THE MORNING RANT: More Winning in the Culture Wars at the State & Local Level

It cannot be stressed enough that we can win significant battles at the state and local level against the left and their destructive agenda. In fact, we are winning significant battles. There are the high-profile victories, such as Ron DeSantis’ amazing record in Florida against woke corporations and Covid sharia, as well as the growing number of states that have now banned the transgender industry from altering children’s bodies. But below those top-of-the-fold stories, there is a lot more winning happening.

Last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton banned Citigroup from underwriting bond issues in Texas because of its discriminatory policies against gun owners and manufacturers. He has not let up, and he remains on offense against woke capital.

“Texas Bans Barclays from Participating in Bond Market Due to ESG Commitments” [WSJ – 01/26/2024]

Barclays was previously identified as a potential “fossil fuel boycotter” under Texas law. The bank subsequently opted not to respond to questions about its ESG commitments, Paxton’s office said.

The Attorney General’s Public Finance Division ruled that “we will not approve any public security issued on or after today’s date in which Barclays purchases or underwrites the public security or is otherwise a party to a covered contract relating to the public security.”

One state Attorney General like Ken Paxton can do so much more in the fight against the woke agenda than any elected official in Washington, which is also why the RINO-Democrat alliance in Texas fought so hard to remove Paxton from office via impeachment. There were plenty of squish Republicans in Texas who would have played along with the failed impeachment too, but their constituents made it clear that if they terminated Paxton’s career, they would also be terminating their own political careers.

Over in Arizona, “green energy” was just dealt a serious setback by a somewhat obscure regulatory agency, the Arizona Corporation Commission, which governs and regulates utilities in the state.

“Arizona regulators vote to repeal state renewable energy target, efficiency rules” [S&P Global – 02/08/2024]

In a highly unusual move, Arizona utility regulators ordered their staff to draft new rules that would repeal the state's existing mandates for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Perhaps this is being reported as a ”highly unusual move” because the left isn’t used to receiving pushback to its eco-communist agenda. The reason this could happen at all is that conservative Republicans hold 4 of the 5 seats on the commission, and they are responsive to rate payers who cannot afford higher rates for unicorn-based electricity.

These regulatory officers were voted into office in statewide elections. While these Corporate Commission seats are not as prestigious as the US Senate seats that Martha McSally keeps losing, they are much more important to the everyday life of Arizonans, and these four Republican commissioners have done more to defeat the anti-carbon agenda than all the Senators in Washington combined.

State and local elections matter.

We may not be able to defeat BlackRock and the woke financial oligarchy in Washington DC, but we can beat them state by state. There was more good news in the battle against woke capital last week, this time in South Carolina.

“McMaster signs bill to ban ESG from South Carolina’s retirement system” [The Center Square – 02/15/2024]

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster ceremonially signed a measure mandating the state's retirement system to consider only "pecuniary factors" when making investment decisions.

H.3690, the ESG Pension Protection Act, effectively bans the South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission from weighing environmental, social and governance factors and orders the system to maximize the highest rate of return for beneficiaries.

State and local elections in South Carolina put the legislators and Governor in office to make this anti-ESG victory happen.

While South Carolina wasn’t the first or most prominent state to bar state funds from being used in ESG investments, perhaps it was the straw that broke the Bond villains’ backs.

“JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock drop out of massive UN climate alliance in stunning move” [FoxBusiness – 02/15/2024]

JPMorgan Chase and institutional investors BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) on Thursday announced that they are quitting or, in the case of BlackRock, substantially scaling back involvement in a massive United Nations climate alliance formed to combat global warming through corporate sustainability agreements.

The stunning announcements come as the largest financial institutions in the U.S. and worldwide face an onslaught of pressure from consumer advocates and Republican states over their environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities.

Again, this retrenchment by globalist woke capital isn’t happening because of any Republican in Congress. This is happening because of conservative Republicans elected at the state level, and acting at the state level. Will the globalist villains of high-finance try to rebrand their evil agenda? Of course they will, but now they know that we are watching them, and we are ready to divest if they backslide.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar is celebrating the withdraw of those big investment firms from the climate alliance, but he remains watchful and skeptical of them too.

“Texas still skeptical about companies claiming to withdraw from ESG commitments” [The Center Square – 02/16/2024]

Hegar said in a statement on Thursday that companies distancing themselves from CA100+ is a “welcome development.”

However, he remains skeptical. He explained the experiences his staff have had when talking to people in the financial industry. “We heard firms telling Texas one thing but then providing very different and often contradictory information to states like New York or California,” he said. “Unfortunately, some of that doublespeak continues in these announcements.”

It is a positive development that aspiring politicians in red states have learned they can advance their political careers by going to battle against woke, anti-American corporations. The eco-communists of Wall Street cannot bluff their way through the red state pushback.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar is more important in the culture wars than either of Texas’ senators in Washington.

State and local elections matter.

Also in Texas, this time on the education battlefront…

“Texas A&M closes satellite Qatar campus citing 'heightened instability’ in the Middle East”

“Heightened instability” is a way of stating that Qatar provides support and protection to Hamas, and as much as the faculty and leadership at Texas A&M may find common cause with Hamas, the average Texan is repulsed by taxpayer money being used by A&M to abet anti-Israeli terrorists.

The move by the board of regents follows revelations in a recent report published by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy (ISGAP) which highlighted Qatar’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood and uncovered "its extensive financial arrangements with Texas A&M University."

Under pressure from alums and regular citizens, A&M Regents voted 7-1 to close its Qatar campus.

And also in Texas, and also on the education battlefront…

“UT-Austin eliminates scholarship program for undocumented students following Texas’ DEI ban” [Dallas Morning News – 01/25/2024]

University officials noted that the scholarship potentially violates Texas’ new ban on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in state universities and colleges, according to internal messages obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

A new Texas law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbot in May, requires the elimination of DEI offices and any programming based on race, color, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Yes, I’m a stuck record, but this victory occurred because voters elected legislators who made it happen, and a Governor who signed the law. And most importantly, many of those elected officials who might not have wanted to vote that way did so because they knew they would pay the price at the ballot box if they betrayed their constituents.

State and local elections matter.

Primary elections will be held over the next few months to choose candidates for the 2024 general election in November. I implore you to do a little research and find out which Republicans are movement conservatives, and which are just seeking office as a Republican. In red states where Democrats don’t have much of a chance in November, liberal candidates often run as Republicans and then betray their voters once elected.

This is not a foolproof test, but if a political nepot is running on his/her Daddy’s famous political name, politics is the family business, and there is probably a better candidate to vote for in the primary.

Have a wonderful President’s Day. I’ll be celebrating James Polk and Calvin Coolidge today. How about you?

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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