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Today’s Stories
The CIVITAS INSTITUTE AT UT-AUSTIN, a right-of-center initiative previously dubbed the “Liberty Institute,” has announced its first director.
As expected, Justin Dyer of the University of Missouri gets the nod. Dyer’s doctorate is from UT.
Dyer’s hiring has been criticized, primarily over concerns about his willingness to challenge institutionalized Maoism in the university’s hiring process.
Consider two factors:
Civitas Institute is within the Government department. Unlike other efforts (i.e., the Salem Center) in the business school, “CI” strikes at the Marxist-Leninist heartland. In that setting, Trotskyism qualifies as intellectual diversity.
Whatever his shortcomings, Justin Dyer is sure to the right of Leon Trotsky, which constitutes progress.
In many ways, being the most conservative professor in the UT government department is like being the prettiest girl in Arkansas: Even if you win, consider the competition. In this case, however, introducing a “7” to a department full of “zeros” can’t help but raise the average.
Dyer is the author of a book, Slavery, Abortion, and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning, that draws out the (apparent) parallels between SCOTUS’ Dred Scott and Roe decisions. Considering the well-documented overlap between the abortion and eugenics movements, this form of institutional racism has always merited further discussion.
In an environment where every discussion becomes racialized, a serious discussion of abortion was one the woke crowd couldn’t handle. Dyer’s history suggests he’s well-positioned to test this hypothesis.
Furthermore, Dyer’s hiring is a symbolic antidote to one of the great injustices to which the University was a party.
Sarah Weddington, the attorney who infamously argued the Roe v. Wade case, was a professor at UT law school. For the University to hire an outspoken Roe critic during what seems likely to be the month that its overturning becomes a reality seems fitting.
With proof of concept established at the flagship University, conservatives should look to expand. There’s no reason, except lack of political will, why every university system can’t have one of these centers in two years and every campus in four.
Other departments at UT-Austin, besides business and government, would benefit from similar intellectual diversity.
Dyer’s stewardship of the Civitas Institute remains TBD, but the new status quo is superior to the old.
PROPERTY TAXES remain a potential Achilles heel for the Texas GOP.
While Democrats are unlikely to capitalize in the current election cycle, a recent vignette remains instructive.
During an interim hearing on the Texas Senate’s finance committee, Democrat State Senator John Whitmire raised objections to various corporate tax carve-outs. When homeowner burdens continue to increase, Whitmire argued that narrowing the tax base is a misplaced priority.
Not coincidentally, Whitmire is widely expected to run for Mayor of Houston next year.
In response to Whitmire, committee chair Joan Huffman and member Kelly Hancock (both Republicans) recited three-year-old talking points about “historic property tax relief.” While the 2019 effort was welcome, Huffman and Hancock flattered themselves.
Tax bills have gone up since 2019. Perhaps they’re lower than some hypothetical alternative, but they’re still moving in the wrong direction. It’s a textbook example of a former Governor of Texas called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
Democrats are unlikely to exploit this issue effectively, at least in the short term. But they could.
MAIL-IN BALLOTS got a little more secure as SCOTX refuses to cave to left-wing bullies. Democrats in Harris County had sued to prevent enforcement of an election integrity measure passed in 2021.
Last Friday’s ruling means local officials can only send ballots to voters who request them. Unsolicited mail-in ballots are an invitation to harvesters.
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