Halloween Horror Stories and How States Can Be the Heroes

Forget vampires and slasher flicks—what’s really scaring us this year is what we’re seeing come out of America’s cities and the Biden bureaucracy. From freaky elections to indoctrination in the classroom, there are terrifying tales heard all around the country. But state leaders can be the heroes, saving us from the nasty policy monsters hiding underneath our beds.

The MONSTER MASH of Bad Policies and Politics

The Wraiths of Ranked-Choice Voting

Partisan activists across the country are trying to push for the adoption of ranked-choice voting, an election scheme that turns “one person, one vote” into a game that requires voters to rank candidates in order of preference—and an opportunity for them to throw your ballot in the trash. As a new paper by FGA notes, ranked-choice voting is complicated, confusing, and can turn losers into winners. 

How to be the hero in this horror story: Don’t wait for ranked-choice voting to terrorize your towns. Be like Florida, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, and Tennessee and ban ranked-choice voting completely.

Vampiric Soros-Backed District Attorneys

Several cities across the country are being overrun with crime thanks to Soros-backed district attorneys, who refuse to prosecute offenders—even when it’s a matter of protecting people against violent criminals. Another concern with this soft-on-crime approach is that in many states, district attorneys are the ones tasked with prosecuting election crime. If they won’t put murderers and rapists behind bars, can we really trust them to go after election fraudsters? Probably not. 

How to drive a stake through the heart of non-enforcement. States can grant attorneys general the same authority as local district attorneys to prosecute election crimes. They can also pass legislation creating a designated election crimes unit tasked with investigating crime and referring it to law enforcement—like Florida did.

The Headless Horseman Taking Over Local Elections

When Congress couldn’t pass its horrendous election overhaul bill with Democrats in charge, the Biden administration has been looking for any loophole or maneuver it can take to steamroll local elections. The most egregious of these attempts is Executive Order 14019, which commanded the head of every federal agency to provide a strategic plan to the president’s Domestic Policy Advisor detailing how the agency will help increase voter registration and voter participation. Executive Order 14019 also mandates that all federal agencies support “approved” third-party organizations to provide voter registration services on federal agency premises.  

It is not the federal government’s job to manage state elections—especially when involving unrelated federal agencies. FGA sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in an effort to learn more about these “strategic plans,” but DOJ continues to stonewall.

How to not lose your head: State leaders like Louisiana Rep. Beau Beaullieu (R-New Iberia) and Wisconsin State Senator Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) introduced legislation in their respective states to introduce more legislative oversight of any federal election funding. Unfortunately, both efforts were vetoed by their governors. Policies like these are needed if states want to prevent undue federal influence in their elections.

The Government Sirens of Welfare Dependency

Did you know that jackpot lottery winners can still receive food stamps? They’re not supposed to, but several states aren’t enforcing cross-checks and other program integrity measures that ensure that people who are no longer eligible are removed from the program—and that resources are being preserved for the truly needy. FGA submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to all 50 states requesting information on the number of substantial (more than $4,250) lottery winners receiving food stamps since 2019. What FGA found was that in 13 states that responded, more than 66,000 substantial lottery winners continued receiving food stamps. Only 400 lottery winners had been removed. Illinois had more than 50,000 winners on food stamps, and only removed 99. In South Dakota, a $2 million jackpot winner is still on welfare.

How to avoid having people being lured into dependency. States can preserve resources for the truly needy by cross-checking food stamp enrollees with several databases, including lottery winners, incarceration records, and more. States can also refuse to exploit the broad-based categorical eligibility loophole, which allows states to deem anyone authorized to receive a welfare brochure as “categorically eligible” for food stamps, bypassing the federal asset test and the income eligibility limit.

The Werewolves of Wall Street

Environmental, social, governance, commonly called ESG, is a set of standards and a framework used by major financial institutions like BlackRock and JP Morgan.  The ESG investing strategies used by these firms promote social and political agendas over factors like an investment’s ability to perform. It’s a leftist tool to promote the climate agenda and attack industries like fossil fuels. Because ESG funds consistently underperform the S&P 500, ESG investing in public pensions can jeopardize employees’ retirements—often without their knowledge. 

Your silver bullet: Those who manage state funds should invest based on what will bring the highest return—not the most praise from the radical Left. That’s why states like Oklahoma, North Carolina, Missouri, and Florida are pushing back and prohibiting economic boycotts and the use of political factors when investing state funds.