How France’s ‘Right to Disconnect’ Law Is an Assault on Freedom

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France passed a new labor law over the weekend that gives employees the “right to disconnect” from their work email and devices such as smartphones and laptops after business hours. According to CNN, the policy was informed by French unions, who have long complained that modern technology has led to an “explosion of undeclared labor” that exceeds the country’s 35-hour work week.

The new law seeks to benefit working mothers and fathers, and others who find their home life interrupted by out-of-office requests. Many of these workers, however, probably aren’t aware of the subtle attacks on freedom a government-mandated work-life balance presents.

Like the minimum wage, the “right to disconnect” policy sounds like a pretty good, and even compassionate, idea at first. Many people desire a clearer separation between work and home, and a rule like this can help to create that.

But what about the 23-year-old bachelor seeking to climb the corporate ladder? For him, uncompensated overtime hours might seem like less of a burden and more of an opportunity to jumpstart his career before other obligations like marriage and family take shape in his life. In this case, the “right to disconnect” policy is likely to provoke hostility toward employees who willingly choose to work beyond the time specified by a particular company.

According to the new rule, companies with 50 or more employees must negotiate after-hours email guidelines with their staff. Further, firms are required to “regulate the use of emails” to ensure employees are getting their promised break.

“If management and staff cannot agree on new rules,” CNN reported, “the firm must publish a charter to define and regulate when employees should be able to switch off.”

Under this provision, individuals like the 23-year-old bachelor could be flagged for violating company policy. In order to comply with the new restrictions, he would have to forego his comparative advantage (i.e. more free time and less out-of-office obligations), and the company would cease to benefit from his (completely voluntary) additional labor.

Policies affecting the private lives of employees should be settled through private contracts between individuals and their employers. The issue of out-of-office email should be addressed in the same way companies determine salary negotiation and paid time off. This way, the 23-year-old bachelor receives the same level of consideration as the working mother of three. His willingness to work overtime may provide him with an advantage when it comes to asking for time off. On the other hand, the working mother may value free time with family in the evening more than a few more vacation days. In both cases, employees are afforded the freedom to negotiate a policy that works for them. (For more from the author of “How France’s ‘Right to Disconnect’ Law Is an Assault on Freedom” please click HERE)

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7 Things You Can Do to Make 2017 Better for Yourself and Everyone Else

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The reason we make major New Year’s resolutions is because we’re fed up with the way we’re living and we want to make radical changes in our lives. That’s also why we tend to fail so miserably with those resolutions: It’s hard to make lasting, dramatic changes.

While there certainly is a place to encourage such changes — I plan to do that very thing in my next column — there’s also a place to encourage us to make some smaller, more manageable changes.

Here are 7 things you can do to improve your life and the lives of those you touch.

1) Be nice. Now that all of us can express ourselves all the time about everything via social media and texting — and that means without speaking to people face to face — we’ve become a much nastier society.

How about trying to watch your words and think before you write or speak? How about making an effort to be little nicer? Would it hurt to try? You’ll often see that people respond to niceness with niceness, making it be easier for you to be nicer still. It can lead to a nice-fest.

2) Don’t act like a spoiled, entitled, baby. Nobody likes a crybaby, especially a fully-grown, adult crybaby, but these days we have a crybaby culture. Nothing is our fault. Everyone else is to blame. I’m not responsible for my failures, you are. And on and on it goes, virtually guaranteeing a negative, never-ending, vicious cycle. Perhaps you have the “It’s not my fault” mentality more than you realize?

I encourage you to take full responsibility for yourself and not play the blame game, even if you have been wronged. It’s liberating and life-changing.

3) Be grateful. Surely there’s something for which you can be thankful and someone to whom you can express gratitude. Surely it won’t kill you to give a positive report, to find the good in those you work with and live with. Surely there are plenty of people in far worse circumstances than you, yet they are thankful for what they have.

You’d be amazed to see how a grateful attitude can change a gloomy day into a sunny day.

4) Get out of your rut. If you keep doing things the same way, you’ll get the same results. Count on it. So, if you’re stuck in a rut — professionally or personally or spiritually or relationally — consider doing something different. Otherwise the rut will only get deeper.

Understand that not every routine is healthy and not every discipline is positive, so look at your life, ask yourself what needs to change, and take a step in that direction. If even the thought of it terrifies you, you might be more stuck than you realize.

5) Concentrate on what matters most. Relationships are more important than possessions. Character is more important than appearance. A loving family is more important than riches and fame. That’s why Proverbs says that, “A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate” (this is a paraphrase of Prov. 15:17 in the New Living Translation). It also says, “Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting — and conflict” (Prov. 17:1, NLT).

You can work day and night to get more and be more but lose your family (and even your soul) in the process. Is it worth it?

6) Don’t get distracted from your larger goals. It’s hard not to be distracted in our increasingly wired world. Constant news. Constant emails. Constant texts. Constant updates. Constant entertainment options. Constant distractions.

We find ourselves responding and reacting with very little time to step back and reflect and plan and focus, but if we’re going to accomplish our larger goals, that’s exactly what we need to do. So, to the extent that you can disconnect responsibly, take some time daily (or at least weekly) to disconnect and refocus. And ask yourself this question: Will you fulfill your life goals if you continue to live the way you’re living?

