Week in Review: What Comes Next?

New year. New president. New lawmakers. Change is all around us in 2025.

What remains constant is the Goldwater Institute. And with a 36-year track record of defending freedom, we’re poised to expand individual liberty in even more states in the year to come.

We’re fighting the bureaucratic bullies who are trampling on parents’ right to parent their kids. We’re uncovering the left-wing indoctrination happening in our schools. We’re eliminating discriminatory “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) initiatives in public higher education. We’re protecting workers’ right to earn a living in the profession of their choice. We’re helping desperate patients access the innovative care they need. We’re pressuring cities plagued by homelessness to clean up their act. And we’re ensuring Americans keep more of their hard-earned money.

Wherever the battle takes us in 2025—full steam ahead.

University of Arizona ‘Art’ Exhibit Demands Destruction of Israel

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Since the murder of 1,200 Israelis in the Hamas attacks of October 7, anti-Israel activists have shouted this slogan, demanding the destruction of the Jewish state, during countless demonstrations. Now it has been put on display at the University of Arizona’s art museum, Goldwater Senior Constitutionalism Fellow Timothy K. Minella writes at Townhall.

DISGUSTING: The University of Arizona’s art museum displays a painting with “From the River to the Sea,” a Hamas slogan calling for the genocide of 8 million Jews.

Why is antisemitism and support for terror so normalized in universities? pic.twitter.com/vFEnL83zLS

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 20, 2024

Why the proliferation of campus antisemitism? In the upside-down world of discriminatory DEI mandates, which have suffused nearly every aspect of higher education, Jews are “oppressors” because of their proximity to “whiteness.” That’s why the Goldwater Institute is eliminating the scourge of DEI in state after state.

“Students from all backgrounds deserve access to higher education free from discrimination and harassment,” Minella concludes. Let’s restore equal opportunity instead.

Read more here.

Nation’s Lowest Flat Tax Spurs $210 Million Investment

Superstar pitcher Corbin Burnes shocked the baseball world when he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks this week. It turns out Arizona’s 2.5 percent flat tax rate, the lowest in the nation—which the Goldwater Institute helped enact in 2021—played a major role.

Burnes signed with the Diamondbacks for six years and $210 million, but he was offered more money by several teams, including the San Francisco Giants. Had Burnes signed up for California and its 14.4 percent top marginal tax rate, he’d end up forking over an additional $25 million to the government in state taxes, at least. “Very glad to see that Arizona’s lowest flat tax rate in the nation is what brought him to AZ,” noted former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who currently serves on Goldwater’s board.

The former Cy Young Award winner’s decision is yet another example of how low-tax, pro-growth policies attract skilled workers. Government need only lay off—and the rest will take care of itself.

Read more about our flat tax here.