America’s political curiosity is that even if the Republicans win, that’s not the core of their agenda.
Consider abortion. The Republican Party has been anti-abortion since the 1970s, and abortion has been an effective tool for electing conservatives for half a century. When President-elect Donald Trump appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices in his first term, constitutionally protected reproductive freedoms were abolished and half the country immediately banned abortions at various stages of pregnancy. did.
That was in 2022. In just two years, a majority of residents in the red states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio defended abortion to varying degrees while reelecting the people most responsible for abortion. I voted to do so. You’re putting it at risk.
School vouchers have a similar history. Mr. Trump has been a vocal supporter of using public funds to pay for tuition at private schools, almost all of which are run by conservative Christians. The appointment of Betsy DeVos, president of the radical pro-voucher group Alliance for School Choice, as the first secretary of education galvanized a national pro-voucher movement across the country, including in Texas.
But results have been mixed even in areas where Republicans hold a triumvirate of power. In Texas, local Republican lawmakers have consistently sided with Democrats in rejecting school vouchers, saying they jeopardize public school funding. Local high schools are often the largest employers in some rural areas as well as social hubs for the community. Passage remains an open question, even as Mr. Abbott embarks on a bloody intraparty war to eliminate the Republicans who blocked his last coupon attempt.
It’s not just Texas. Two ruby states also rejected school voting in this election. Nebraska supported Trump by a 20 percentage point margin, but voters firmly rejected the voucher program. Kentucky had an even tougher vote against Trump, with a 21 percentage point margin and a 42 percentage point difference against vouchers.
A possible reason for this is that public school teachers, who remain one of the most trusted professions in the United States, are completely opposed to issuing vouchers. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has repeatedly asserted that vouchers would actually increase funding for public schools, but his Texas Education Agency (TEA) says vouchers will almost certainly cost public schools more money. I admit that.
This is a particularly big problem in Texas. Public schools across the state are struggling financially, and even wealthy districts like Cypress-Fairbanks are cutting bus routes to save money. The promised increase in funding from tax surpluses never materialized because Mr. Abbott held the money hostage until he got the vouchers. He has promised no new funding to schools until the voucher program is passed, which is likely to become a priority in January.
It remains a mystery why voters continue to elect politicians only to reject the proposals they implement, but when it comes to hot-button issues like abortion and vouchers, the trend is fairly clear and consistent. are.