7) Be spiritual and be practical. Why must it be either-or? Jesus taught us to seek God’s kingdom first and foremost, but He also taught us to be responsible stewards — faithful in little things, faithful with our finances, faithful with that which others entrust to us (see Matthew 6:33-34; Luke 16:10-12).

People will not be impressed with your spirituality if you’re flaky when it comes to everyday, practical matters, so why not try to marry the spiritual with the practical in 2017?

If this list overwhelms you, pick one out of the 7 and go to work on that. One step in the right direction goes a long way, and one good day can make for a much better year.

Forward, one step at a time! (For more from the author of “7 Things You Can Do to Make 2017 Better for Yourself and Everyone Else” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

In Europe and the US, Elites Who Live by Lies Despise the Little People Who Don’t

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Kevin Crehan is dead at 35. He perished as an enemy of the British state, the victim of de facto judicial murder. Crehan was in prison for a tasteless prank: offended perhaps by the aggressive demands of immigrant Muslims in Britain for the imposition of sharia law, Crehan left a bacon sandwich on the front steps of a mosque. For that he was sentenced to one year in a prison full of violent Muslim criminals who knew about his prank, with no protective custody. (The cause of his death is still unclear.)

In a bitter twist, Julian Lambert, the judge who sentenced Crehan for his crime, in 2015 gave a sentence of only two years to a member of a Muslim rape gang that preyed on toddlers and a baby. So in 2017, that immigrant baby rapist will be a free man, while Kevin Crehan, Englishman, sleeps in the English earth.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn didn’t live to see this travesty, but a close reading of his works would have allowed you to predict it. The Gulag Archipelago, a masterful work of memory, exposed a vast empire of falsehood, injustice, and cruelty — all carefully masked by puffed-up rationalizations and defended by Western intellectuals who lived comfortably far from its labor camps and psychiatric prisons.

Solzhenitsyn’s book with a deft stroke exposed the messianic cult of Marxism, and doomed the Soviet system. Shortly before Solzhenitsyn was expelled from his native country, he begged his fellow citizens to engage in a simple, prophetic act of resistance: to “live not by lies.”

By contrast, the de facto leader of the European Union, Germany’s Angela Merkel, took to the airwaves for New Year’s to deliver the opposite message, to repeat the governing lie which guides EU elites, and demand that Germans live by it. The woman who single-handedly delivered the continent of Europe to the tender mercies of rape mobs, who flooded its cities with unemployable foreigners who flock to extremist mosques and are infiltrated by ISIS, addressed her bewildered citizens. As Breitbart reports:

In the federal chancellor’s New Year address to Germany, Merkel asserted that the terror attacks committed by Islamist migrants in Würzburg, Ansbach, and recently at a Christmas market in Berlin were not attacks on Western civilisation but an attack on ‘refugees’ and Germany’s willkommenskultur (‘welcome culture’).

She stated terrorists “mock [the willingness of Germany to help] with their deeds [acts of terrorism], like they mock those who really need and deserve our protection.”

Adding that it is “particularly bitter and repulsive” when terrorist attacks are committed by migrants, Merkel pushed back against criticism of her unwavering commitment to mass migration, saying that Germany will fight the “hatred” of terrorism with “humanity” and “unity.”

“With the images of bombed-out Aleppo in Syria, it is important to remember once again how important and correct it was that our country has helped in the past year those who need our protection,” she said.

Acknowledging that Islamic terrorism is the biggest test for Germany, Merkel hinted at new security measures for the year ahead – but not at changes to her open-door mass migration policies.

Over one million unvetted migrants from the Middle East and Africa entered Germany alone at Merkel’s invitation, including potentially hundreds of Islamic State fighters and bringing with them the risk of the terror organisation weaponising migrants already in the country.

Asserting that “[the] state is doing everything to ensure its citizens’ security in freedom,” the chancellor said that in the midst of mourning for the dead and injured in these “difficult days,” Germans should seek “consolation” in each other.

Merkel closed her speech, which will be broadcast Saturday, by asserting that Germans need “openness” and “an open view of the world.” She stated she had “confidence” for 2017 – this New Year confidence an extension of her “Wir schaffen das” (“we can do this”) mantra.

The Captive Mind of the Ideologue

Nothing can penetrate the mind of an ideologue. It’s a hypobaric chamber — hermetically sealed, locked off by a thousand logical fallacies and willful refusals of reason. Soviet leaders knew perfectly well for decades that their people were battered and crushed, toiling miserably in pursuit of a hopeless utopia. But they kept on droning out speeches which promised a glorious future, which “proved” from the crabbed arithmetic of Marx’s fatuous arguments that socialism could dissolve human selfishness in the acid bath of coercion.

None of the violence and intimidation of women that’s afflicting Europe’s cities, none of the terrorist attacks conducted by “refugees” or barely foiled by harried security services, none of the strutting demands for sharia by imams scamming European welfare payments, can make the slightest dent in Merkel’s iron pate. Her politics are as delusional as those of the poor mental patient who rocks back and forth in a corner, convinced he’s the queen of Portugal. But unlike him, Merkel is culpable. She knows what she is doing. She must know.

