Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, issued this statement today in response to Texas State Senator José Menéndez’s demand that the Foundation fire Chief Economist Vance Ginn, Ph.D.:
“Our answer is no.
“Senator Menéndez’s demand is a well-worn tactic of the progressive left: deliberately misconstrue events, and theatrically demand the destruction of a life and career as some sort of recompense. It’s called ‘cancel culture,’ and it is a disease that threatens to end civic democracy — in Texas and America. The left does it all the time, because it mostly works. Corporations without moral centers and weak executives who fear left-wing mobs, buckle and throw decent people to the wolves. The price is paid by the ‘cancelled’ — and by their families and children whom they, suddenly unemployable, must somehow support.
“It won’t work with us.
“The Texas Public Policy Foundation has zero tolerance for bigotry, prejudice, and racism. We always have. We did long before the left decided it could weaponize those noble sentiments in a cynical bid for power. That’s why we have consistently, across decades, advocated for policies that bring opportunity and dignity to all Texans — of all classes, of all races, of all ethnicities.
“If the progressive left is really concerned about equality and respect for Hispanic Texans, they might want to join the Foundation in seeking education freedom, healthcare choice, occupational-licensing reform, and a lowered tax burden — all of which would disproportionately benefit our Hispanic neighbors and fellow citizens.
“Or, to put it directly, they might want to join Dr. Vance Ginn on those things, because we know that Dr. Ginn — despite his poorly worded tweet, for which he has rightly apologized — has a heart for that equality and respect. We know it because we’ve worked with him for the better part of the past decade. We know it because no one makes it in the door as a Foundation colleague who is not committed to the values of dignity and liberty for all.
“We’ll never play the left’s game, abetted by a thoughtless media, of personal destruction.
“Our answer is no.”