A Victory For the Forces of Good

This is a great example of why we are so fortunate to have a Trump administration instead of a Clinton administration. It has to do with how severely disabled people are cared for. Some years ago, Republicans and Democrats came together with a good idea: severely disabled people, usually children, were being institutionalized at extraordinary cost. If those disabled people could be cared for at home, by mothers and others who love them, it would 1) save taxpayers a lot of money, and 2) be infinitely better for the disabled. So the Medicaid statute was amended to allow payments to personal care attendants, nearly always women, who are taking care of severely disabled patients, almost always family members and usually children. It was a rare, heartwarming win/win–far lower cost, and much better results.

But not for long. Greedy politicians and public sector unions saw the money flowing to selfless mothers and wanted a piece of the action. In 12 states, at least, legislation was passed “deeming” those personal care attendants to be state employees for the sole purpose of being unionized. And public sector unions like SEIU began skimming “union dues” off the top of Medicaid payments, even though the union provided no services whatsoever to the caregivers, most of whom had no idea that they were supposedly union members.

My organization, Center of the American Experiment, along with similar policy organizations in several other states, took on the lavishly funded government unions–without doubt the number one force for evil in American politics–to end this immoral “dues skimming.” After an enormous amount of work, we obtained a rule change that bars the corrupt “dues skim” practice. As a result, the State Policy Network gave my organization, Center of the American Experiment, its Network Award at last week’s Annual Meeting, along with four other groups from other states. This video explains the issue, and features me and one of our policy fellows, among others:

This was a true victory of good over evil, but the fight isn’t over. In Minnesota, our state government so far has been a scofflaw. In violation of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, it is ignoring federal law, apparently on the basis that anything coming from the Trump administration can safely be disregarded, without fear of newspaper criticism. We probably will need litigation to enforce the federal rule, just as litigation was required to overcome Democratic Party opposition to Brown v. Board of Education in the South, decades ago.

Fortunately, we now have an organization capable of bringing legal action to bring liberal lawlessness to heel, in the form of the Upper Midwest Law Center. Coincidentally, the board of directors of the UMLC, of which I am a member, met today. We discussed this issue; my reaction was, “Sue the bastards!”

If you want to support this clear-cut instance of good vs. evil, you can go here to donate, tax-free, to the Upper Midwest Law Center. Or you can go here to contribute to my organization, Center of the American Experiment, which is playing a leading role in both state and in national affairs, on the side of conservatism, constitutional values, and common sense.

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