Merkel and the EU elites, and the bishops and pastors, academics and bureaucrats who back that mad agenda, are united by a powerful governing vision, strong enough to insulate them from any argument or data. Like Marxism, that vision projects a shiny kaleidoscope of colorful, idealist fantasies. But its beating heart is hatred. As Marxists despise and scheme to destroy the thrifty farmer, the hard-working shop owner, and the friar who serves the poor, so globalists hate, from the depths of their bones, the bulk of their countrymen:

Patriotic veterans who cling to their nation’s sovereignty, remembering how the Germans (for instance) once marched in and terrorized them.

Women who expect to dress and act as they see fit, regardless of the jeers and threats of the mobs of welfare-dependent Salafists who now haunt the street of their cities.

Overworked taxpayers who wonder why half their paychecks are confiscated, while foreigners lounge around on public assistance.

Christian refugees from the Middle East, who escaped Muslim persecution in their native lands, only to fear such attacks now in Sweden or Belgium.

Ordinary people who expect that the mores and culture, songs and creeds and customs, of their home country can prevail without constant vituperation and periodic terror attacks by angry, aggressive aliens.

The Government has Dissolved the People and Chosen a New One

The current rulers of Europe detest the Kevin Crehans whom they are governing, with all the white-knuckled fury that Hillary Clinton felt for “deplorable” U.S. voters. So those rulers have chosen to dissolve the people, and import a new one. Elaborate schemes will protect those countries’ policies from “populist” resistance, and shield the haughty governors from the benighted hordes whom they govern. The secret police in Germany will monitor social media to crack down on “hate speech”— defined as speech that diverges from official government policy. (See this couple sentenced to prison and fines in Bavaria for opposing the influx of refugees — and this German policeman threatened with a fine of three months’ wages for calling Merkel’s policies “insane” at a public political rally.)

In the U.S., Trump’s win slowed, if only a little, the crackdown by America’s Angela Merkels against our Kevin Crehans. They will go on suppressing the free speech of conservatives on campus, and trying to ruin the livelihoods of those who attend evangelical churches or run Christian businesses. But perhaps, for the next four years at least, the full power of the U.S. federal government will not be turned against ordinary people for believing common-sense things. We must make the most of that time, an unbought grace God granted us, to steel ourselves and our families to the task that lies before us: To live not by lies. (For more from the author of “In Europe and the US, Elites Who Live by Lies Despise the Little People Who Don’t” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

2017: What a Year It Was

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Well, 2017 is in the books and to the surprise — perhaps even disappointment — of some, President Trump did not blow up the world.

He did, however, blow out of the gate with the fury of a thoroughbred. The final strands from the marching bands had hardly finished echoing down Pennsylvania Avenue before President Trump had begun dismantling Obama’s legacy and reversing his executive fiats.

Looking on as Trump rescinded executive order after executive order was the Winston Churchill bust gifted to us by England, but unceremoniously removed by Obama. Trump had the bust back in the Oval Office quicker than you can say “Brexit.” His first two calls as President were to Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said his third call was to Putin just to send the mainstream media into a tizzy. Actually, his third call was to the family of a serviceman killed over the holidays.

Protesters had tried to make a mess of Inauguration Day. They failed. President Trump tried live tweeting from the Inaugural podium. He succeeded.

The Inaugural Balls were a sight to see. President Trump had dramatically cut back on the number of official balls. For all the talk of his considerable ego, Donald Trump didn’t feel the need to squander extra millions and run all over town to be repeatedly celebrated. And, well, let’s face it. Melania stole the show anyway. She was stunning. It dawned on Americans for the first time what it would mean to have as first lady a supermodel who speaks more languages than C3PO.

The First 100 Days

The first 100 days were a blur. Trump kept to his word on tax reform and repealing-and-replacing Obamacare. A systematic rollback of job-killing regulations was launched. The Johnson Amendment was repealed, freeing the nation’s clergy to speak their hearts on politics without fear of losing their non-profit status. And Trump did nominate a “conservative justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia.” Democrats declare war on her.

A bipartisan infrastructure effort passed over the objections of fiscal conservatives. Heads exploded across the land at the sight of Trump and Nancy Pelosi hugging on the White House lawn. Fear not. She would call him a “racist” days later when he unveiled the blueprints for his Border Wall. The artistic renderings wisely emphasized the wide and welcoming “Freedom Plazas” as much as the imposing barrier.

Among the several “Making America Great Again” initiatives launched:

In partnership with Sen. Rand Paul and the Government Accountability Office, Donald Trump announced of 1000 forensic accountants to audit the books of not only the Fed, but of the entire federal government. “I want the GAO to be as frightening to people who abuse tax dollars as the IRS is to Americans who pay those tax dollars.”

“The Entrepreneur Explosion” — Declaring he wants to see as many small businesses as possible become the “next big business,” Trump launches an effort to mentor entrepreneurs spearheaded by his “good friend” Mitt Romney.

Private industry mentorship is also behind Trump’s new “Apprentice” program, which seeks out the best and brightest disadvantaged youth and teams them with business leaders to solve real and specific problems in their neighborhoods. “I made the ‘Apprentice’ name famous,” Trump boasts. “Might as well use it.” (NBC thinks about suing, but instead agrees to partner as a way of promoting the new Arnold Schwartzenneger-led Apprentice.)

