In pursuit of our mission—to promote civility and solutions—the Hatch Center seeks to elevate the most innovative policy ideas in the public discourse. To that end, we have broken through the barriers of a global pandemic to dramatically expand our print and digital reach.
This year alone, we have:
- Reached an audience of millions through our opinion pieces, webinars, press statements, and policy papers
- Published 15 op-eds in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal and TIME to The Hill and USA Today
- Been highlighted by The Washington Post, RealClearPolitics, and Fox News for our work on daylight saving time legislation, civics reform, and more
ICYMI, it’s not too late to catch up. Below are our top five media hits from 2020.
From the dedicated team at the Hatch Center, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
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1. Higher Ed and the Fragmentation of America
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Fill me in: In a viral op-ed that reached an audience of millions and stayed on the home page of The Wall Street Journal for three days, we exposed the politicization of America’s expert class and made the case for a “complete overhaul of campus culture” through the use of federal and state reforms.
Big endorsements: Just hours after publication, the op-ed began trending on social media thanks to special shoutouts from Ben Shapiro, Rich Lowry, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Key quote:
"The spirit of the Inquisition is alive and well in today’s cancel culture. The objective is not to root out nonbelievers in the church but ideological heretics in newsrooms and universities. These institutions are supposed to be bastions of free speech. But in 2020 any journalist or scholar who strays from progressive orthodoxy is ripe for cancellation.”
Go deeper:
- We think our cancel culture op-ed is well worth your time. But don’t take our word for it—listen to what Chuck Grassley had to say about it on the Senate floor by clicking the image below.
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2. Daylight Saving Time Should Be Permanent. The Pandemic Shows Us Why
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We’re in the dark days of December, complete with 5 p.m. sunsets and higher rates of seasonal depression.
But did you know … it doesn’t have to be this way? With a simple policy fix from Congress, we can push back sunset times, boost retail sales, fight depression and anxiety, and even save lives.
How? By making daylight saving time permanent. In an op-ed for TIME, we explained why this bipartisan proposal makes sense from both an economic and public health perspective.
Key quote:
“Research suggests an association between the biannual clock change and not just seasonal affective disorder but stroke and cardiac arrest as well. By allowing more people to commute home during daylight hours, permanent DST could likewise decrease the risk of car accidents, saving more than 360 lives each year … . What’s more, making year-round DST and having fewer hours of darkness could help reduce crime. According to the Brookings Institute, robbery rates fall by an average of 7% when DST begins.”
Big endorsements: Like our WSJ op-ed, this piece gained significant traction on Twitter and other social media thanks to endorsements from big names such as Yashar Ali, Crooked Media’s Jon Lovett and Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern.
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Go deeper:
- Learn more about the benefits of switching to year-round DST by reading our Washington Update newsletter from November.
- Shortly after our op-ed was published, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) attempted to fast-track legislation to make DST year-round. To read more about their proposal, click here.
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3. We Must Fix Civics Education to Save American Democracy
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Fill me in: On top of a global pandemic and an economic recession, we are in the midst of a full-blown civics crisis. In an op-ed for USA Today, we outlined the root causes of this crisis and offered a policy blueprint to re-center civics at the heart of America’s public-school system.
Numbers to know:
- The Nation’s Report Card test shows that only 15 percent of students are “proficient” in American history, and a mere 24 percent are proficient in civics.
- Meanwhile, only one in three Americans could pass the citizenship test, which immigrants pass at better than a 90 percent rate.
Key quote:
“We are doing younger Americans a tremendous disservice by failing to give them the civic education they deserve. In effect, we are handing them the keys to the car without giving them driving lessons, putting our nation on the road to democratic ruin. The good news is, it’s not too late to turn the car around.”
The big picture: The seeds of division and dysfunction now undermining our democracy were sown, at least in part, by decades of neglect in the area of civic education. That’s why, in addition to publishing an op-ed, we partnered with David Davenport—the Hatch Foundation visiting scholar and a research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution—to do a deep dive on our civics crisis in the inaugural Hatch Center Policy Review.
Go deeper:
- Read David Davenport’s Washington Examiner op-ed outlining policies to improve civic education.
- Read the Hoover Institution’s interview with Orrin Hatch and David Davenport on commonsense solutions to the civics crisis.
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4. The Orrin G. Hatch Foundation: Civility and Solutions for Polarizing times
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Turning heads: Our research on civic education caught the attention of national media outlets, including the American Civics Portal at RealClearPolitics. After the publication of our USA Today op-ed, Mike Sabo—an editor at RCP—wrote an article profiling the history, mission, and work of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation. Here are three excerpts from Sabo’s piece explaining the why, the how, and the what of our organization.
3 Big Things
The why
“The Orrin G. Hatch Foundation [seeks] to rebuild America’s civic infrastructure by elevating ‘the smartest voices and most innovative policy ideas.’ The foundation looks for bipartisan solutions to seemingly intractable issues of national importance—a project that defined Hatch’s 42 years in the Senate, a tenure that made him the longest-serving senator in Utah history.”
The how
“Based on the twin pillars of civility and solutions, the Hatch Foundation offers op-eds, policy reports, and events that, as Hatch explains, are ‘working to bridge the partisan divide, restore public discourse, and empower the next generation of civic leaders.’”
The what
“The Hatch Center, a national think tank with offices in both Washington, D.C. and Salt Lake City, has hosted Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar for public lectures. It will also hold Senator Hatch’s public papers and provide scholarships and internship opportunities to those interested in public service.”
Go deeper:
- To learn more about the Hatch Foundation’s mission, click here.
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5. We're in a Cyber Cold War with China. Here's How We Gain the Upper Hand
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Catch me up: You’ve heard that a federal data privacy standard would be good for individuals and small businesses. But have you ever considered it as a matter of national security?
Turns out, a lot is riding on Congress passing a federal framework, including our ability to influence global tech standards in the 21st century. In an op-ed for The Washington Times, Hatch Foundation Executive Director Matt Sandgren explained how a national privacy law would do two things:
- It would strengthen our relationship with tech partners in Europe. In doing so, it would help reopen the transatlantic data flows that were cut off with the dissolution of the EU-US Privacy Shield in July.
- It would give us a competitive edge in the cyber cold war with China. By leading on data privacy, we can differentiate Silicon Valley from surveillance-obsessed Beijing to build trust with our foreign trade partners and increase American tech influence abroad.
The good news: There’s growing support for a national privacy standard. Major tech CEOs from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Apple’s Tim Cook have called for privacy legislation. And a majority of the American people are behind them: according to a Pew Research Center poll, 75 percent of adults support stronger online privacy protections.
Key quote:
“Both Republicans and Democrats have long recognized the need for a federal framework—and that need is greater today than ever before. By passing national data privacy legislation, Congress can give Silicon Valley a competitive edge over China and help ensure US digital hegemony in the 21st century.”
Go deeper:
- Read Matt Sandgren’s Deseret News op-ed on the importance of federal privacy legislation to American innovation and small businesses.
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This was only a small sample of our work in the national policy arena over the last year. In fact, we published five times as many op-eds this year as we did in all of 2019.
To learn more about our 2020 media blitz, we encourage you to visit our op-ed archive, which includes:
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Thanks for reading our 2020 media roundup. Be sure to keep up to date with the Hatch Foundation’s publications and programming by visiting our website. And be sure to share your feedback by emailing us at info@orrinhatchfoundation.org.
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