In memoriam
Fund, John H.
IN memorIam Pat Rooney, RIP by John H. Fund P at rooney was a special kind of businessman. He did far more than merely provide jobs for employees and services for his...
...Until Rooney’s effort, critics often attacked vouchers as a subsidy for middle-class families who could already afford private schools...
...He did far more than merely provide jobs for employees and services for his customers, as important as those goals are...
...She and other prochoice minority legislators consider Rooney a leader in what they believe is the 21st century’s great civil rights struggle—establishing real educational opportunity for all Americans...
...He became the leading advocate for health savings accounts at a time when HSAs were only a sketchy idea in public policy journals...
...But he moonlighted as one of the country’s most innovative philanthropists and policy entrepreneurs...
...The Future of Individual Liberty – Elevating the Human Condition and Overcoming the Challenges to Free Societies The American Spectator’s 2008 Catalyst Essay Series: The American Spectator is publishing a series of articles on the components of individual liberty, how freedom evolved in the West, and the future of individual liberty not only in Western society but in the rest of the world...
...Feb...
...Brian Anderson “Freedom and the City” (Oct...
...In 1991, he established the Educational Choice Charitable Trust, one of the earliest scholarship programs of its kind...
...Duringthe1980s,whileotherbusinessmenwere trying to apply Band-Aids to a badly broken public education system, Rooney plumped for school choice...
...Paul Johnson “Freedom and Property” (March) Anne Applebaum “The Fate of Individual Liberty in Post-Communist Europe” (April) Rémi Brague “Liberty, the West, and the Judeo-Christian Heritage” (May) Robert Bork “Individual Liberty and the Constitution” (June) Christina Hoff Sommers “Feminism and Freedom” (July/Aug...
...Robert P. George “Academic Freedom and the Liberal Arts” (Sept...
...It brought howls of protest from public school hard-liners...
...IN memorIam Pat Rooney, RIP by John H. Fund P at rooney was a special kind of businessman...
...He backed Rooney’s plan and noted that 54 percent of the city’s elementary school students scored below grade level on national tests...
...His death in September at age 80 robbed America of one of its most principled business leaders...
...He helped change the course of public policy in our country because he believed in the power of ideas and invested his money and courage in furthering them...
...In an era when American business is too often dominated by cold-blooded bean counters, Pat Rooney demonstrated that seeking a profit and advancing the public good go hand in hand...
...He eventually built his Indianapolis-based Golden Rule Insurance Company from nothing into a leader in the individual health insurance market...
...They are also unwilling to discipline students effectively...
...Bill Crawford, a state legislator at the time who represented a 70 percent black Indianapolis district, stepped forward...
...When all families, no matter how poor, have the freedom to walk away from bad schools, competition will force the public schools to improve...
...Talking to parents there, he resolved to do more than lobby the legislature for school reform...
...JoHN H. fuNd Today more than 60 such programs are providing choice for some 53,000 students around the country, all in part based on Rooney’s original model...
...Millions of Americans now have such accounts through their employers, who see them as a way to restore a consumer stake in getting value for money from health care spending...
...J. Patrick Rooney started out as a humble door-to-door insurance salesman who would gorge on pancakes for breakfast so he wouldn’t have to spend money on lunch or dinner...
...Polly Williams, the black state legislator who authored Wisconsin’s landmark school choice law, says programs like Rooney’s are important: “If legislatures won’t allow choice then corporate America can support it and eventually that may shame politicians into letting my people go...
...Rooney was a kind and gentle soul who inspired confidence in his ideas and approach wherever he went...
...He was one of only three white members of Holy Angels Catholic Church in inner-city Indianapolis...
...To do anything else will be disastrous...
...Mr...
...today it offers grants to more than 1,700 lowincome Indianapolis children...
...Jeremy Rabkin “Freedom and the Nation-State” (Nov...
...Public schools give up on kids more easily than private schools,” he told the Wall Street Journal...
...He was a true believer in the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes,” former Democratic congressman Andy Jacobs of Indiana recalls...
...John H. fundis a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and The American Spectator’s Politics columnist...
...Today the notion of combining coverage for catastrophic medical costs with a tax-free savings account for discretionary and routine medical spending has been Rooney was a kind and gentle soul who inspired confidence in his ideas and approach wherever he went...
...52 THe amerIcaN sPecTaTor November 2008 But back then such a move was highly controversial...
...Rooney put the emphasis on children in failing schools who stood to benefit the most from the introduction of choice and competition...
...Rooney didn’t listen to such special pleading, and he soon developed allies in the black community...
...November 2008 THe amerIcaN sPecTaTor 53...
...Roger Scruton “The Limits of Liberty” (Dec./Jan...
...He quickly found that his constituents enthusiastically supported Rooney’s plan...
...School board members predicted that parents would shun the vouchers out of loyalty to the public schools...
...Pat Rooney was equally farsighted in health care reform...
...A. D. Pinckney, president of the local NAACP chapter, told reporters Golden Rule should give the money to the public school system instead...
...broadly incorporated into government policy...
...While political obstacles still block expansion of school choice in many states, the Rooney model has proven an effective demonstration program on how choice can open people’s eyes to the possibility of change...
...We need to support them,” he said...
...Seamus Hasson “The Myth: Is There Religious Liberty in America...
Vol. 41 • November 2008 • No. 9