Building on the work already done in inner cities by the likes of NFL legend Jim Brown, Dr. Ben Carson begins operating on America’s urban areas. Speaking endlessly on the importance of personal responsibility and the benefits of working hard, Carson starts convincing those in the inner cities that having a successful life “is not brain surgery.” Carson shrugs off complaints from the Left about stressing the importance of the church’s involvement in the rebirth of our inner city communities.

Flint, Michigan, gets an extra boost in its revitalization effort after a tweet from Donald Trump to Michael Moore: “Help Us … or Shut the H*** Up! #Flint”. A viral photo of Trump and Moore with arms around each other was named “The Most Scandalous Picture of 2017.”

Speaking of the Left

Aided by the mainstream media and entertainment industry, progressives work tirelessly, aggressively, and often get dirty and defamatory, to block every single action of the Trump administration and Trump personally. Even some establishment Republicans join in.

Daily lawsuits are filed with friendly judges, hourly the media parades “victims” of Trump policies and disparages any good news. Every second, hostile tweets insult, twist and contradict anything said or done by anyone not with the progressive program. America shrugs and goes about its business, muttering, “They still don’t get it.” (For more from the author of “2017: What a Year It Was” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Kerry’s Two-Faced Middle East Solution

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In his recent speech excoriating Israel for refusing to commit suicide by allowing a sworn enemy to have a state adjoining the Jewish state, Secretary of State John Kerry claimed the U.S. government “did not draft or originate” the UN resolution critical of Israeli “settlements.”

Kerry said there were no American fingerprints on the resolution and that it was totally the idea of the Egyptians and Palestinians. Except that it wasn’t, if one can believe Egyptian intelligence.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports on a story published in an Egyptian newspaper with close ties to Egyptian Intelligence. According to the report, a secret meeting took place in Washington in mid-December attended by John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and a rather large Palestinian delegation that included PLO Executive Committee secretary and negotiating team leader Saeb Erekat. If the report is true, the Palestinian delegation also supposedly met with representatives of Homeland Security and the CIA. Political discussions were also said to be part of the agenda.

According to the transcribed minutes obtained by the Egyptian daily, Al-Youm Al-Sabi, the secret gathering “reveals U.S. coordination leading up to the UN Security Council vote on Resolution 2334 regarding Israel’s settlements. … It states that the sides ‘agreed to cooperate in drafting a resolution on the settlements’ and that the U.S. representative in the Security Council was ’empowered’ to coordinate with the Palestinian UN representative on the resolution.”

The Egyptian newspaper further reported that the secret meeting in Washington “was aimed at coordinating Kerry’s attendance at the upcoming international Paris Conference set for Jan. 15, 2017, in order to propose his ideas for a permanent arrangement ‘provided they are supported by the Palestinian side.’”

Susan Rice is said to have warned the Palestinians about the “danger” of the incoming Trump administration’s policies, adding that both she and Kerry had advised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to make any preliminary moves that might “provoke the new administration.”

The report also said Kerry and Rice had “fulsomely praised Abbas’ policies and how he handled matters, and harshly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he ‘aims to destroy the two-state solution.’”

This is remarkably cynical even in our cynical age. If the Egyptian newspaper report is true — and the Obama administration has so far not denied it — the administration is guilty of a two-faced solution to the conflict, which is no solution at all from the standpoint of Israel and the Jewish people who have been the targets of unprovoked attacks and wars since Israel’s rebirth in 1948.

Not only has Abbas said he would expel all Jews from a Palestinian State, but neither he, nor any other regional player technically still at war with Israel has said they will ever recognize a Jewish state in their midst. Furthermore, since the Palestinian side now includes Hamas and Fatah in a unity coalition — two entities that have vowed not only to never make peace with Israel, but to seek its destruction and the expulsion of all Jews from the land — only a fool would believe that peace is possible under such circumstances.

Peace, like success, is a byproduct, not a goal that can be reached without certain precursors. Success is achieved by hard work, a good education and right relationships. Peace is achieved when one side is victorious or two sides decide they don’t want to fight anymore. Jordan and Egypt gave up on war, leading to peace with Israel. The Palestinian side fights on. They have an ally in the Obama administration, but only for a few more days.

President-elect Trump has promised things will be different when it comes to U.S. policy toward Israel starting Jan. 20. One can only hope. (For more from the author of “Kerry’s Two-Faced Middle East Solution” please click HERE)

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Conservative Groups Warn of Obama’s ‘Midnight Litigation’ Against US Business

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Conservative and pro-business groups warn that the Obama administration may pursue legal action to enforce some of its thousands of new “job-crushing” regulations before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

Regulations promulgated in “the waning days” of President Barack Obama’s lame-duck administration could constrain the new Trump administration, the coalition of groups warned Vice President-elect Mike Pence in a letter dated Dec. 28.

“Because of this concern, Congress enacted the Congressional Review Act, which provides Congress procedural tools to disapprove expeditiously these last-ditch midnight regulations,” the letter says.

The Congressional Review Act could address regulations put in place by the Obama administration since June 3. However, the law can’t prevent so-called “midnight litigation” launched by the executive branch to enforce those regulations.

The Obama administration issued 3,852 new federal regulations during 2016, according to a new analysis by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, first reported Friday by the Washington Examiner.

The letter from conservative activists and business leaders says:

It has come to our attention that a number of departments and independent agencies are working furiously behind closed doors to bring significant, legally tenuous litigation against American business interests before Jan. 20, 2017. Doing so will saddle the Trump administration with having to litigate cases based on job-crushing liberal legal theories.

