I want to thank the Heritage Foundation for hosting this important event. Having the honor of being on the same program, or even in the same room, as Professor Robert George is a bucket list-type day for me. So, thank you. It is indeed monumental that for the 100 years...
May 17 marked the 71st anniversary of the 1954 court decision called Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS — but the case began here, in Virginia. In 1951 Virginia public education operated under the doctrine of “separate but equal,” but the definition of “equal” left much to be...
Here we go again. As the 2025 election year heats up and warnings rise about electricity shortfalls this summer, the legislators behind Virginia’s coming ban on hydrocarbon electricity are pretending they see the problem. A May 22 headline out of a recent legislative meeting on energy claimed that “Democratic leadership...
The Thomas Jefferson Institute’s opposition to President Trump’s tariff regime is now well known. Taxing imports only hurts those the President hopes to help most. While the President’s recent call to extend tariffs to foreign made films has gotten a lot of press, little attention is being paid to President...
There are few issues more important than how and how much governments tax their citizens. But what is often less appreciated, but even more important, is under what authority taxes are imposed. Former Senator and Virginia Governor George Allen, a Republican, opposes President Trump’s tariffs, arguing they are an unconstitutional...
With one exception, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) has now vetoed the contested energy bills that he sought to amend at the 2025 General Assembly’s reconvened session last month. The rejection of his amendments or substitutes gave him a final opportunity for a full veto of the legislation. Friday night...
Virginia is not directly involved, but with our nuclear industrial base, a pending federal lawsuit over the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is crucial for our energy future. At the end of last year, Texas and Utah and small nuclear startup LAST Energy filed a claim in the Eastern District of Texas that the NRC is...
Every taxpayer dollar sent to any university or private entity should be closely scrutinized. In the case of the billions sent to Harvard University and other elite schools, the probe being imposed by the Trump administration is long overdue. The research grants which make up the majority of Harvard’s non-medical...
Asked nearly 40 years ago what he needed most, less regulation or lower taxes, a small manufacturer of machine tools replied: “We need both,” he said, “but the thing we need most is certainty.” “Businesses have to plan out months and years,” he said. “We have to plan for employee salaries,...
The pending price increase for electricity from Dominion Energy Virginia is higher than the 14% jump reported by the news media which basically parroted company releases. Should all of Dominion’s rate applications at the State Corporation Commission be approved, residents and businesses will pay about 20% more. The 1,000-kilowatt hour...
