A recent story in the Wall Street Journal indicated that Manhattan Institute scholar Christopher Rufo is set to meet with President-Elect Trump’s team to discuss a plan “to geld American universities by withholding money if they don’t pull back on diversity measures.” How dangerous, and how very anti-conservative. Think about it.
Underlying Rufo’s aim is to use the federal government’s massive – and growing – budget to force universities to do as Rufo thinks they should. Rufo’s actions amount to left-wing activism right-wing edition whereby Rufo is attempting to fix a wrong with a more perilous one.
Up front, in a happy world a much more limited federal government would not be writing checks to universities in the first place. That’s what private individuals should do, and it’s what they do.
Unfortunately, a government that takes in trillions worth of wealth each year from those same private individuals, and that is able to borrow with ease against the present and future wealth creation of those same private individuals, has the means to influence how universities operate through its ability to hand over the money of others. It’s wrongheaded, period.
At the same time, and just as wrongheaded, it’s perilous for activists on the right to add insult to injury by using an overreaching and overspending federal government to influence how universities operate. That’s what Rufo is doing. Since the federal government has arrogated to itself the power to tax and spend the wealth of others, he’ll use the government’s power to tax and spend the wealth of others in order to achieve his own, allegedly conservative ends. Once again, how very anti-conservative.
Worse, where will it end? Figure that American businesses operate in a business climate defined by all manner of legislative, regulatory and financial largesse whether they want to or not. Which is a short way of saying that governments led by left and right wing activists won’t stop at making sure universities hold back on diversity measures. The businesses that power enormous American prosperity are surely next when it comes to having government dictate how they operate via financial force.
Sadly, it’s already happening. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has introduced an “anti-ESG” that, according to American Banker, “provides an avenue of recourse for bank customers who believe they were denied financial services on the basis of their political opinions, religious beliefs, lawful ownership of guns or involvement in fossil fuel-based energy production.” In Texas, national banks seen as hostile to the fossil fuel industry have been banned from underwriting municipal bonds for Texas cities. Yet again we see Republicans and conservatives using government’s power of the purse to force businesses to do as they want them to.
What’s happening has us on a perilous path whereby federal and state governments have the power to not just dictate to universities and businesses how they should operate, but disfigure them. Rufo should know this, at which point someone who caucuses with the right should be pleased to keep his own, frequently laudatory views (there’s much that’s disagreeable about DEI, ESG and other acronyms) separate from government force at all levels.
Indeed, there was a time when conservatives didn’t run to government to bludgeon those doing what they disagreed with. Confident in the worth of their beliefs, they were pleased to criticize the actions of universities and businesses all the while happy to let very real market forces work their very real magic.
No longer, it seems. Now conservatives are perfectly pleased to use government as a means to an end. Except that it’s not conservative to spend the money of others, not to mention that there won’t always be Rufo-style conservatives in the White House and governors’ mansions.