Inauguration Day, when Trump is sworn in as president, is Jan. 20.

Signers of the letter include Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; Ken Blackwell, chairman of Constitution Congress; and Clyde Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The signatories represent 29 organizations, including Frontiers of Freedom, the Heartland Institute, and Liberty Counsel.

The letter warns Pence, a former congressman and governor of Indiana who is well-liked by conservatives, that the new administration should review any litigation to enforce the recent regulations.

“Should the Obama administration bring nonroutine, last minute, legally unorthodox midnight litigation, your administration should not hesitate to withdraw immediately from that litigation,” the letter to Pence states.

Such last-minute litigation could hurt job growth, the letter says.

John R. Smith, the chairman of BIZPAC, the Business Political Action Committee of Palm Beach County, wrote in an op-ed for BizPac Review:

The lame-duck Obama administration has launched a mad scramble to throw up as many hurdles, and to plant as many last-minute landmines as possible against the new American president. In his final days of office, Barack Obama has initiated a major flurry of new executive orders, directives, and regulations, thousands of them, that he is piling into the federal books.

Frontiers of Freedom, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to promoting traditional American values, circulated the letter.

“Everything should be suspect,” George Landrith, president of Frontiers of Freedom, told The Daily Caller News Foundation, referring to the Obama administration’s final gush of regulations. (For more from the author of “Conservative Groups Warn of Obama’s ‘Midnight Litigation’ Against US Business” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

6 Political New Year’s Resolutions You Should Make

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As the calendar year ends, minds quickly turn to losing weight, eating healthy, saving money, and spending more time with family. But just as 2016 caused us to rethink politics, it’s time to rethink this year’s New Year’s resolutions.

The voice of the American voters has never been louder, and with unified Republican control of the House, Senate, and White House for the first time in 15 years, there promises to be a lot happening in 2017. It’s time to step up and get involved.

Here are some political resolutions to consider adopting in 2017:

1. Connect with your member of Congress: Members of Congress are responsible and accountable to their constituents. It’s important for the voter to stay up-to-date on congressional votes and issues. Sign up to get the most recent news and information from your member. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter. (Remember, many members have a personal and an official account). Subscribe to your member’s email newsletters and set up a Google alert to stay up-to-date on all the news from your senators and representative.

2. Get active on Twitter: Twitter is one of the most effective ways to get direct contact with your lawmaker. Sign up for a Twitter account and set a goal of tweeting at least three times a week about articles, opinions, or votes you want your network and your member to see. If you need help getting started, you can sign up for Heritage Action’s weekly Twitter newsletter.

3. Write a letter to the editor: Get your name in print by writing a letter to the editor in response to an editorial or giving your unique perspective on an issue. Remember to keep it brief: It should be no longer than 250 words and focused on one particular issue. The best letters to the editor have a personal connection to the topic you are talking about. Keep the tone formal and polite. Make sure your statements can be backed up with solid evidence.

4. Get involved locally: No one knows the needs of your community better than you. Use the new year to find out what’s happening in your political community. Attend a town hall, go to a neighborhood meeting, or join a local political group.

5. Read a political book: Keeping up with the news is important. To understand the current news, keep things in perspective. Take time out of the 24-hour news cycle and read a historical book like “A Republic of Spin” by David Greenberg or a cultural commentary like “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance. Check out some of The Heritage Foundation’s staff recommendations on The Daily Signal.

6. Join an activist program: Politics can be isolating, but it’s much better with a community of people. Join a local or national organization to amplify your voice and coordinate your efforts with other grassroots activists across the country. Heritage Action, the sister organization of The Heritage Foundation, has a community of over 17,500 activists that participate in weekly strategy calls. Get one-on-one training from activism coaches and the latest news from Washington, D.C. Consider joining the Heritage Action Sentinel Program today.

Voters delivered a mandate for change—real change this time—in November. This is the year for grassroots America to continue the momentum by leaning in, speaking up, and getting involved. Will you step up in 2017? (For more from the author of “6 Political New Year’s Resolutions You Should Make” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Obamacare Repeal Must Be on Day One: Congress Has No Excuses

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In less than three weeks’ time, when Donald Trump becomes our next president, he will take an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

It is fitting, then, that Trump has committed to repealing and replacing one of his predecessor’s most infamous unconstitutional policies, the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. But he won’t be able to do it alone. Repealing Obamacare requires Congress to write legislation for the president to sign into law.

Congress can and should do this in January, before Inauguration Day. There is no excuse not to.

A lot has happened in the last eight years, since Nancy Pelosi first claimed “we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber reveled in the “stupidity of the American voter” and “lack of transparency” that helped pass the bill, and President Barack Obama told PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year in 2013: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.”

The so-called Affordable Care Act was a mandate when Congress needed to shove it through, and it was a tax when the Supreme Court decided to look the other way.

Many thousands of Americans have lost their insurance plans or their doctors, or seen their premiums hiked up to unbelievable levels. Seventeen of the original 23 Obamacare insurance co-ops have collapsed. The massive centralization of health insurance has hurt patients and providers alike. And, of course, there has always been the rotten, unconstitutional core of Obamacare: the federal government forcing citizens to buy a product.

