choice and competition are not only on the Left.
Last week, I talked about Senate Bill 89, which would make it easier for homeowners to have a back-up battery in their homes without interference from the energy monopoly, Xcel. Sure, it could keep your power on during a blackout, but Xcel’s fear is that people might charge their battery at night, when rates might be lower, and then use it during the day. That bill was killed in committee on a party-line vote. Every Republican voted no, even though the bill was sponsored by a Republican, and every Democrat voted to pass it. I wonder, is Xcel the Right’s version of the teachers union?
When the Capitol’s gold dome was covered for repairs we joked that when the tarps came down the gold would be gone and replaced with a large Xcel sign. “The Xcel Capitol at Mile High – Why we should rent when we could buy”
The education system is a government-owned monopoly which fears competition. Xcel is a stockholder-owned monopoly that fears competition. Meanwhile, Colorado families are denied choice left and right.
Senior Education Policy Analyst Ross Izard published another school profile titled, “An Island of Opportunity: A Profile of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy.” St. Rose is a private, PK-8 Catholic school that predominantly serves low-income Hispanic children. Once again, Ross masterfully highlights why school choice is so important in Colorado. More importantly, he reminds us all of how school choice transforms lives and brings opportunities to all students.
Would I look good in a Trump toupee? Let me know by answering our weekly poll question here. (I swear this poll idea wasn’t mine.)
Be sure to catch Devil’s Advocate tonight where I am joined first by Casper Stockham and Donald Murphy to discuss Project Purpose, their life-skills outreach effort to inner city and rural youths and young adults. Then Kristin Wyatt from the Associated Press and Joey Bunch from ColoradoPolitics.com sit down for an update on the transportation funding debate at the statehouse. That’s Friday at 8:30 PM on Colorado Public Television, channel 12. Re-broadcast Monday at 12:30 PM. You can find your local CPT channel by zip code here: http://www.cpt12.org/connect/find-our-channels/
Think Freedom,
Jon
