Saturday, June 19, 2021

Did leading conservative public policy organisations fail to oppose new Juneteenth federal holiday?

6/25/2021: Verified by contacting them that the Mackinac Center for Public Policy did not bother either.

6/24/2021: I learnt about this horrible YouTube video titled "Juneteenth Represents What Is Special About America" produced by the Heritage Foundation confirming that the THF committed a huge blunder here!!!

6/23/2021: Nevada Policy Research Institute had no opinion either according to the results obtained using their website search function. Likewise the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

6/22/2021: It appears the John Locke Foundation of North Carolina had no opinion on the new holiday. When you use the search function with the term 'juneteenth' on their website only one item is found dating from 2014. Either the search function is crappy or the foundation had no opinion on this topic.

6/21/2021: Today, I learnt that apparently the Texas Public Policy Foundation appears to have endorsed the new federal holiday! Today's email newsletter titled "The Truth About Juneteenth" states: "... I’ll put my cards on the table: I am in favor of Juneteenth and its celebration, on the grounds that making the rest of America celebrate a Texas holiday is an intrinsic good, and also on the grounds that — properly understood — the historical background illuminates the promise and purpose of America. The freedom of enslaved Americans didn’t happen despite America: it happened because of America. ...". The author (a foundation C suite officer) of this newsletter seems to be quite confused and naive about this new holiday!

As a former employee of the Heritage Foundation under the leadership of Ed Feulner, I am particularly disappointed that the THF under his successor, Kay C. James, appears to have even supported this new holiday! I bet, this would not have happened under Ed Feulner!

See e.g. two recent articles published by the THF that clearly indicate that THF supported this new holiday. Both articles are actually kind of weird! They both attempt to attach something to this new holiday: 
Why Juneteenth Should Serve as Reminder That ‘Family Matters’ (published 6/18/2021)
Since the First Juneteenth, Black Americans Have Struggled to Participate in Elections. Now, We Must Defend Election Integrity (published 6/19/2021)

I may speculate that other prominent conservative public policy organisations failed as well to oppose this new federal holiday. Or how do you explain that the entire U.S. Senate voted in favor of the law by unanimous consent and 415 Representatives voted for it!

I have blogged here about What is wrong with the new Juneteenth Federal Holiday?

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