That’s why conservatives have been fighting against Obamacare for years. That’s why, since they swept the elections in 2010, Congress has voted over 60 times to repeal all or part of it.

They just need to do it one more time.

To avoid a predictable Senate filibuster from the left, Congress can employ the “reconciliation process”—a parliamentary procedure used to help the House and Senate pass budget bills. Obamacare repeal can be easily included in this legislation. We know, because Congress did just that to get a repeal of Obamacare on the president’s desk in 2015.

Then, Obama used a veto to protect his signature law. But in a few short weeks, Congress will be sending bills to a different president entirely.

Of course, this doesn’t mean we won’t see foot-dragging from some in Congress. When I was in the Senate, they would use every excuse to avoid fighting for conservative priorities. “Wait until we get the House.” Done. “Wait until we get the Senate.” Done. “Wait until we get the White House.” Done and done. There are simply no alternatives left but to repeal Obamacare and win the fight (a shocking prospect for some!)

Fortunately, Republicans can’t afford to throw conservatives under the bus on Obamacare repeal. Republicans have consistently campaigned on repealing Obamacare and won. It’s a promise that must be kept.

Many Americans care deeply about getting the government out of their health care decisions and finances. Being forced to live under Obamacare has motivated millions of hardworking people across our country to get involved in politics—abandoning them now would cause an electoral backlash to rival the one which put Trump in the White House.

Obama signed his namesake legislation seven years ago, and soon his successor will sign a bill to repeal it. But just as Congress made the original mistake of passing Obamacare, it must start working—now—to have that bill on Trump’s desk on Inauguration Day.

Once repeal legislation establishes a certain date when Obamacare will expire, Congress can begin a step-by-step approach to make health insurance more affordable and available for every American.

No excuses. (For more from the author of “Obamacare Repeal Must Be on Day One: Congress Has No Excuses” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Election Ushers in Batch of States Preparing for Right-To-Work Laws

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Not only did the 2016 election bring the country a new president, but Nov. 8 also ushered in the right political environment for a batch of states to pass right-to-work bills.

Twenty-six states have right-to-work laws on the books, and labor experts are expecting lawmakers in at least three more—Kentucky, Missouri, and New Hampshire—to pass bills giving workers the power to choose whether they want to join a union or pay union dues.

“2016 was sort of the tipping-point year for right to work,” Ben Wilterdink, director of the commerce, insurance, and economic development task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, told The Daily Signal.

“We just got 26 states signed on, and that was the tipping point, and we’ve crossed that threshold,” he continued. “2017 is now going to be the year of right to work.”

In Kentucky, Missouri, and New Hampshire, last month’s election resulted in a flip in party leadership in either governors’ mansions or state legislatures, which put previously defeated right-to-work legislation back on the table.

The issue pits the business community against labor unions, and has proved to be a contentious one for both parties.

Proponents of right-to-work laws argue that they force unions to become more accountable to their members and make states more attractive to companies looking to move.

But unions fiercely oppose right-to-work legislation and say that not only do such laws harm union membership, but they also lead to decreased wages and benefits.

Still, labor experts say they believe that the political landscapes in Kentucky, Missouri, and New Hampshire have created a prime opportunity for right-to-work laws to pass in each of those states.

“The world changed in November of 2016, and advocates of labor reform and for worker freedom are emboldened,” Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center in Michigan, told The Daily Signal. “While you’ve seen the fire of worker freedom spreading brightly across the country, it’s now raging thanks to the November election.”

Kentucky

According to Dave Adkisson, president of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, right to work has been a priority of the business community in the Bluegrass State for at least 30 years.

Republicans in the state Senate have pursued right-to-work legislation in the past, but the bills died in the state House of Representatives, which was controlled by Democrats.

But last month, Kentucky voters gave Republicans control of the state House for the first time in more than 90 years.

Now, with a GOP trifecta in the state Senate, state House, and the governor’s mansion—Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, was elected to a four-year term in 2015—Adkisson said business leaders are “almost to the point of [being] giddy.”

“One of the key elements of the labor argument is that right to work doesn’t matter to business, that they choose locations for other reasons,” Adkisson told The Daily Signal. “I can assure you that business leaders consider right to work as a major signal about whether a state is pro-business or not.”

Adkisson said international firms will typically hire consultants to help determine where in the U.S. they should move, and many of those consultants will “start their search only considering right-to-work states.”

For Kentucky, that ultimately meant losing out on economic development opportunities.

“Companies are not going to relocate to a place where they don’t think they can get a workforce, but invariably in that top list of factors is right to work,” Adkisson said. “You want to at least make the long list to be considered.”

Until recently, business leaders, particularly those in Louisville, were more “fatalistic” about right to work not passing Kentucky’s state Legislature.

But when Indiana—Kentucky’s neighbor to the north—passed a right-to-work law in 2012, “that suddenly got the attention of Louisville,” Adkisson said, in part because Indiana appeared “more pro-business.”

“It’s just a general issue of competitiveness,” he said.

Kentucky state legislators will meet for a shortened session, just 30 days, in January, so they have a tight timeline to pass right-to-work legislation.

Bevin said in September he wanted to see the state Legislature tackle right to work next year, but in an interview with the Paducah Sun earlier this month, he said he would allow the Legislature to decide how to address a bevy of issues they’ll face next year.

