Do You Believe Ideas Matter? I Hope So.
Political power is meaningless without the ideas to drive the debate.
Think about the common tools you use in your daily life. Smartphone. Car. Indoor plumbing. Those everyday items didn’t exist for most of human history until someone or a group of people came together (in some cases iteratively over time), took those ideas, and turned them into reality. We now take those items for granted, with many people never knowing what life was like before those items came into existence. Life is measurably better and more convenient, especially due to indoor plumbing:-)
Think too about the government policies that impact your life. The various taxes you pay. The laws and regulations that govern everything you do. The decisions politicians make that affect you, your family, and your businesses. The two political parties battle for control at all levels of government so they can raise or lower your taxes; increase or decrease regulatory control; and decide everything from the books in your kids’ school library to the wars we will fight. The battle for control and for where that control is exercised centers on which ideas a majority of Americans will support.
For nearly twelve years, Opportunity Ohio has aggressively engaged in this battle of ideas against the Left and, in some cases, our own allies on the Right who sometimes go astray. Over those years, we have published 1,375 items on our website promoting solutions to shape the debate in Ohio and America on a whole range of issues including taxes, regulations, free markets, jobs and unionism, immigration, crime, energy, the environment, national security, and sovereignty. We’ve often been the lone voice pushing date-driven policies to make Ohio and America better or opposing wrong-headed ideas that would weaken Ohio and America. We rarely if ever get credit for our work, but we know it influences policymakers because they tell us so in private or you see them change course after we’ve pushed a certain policy.
We are facing a period of existential decision-making both here in Ohio and in the country. If policymakers continue down the path we are on, we will find ourselves in a hole far too deep to get ourselves out of. We will no longer be capable of doing great things; rather, we will simply be tasked with managing our inevitable decline. In Ohio, politicians for too long have chosen to do the easy things that nibble on the margins of our problems instead of doing the hard things that will catapult Ohio from the back of the pack to the front. Ohio has gone from the state of eight presidents and of innovation 100 years ago to the state of stale ideas and the status quo. At Opportunity Ohio, we’ve outlined in detail the various ideas that would make Ohio great again, but we need a bigger megaphone to promote those ideas to pressure policymakers to go big (or please, for all our sake, just go home).
As for America, I don’t have to tell you how disastrous Joe Biden's and the Left’s policies have been for you, your family, friends, and businesses. From higher regulatory burdens and mandates on our economy to unconstrained illegal immigration costing us tens of billions, from irrationally sacrificing our energy independence at the altar of a bogus climate change religion to making an utter mess of the international peace and stability Donald Trump established, from higher crime and destruction rendering our best cities unlivable to roaring interest rates and inflation that make every day living more costly than ever, in three short years Biden and the Left have managed to drive America off a cliff. If we cannot take back the reins of power in Washington, D.C., in 2024, it simply might be too late by 2029 to fix everything they will have destroyed.
In the last year, we lost a valued longtime supporter to the fate we all will one day face. With him, we lost his generous annual contribution of $50,000 that allowed Opportunity Ohio to do so much of the great work you’ve seen or read. We must find new friends who will help us replace the generous funding we've lost. I know many of you, like me, donate to politicians to ensure the right people hold the reins of power. Power is meaningless, however, without the ideas to drive the debate. I respectfully submit to you to consider also funding the ideas those politicians will use to win the debate against the Left on whether we renew the greatness of our state and country or whether the Left drives us onto history’s ash heap.
While few people are capable of donating $50,000 annually, many certainly are able to chip in $25, $100, $500, or $1,000. Every bit counts. With just one-hundred donors contributing $500 or one-thousand donating $50, we can fully replace the lost funds. Every donation is tax deductible so please consider hitting the button below to donate via credit card today or send a check to: Opportunity Ohio, P.O. Box 98, Dublin, Ohio 43017. The team at Opportunity Ohio thanks you for your friendship, support, and generosity.
Best,
Matt
P.S. For anyone donating $100 of more, I’ll send you a signed copy of my book, "The Founding Debate: Where Should the Power Over Our Lives Reside."
Thank you for stepping forward and taking time to promote the ideas that can help make America better for its citizens and the world.