Happy holidays, fellow optimists! I hope that all of you have enjoyed eating, drinking, arguing with family, and opening presents this week. Despite the shortened work month, our governments did not sit out the ritual of giving, and have left us with gifts in the form of of progressive achievements. Let’s rip through the carefully folded wrapping paper and see what’s inside.
Military opens combat roles to women: When I was a little kid, adults told me that women could do any job that men could do. So when I learned that only men could serve in military combat roles, I wondered what the deal was. Nobody had an explanation that made sense to me.
Fortunately, on December 3rd Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that each of the armed services would have 30 days to submit plans for opening up to women the 10% of combat roles that remain male-only. This includes the Navy SEALS and the Marine Corps combat infantry, whose commanders had recommended continuing to keep women out of certain jobs, like that of machine gunner.
In the last couple of years, gender roles and the sexism therein have received their first public examination in decades. It’s great to see that translate to changes in government policy that promote gender equality.
NHTSA updates their crash test rating system: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the federal entity responsible for make sure people don’t die in car accidents. As a part of this noble mission, they assign new cars a safety rating of 1 through 5 depending on how the car performs in a crash test. The 1-5 score is a single score that encompasses every aspect of crash safety.
On December 8th, the NHTSA proposed new rules (which will now go through public comment) that will impose a comprehensive scoring system for crash tests that will have individual scores for crash avoidance systems and pedestrian safety— EG, measuring how badly different cars will hurt pedestrians they run into.
This is a pretty obscure change, but it’s always good when public safety institutions update their procedures to reflect changes in technology and a greater range of potential threats. Also, these rules will serve as a more effective framework for certifying the safety of self-driving cars, which technology publications keep telling me are just a few years away.
Virginia suspends concealed-carry agreements with 25 states: In Virginia, if you have a history of stalking, drug dealing, or mental health inpatient treatment, you are not allowed to carry a concealed weapon with you when you leave your home. But these rules haven’t really been enforced in Virginia, because they have agreements with 25 states to honor their more relaxed concealed-carry laws. That meant that if you were a stalker in Florida, and you were permitted to carry a gun around in your jacket, you could carry that gun up to Virginia and not be in violation of any laws, even though if you were a Virginia resident, you would not have been able to get a concealed-carry permit in the first place.
But on December 21st the Attorney General of Virginia Mark Herring announced that he was ending Virginia’s concealed-carry permit reciprocity agreements. Once effective, more people will now leave their guns at home. This is a tiny adjustment relative to what’s needed to significantly reduce gun violence in this country, but a positive step nonetheless.
Happy Mix of the Month
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Ending the EITC marriage penalty: The Earned Income Tax Credit is a wage subsidy for working adults with children that is credited among policy wonks as the federal government’s most effective tool at fighting poverty and encouraging employment. For technical reasons, for decades following its enactment under the Gerald Ford administration, EITC benefits were reduced for couples with children if the parents got married. This “marriage penalty” created terrible incentives.
Fortunately, the glitch was fixed on a temporary basis in the stimulus package in 2009, and was fixed permanently by the recent omnibus spending bill, a deficit-growing monstrosity that nonetheless included a couple of policy gems like this.
Compensation for Iran hostages: The 44 American diplomats who were held hostage in Iran in 1979 were subjected to multiple mock executions and other abuse over their 444 days in captivity. It also heralded the arrival of a brutal new geopolitical era, where diplomats, previously considered off-limits, were no longer safe.
Under the arrangement made in 1981 to secure their release, the hostages were prevented from taking any legal action or seeking compensation from the state of Iran. But as part of the omnibus spending bill, the US government is finally compensating the victims, to the tune of $4.4 million each. The cash will come from a $9 billion penalty paid by a French bank who violated financial sanctions against Iran a couple of years ago.
This isn’t a huge progressive step, but helps right a historical wrong, and is a sign that at least in some cases, the federal government looks after its own.