“I know people want to see right to work addressed, they want prevailing wage addressed, they want school choice addressed, they want tort reform addressed, they want tax reform addressed, they want pension reform addressed,” he said.

Still, labor experts say they are hopeful.

“Kentucky has demonstrated that the state is ready,” Jonathan Williams, vice president of the Center for State Fiscal Reform at ALEC, told The Daily Signal. “I’d expect it within the first half of the year.”

Missouri

While the success of right to work in Kentucky hinged on the makeup of the state Legislature, it was the election of Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens in Missouri that bolstered Republicans’ attempts to pass right-to-work laws in the Show-Me State.

Greitens, who defeated Democratic nominee Chris Koster last month, has stressed his support for right-to-work laws.

“I support it because it would stop companies and union bosses from taking a cut of your paycheck to support their political organization,” Greitens said of right to work on his campaign website. “It’s just common sense. That money is your money—and you should decide how you want to spend it.”

Republicans have a supermajority in the state House of Representatives and the state Senate, and already, GOP state lawmakers in both chambers have prefiled right-to-work bills for the 2017 legislative session.

“It’s going to be a race to see who is state 27, 28, and 29,” Vernuccio said.

New Hampshire

Williams, of ALEC, said Kentucky and Missouri are the “low-hanging fruit” for right-to-work proponents.

Though he and other labor experts are hopeful New Hampshire will join their ranks next year, New Hampshire is “somewhat on the bubble,” he said.

Republicans will control the state Legislature and the governor’s mansion in the Granite State after voters elected Republican Chris Sununu governor in November.

Sununu supports right to work and said earlier this month he’s “fairly” confident state lawmakers will pass right-to-work legislation next year.

“I’ve talked to businesses outside of this state that have clearly brought it up to me, so there’s no doubt by passing right to work, it will open up new economic opportunities for the state of New Hampshire,” he said in an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Still, the governor-elect encouraged state lawmakers to “be good listeners on both sides of the aisle.”

State lawmakers in the New Hampshire House passed a right-to-work bill last year, but it didn’t make it out of the Senate.

Though Republicans control the state government, Williams said there has been resistance among the GOP’s ranks.

Additionally, Democratic state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro of Manchester told the Union Leader opponents of right to work “have a good chance to stop it.”

Also at issue in New Hampshire is the dearth of other right-to-work states in the New England region.

Kentucky and Missouri are surrounded by states with right-to-work laws on the books, so they compete with others for business opportunities.

For New Hampshire, which would be the first in the region to become right to work, that competition doesn’t exist.

“There’s less pressure on them to get this across the finish line,” Wilterdink said.

Still, Williams said success in New Hampshire would be a “symbolic victory for conservatives.”

“If you saw the first state in New England become a right-to-work state—it’s been a tough region for conservatives to crack,” he said. “It would embolden right-of-center officials to push harder.”

Growing Momentum

Labor experts are confident that by the end of 2017, the number of right-to-work states will hover around 30.

Though they’re certain Kentucky and Missouri, at a minimum, will pass right-to-work laws, Wilterdink said lawmakers in three more states—Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico—will at least consider bills to make right to work a reality.

“We’re seeing a lot of movement and a lot of pressure, especially as businesses look at other states, especially as more and more states become right to work,” Wilterdink said. “States and their citizens are realizing they’re missing out.”

Republicans in Pennsylvania introduced right-to-work bills in the past, without success.

Earlier this year, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez committed to including right to work on her agenda for the 2016 legislative session.

Right-to-work bills have also been introduced in the Delaware General Assembly, but they were ultimately blocked by Democrats who control both chambers.

“This is a jobs bill in the states,” Williams said. “As more and more legislators are elected and looking for ways to make their states more competitive in growing jobs, we’ve continued to see businesses move from one state to another with better climates. This is one of the best things states can do.” (For more from the author of “Election Ushers in Batch of States Preparing for Right-To-Work Laws” please click HERE)

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4 of the Worst Culture Battles That Raged in 2016

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Of course 2016 was a pivotal election year, and much of it was jam-packed with pundits yacking, debates ensuing, pollsters polling — all building up to the election itself. But culturally, there were several stories that signaled a disturbing decline in what have previously been our nation’s core principles.

These issues always linger, always infiltrate, and always directly or indirectly affect political debate — even while stemming from it.

1. Abortion remained controversial

Despite the fact that the rate of abortions has steadily declined — they were at their lowest in 2016 since 1973 — abortion still remained at the forefront of the cultural, political, and legislative debates nationwide, appearing in the news almost weekly.

There were some frustrating, if not conflicting, abortion stories this year. The Irish couple who live-tweeted their abortion and used their decision to abort as a political prop to encourage Ireland to lift its strict ban.

A new study also found that while abortions are decreasing, the use of medication to cause an abortion is on the rise due to convenience and the existence of fewer Planned Parenthoods.

One of the most disturbing issues that came to light this year was the nation’s response to the House Oversight Committee’s declaration that Planned Parenthood no longer needed federal funding, and that it could function independently. Instead of slowly siphoning funding over time or severing it altogether, Republicans were unable to do either. While they did sneak such language into a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood, Democrats knew this and filibustered it repeatedly until Republicans just gave in and cut that portion out. This was devastating for pro-life advocates and unborn babies nationwide.

