Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior…
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More Legal Shenanigans from the Biden Administration’s Department of Education

Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior of federal administrative agencies, whose vast armies of overpaid bureaucrats remain unaccountable for their excesses.

Among the most familiar examples of that bureaucratic abuse is the Department of Education (DOE).  Recall, for instance, the United States Supreme Court’s humiliating rebuke last year of the Biden DOE’s effort to shift hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt from the people who actually owed them onto the backs of American taxpayers.

Even now, despite that rebuke, the Biden DOE launched an alternative scheme last month in an end-around effort to achieve that same result.

Well, the Biden DOE is now attempting to shift tens of millions of dollars of…[more]

March 19, 2024 • 08:35 AM

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Gallup: Americans Continue to Rate Conservative Institutions Highest Print
By Timothy H. Lee
Thursday, July 22 2021
Specifically, three major U.S. institutions most closely associated with conservative principles remain the only ones in which a majority of Americans report 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot' of confidence: the military, police and small business.

"Americans' Confidence in Major U.S. Institutions Dips," reads the headline of a new Gallup public opinion survey.  

In light of accumulating experience, can that headline come as any surprise?  

Just this week, the Biden Administration openly acknowledged that it’s working with tech giant Facebook to limit what it in its infinite wisdom deems “misinformation.”  According to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, “We’re regularly making sure social media platforms are aware of the latest narratives, dangerous to public health, that we and many other Americans are seeing across all of social and traditional media.”  

That follows years of such similar institutional malfeasance as improper federal wiretapping of Trump campaign and administration officials, a farcical “Russian collusion” narrative that dragged on for years and social media censorship of Hunter Biden revelations and Wuhan laboratory suspicions whose legitimacy later became clear.  

As the wry adage goes, George Orwell’s “1984” was intended as a warning, not an instruction manual.  

There’s good news from the Gallup survey to report, however.  At least for conservatives.  

Specifically, three major U.S. institutions most closely associated with conservative principles remain the only ones in which a majority of Americans report “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence:  the military, police and small business.  

Since 1973, Gallup has reported its “tracking of the public’s confidence in a variety of key U.S. institutions,” which now number sixteen:  (1) the military, (2) police, (3) small business, (4) church or organized religion, (5) our medical system, (6) the presidency, (7) the U.S. Supreme Court, (8) public schools, (9) banks, (10) organized labor, (11) the criminal justice system, (12) television news, (13) newspapers, (14) big business (15) Congress and (16) technology companies.  

After a temporary uptick last year as the nation rallied against the sudden Covid pandemic, Gallup summarized that Americans reverted to their long-term trend of increasing distrust toward most major institutions:  

Americans' average confidence in major U.S. institutions has edged down after increasing modestly several months into the coronavirus pandemic last year. Currently, an average 33% of U.S. adults express "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in 14 institutions, marking a three-percentage-point dip since 2020 and a return to the level seen in 2018 and 2019.  These findings, from a June 1-July 5 poll, are the latest in Gallup's tracking of the public's confidence in a variety of key U.S. institutions, which began in 1973 during the Watergate scandal. Gallup has tracked 14 core institutions since 1993, and the public's confidence in them has remained relatively low -- particularly over the past 15 years, when the average has not risen above 36%. Before 2006, averages at or above 40% were more common. In addition to the core institutions, Gallup measures confidence in other societal institutions, though with less frequency.

For conservatives, however, the news is decidedly more encouraging:  

The police are one of just three institutions in which a majority of Americans express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence.  The other two – small business and the military – have consistently ranked at the top of the list since 1989.  At the other end of the spectrum are Congress, television news, big business, the criminal justice system and newspapers, each of which has a confidence rating at or below 21%.  Congress or big business has ranked at the bottom of the list since 2007.  

Accordingly, the major institutions commonly associated with conservative principles continue to place high in Americans’ esteem, whereas institutions like mainstream media, labor unions and increasingly “woke” big business dominated by leftist groupthink remain unpopular.  

Despite a sharply polarized society today, a remarkably high 69% of Americans express “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the U.S. military.  Small business, which embodies the free market entrepreneurial spirit, slightly surpasses the military with a 70% high confidence level, while police maintain a 51% high confidence rating despite unrelenting assault from the political left and mainstream media.  

No other major U.S. institution exceeded the 50% threshold.  

The U.S. medical system registered a 44% high approval rating, followed by the presidency as an institution at 38%, churches and organized religion at 37%, the U.S. Supreme Court at 36%, banks at 33%, public schools at just 32%, large tech companies at 29%, organized labor at 28%, newspapers at 21%, the criminal justice system at 20%, big business at 18%, television news at only 16% and Congress at 12%.  

How is it, then, that police, the military and independent businesses find themselves so often maligned by major media, public school officials, Big Tech, Big Labor and Congress?  

Regardless, it’s encouraging that Americans continue to value institutions that center on traditionally conservative principles of entrepreneurialism, law and order and strong national defense.  Perhaps at some point the other lagging institutions will internalize that lesson.  

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