As I reported in October,

Republicans not only undid the revealing, undercover work of the Center for Medical Progress, but blatantly ignored the conclusions the House Oversight Committee reached about PP. They traded a few days of bad press — it’s not like the government ever remains shutdown forever — for more taxpayer dollars toward an organization the Oversight Committee deemed was “self-sustaining.”

One positive trend, however, was even though Republicans were unable to defund Planned Parenthood at the federal level, nearly half of the states attempted to do so, and at least 12 states were successful. This and the news that some Planned Parenthood facilities were not operating according strict health and safety codes (like hospitals must) forced many to shut down.

2. Transgender bathroom debate escalated

While abortion has been a controversial political issue for decades and really never waned in that regard, the transgender bathroom issue is newer, but just as controversial. It developed hot, fast, and replete with emotion.

Despite the fact that transgenders make up a tiny portion of the American population — less than 0.1 percent — they have argued for the last few years that using a bathroom that doesn’t coincide with their gender identity is humiliating, and they should be able to use whichever one they want.

Conservatives on the other hand, view this as confusing — especially for young children — and a violation of privacy for the 99.9 percent of the population who is not transgender.

Boosted from Bruce Jenner’s rise to fame after transitioning in 2015, as I wrote last January, men were allowed to compete as women in the Olympics. In May, Obama made a federal decree telling every public school district in the country to allow transgenders to use whichever bathroom they choose.

Transgenders and bathroom issues aside, why is the government telling schools where to use the restroom? If this is happening now, where does it end? Schools, while taxpayer-subsidized, need not be under the watchful schoolmaster’s hand of the federal government. That government is best which governs least — and locally.

Finally, one of the most pivotal transgender issues of the year is the case of Gavin Grimm, the high school girl who transitioned to boy and sued his school board because they didn’t let him use the boy’s restroom. It has worked its way up the legal system, and the Supreme Court will soon hear it, possibly changing the landscape of restrooms in public high schools for some time, thus promulgating the goal of the transgender movement:

As groups bend the rules for the sake of political correctness or file lawsuits to fight for their perceived “rights,” they will continue to push past the point of equality until they have upended others’ freedoms to secure their own. At this point, the movement has, as millennials say, “jumped the shark,” pushing well past their original plea and plowing onward toward a form of unrecognizable and inexcusable social tyranny.

3. Feminists got more absurd

Whereas the first wave of feminism heralded the mantra, “Women deserve to vote too,” the second wave shouted, “Women deserve a chance to do things men do — like work — too!” Both of those sound reasonable, if not courageous. However, feminism’s current trend, predictably called “third wave,” whimpers and whines, “Men are awful and disgusting, and women are better at everything.” This showed itself in various ways this year, from yet another push for women to be in combat to the ever-regurgitated claim that there’s still a wage gap between the sexes.

Some feminists loudly proclaimed they didn’t want kids or had them and wished they didn’t (the epitome of navel-gazing), while others tried to make the case women work so hard they need maternity leave, even if they don’t have any children.

Still others claimed “corporate feminism” was a problem — the existence of not enough women in the upper echelons of corporations (never mind women tend to take a break to have children or often don’t desire or are unqualified for those types of positions). Facts don’t matter for modern day feminists. All that matters is how men, the news, and conservative women make them feel.

Now, in the 2000s, and especially in 2016, instead of fighting for equal rights or fair treatment, feminists want to be treated differently altogether, just because they are women — the near antithesis of feminism when it began.

The movement now touts safe spaces and politically correct ideas — especially on college campuses — which makes it seem regressive rather than progressive. True feminists of yesteryear fought for noble causes like the ability to vote like men could; they didn’t seek safe spaces while hearing about ideas that hurt their feelings — like the term “rape culture” — or made them feel left out, then shout proudly, “Look how feminist I am!”

4. Millennials got lazier

I’ve got mixed feelings about millennials, in part because I am one and also because it’s sad to see not just all the awful opinions about them (many are untrue and not fact-based), but also the studies that show a segment of my generation is misguided and lazy. This is not entirely their fault: Millennials are the first generation to grow up with helicopter parents, participation awards, and cell phones. Some of this helped produce a generation of kids who just can’t stop being kids.

In September, Forbes reported the unemployment rate — 12 percent — was twice that of the nation’s average. Also, as I wrote then,

The Pew Research Center reported in May that more 18- to 34-year-olds are living at home (with mom, dad, or both parents) than are “married or cohabiting and living in their own household.” According to Pew, the biggest reason for this was their inability to find jobs to support their independence. That is one sad, pathetic, and ultimately scary statistic, especially when you consider millennials have surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation.

Add these two statistics together, and it’s hard to tell where one begins and the other ends, so intertwined are the concepts of living on one’s own and working. Like I said, it’s tough to blame millennials completely for their plight when Mom and Dad still pay their bills.

This coddling and lack of education has produced a generation which, according to a YouGov poll released in October, thinks communism isn’t such a bad idea. More millennials preferred Karl Marx than previously thought and actually (falsely) believed more people were killed under George W. Bush’s presidency than Joseph Stalin.

As this generation is the one currently traversing their 20s and even, as in my case, already raising the next generation, it’s vital millennials drop their “special snowflake” syndrome, figure out what the facts of life are, and get to work. (For more from the author of “4 of the Worst Culture Battles That Raged in 2016” please click HERE)

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