More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
Interview with Amanda Hovis: Upholding Christian Values in Legislation and Education
Does our legislative process truly reflect Christian values, or have we strayed from the path? In an eye-opening conversation, Amanda Hovis, director of the Spartanburg Christian Action Network, illuminates the often unseen challenges faced by Christians aiming to influence legislation. Amanda passionately argues that our job doesn't end at the ballot box and stresses the necessity for ongoing engagement to ensure our values are manifested in lawmaking. Her insights reveal the complex schemes within government that can even sway well-intentioned leaders, calling for a renewed commitment to informed advocacy.
We then navigate the fraught waters of school voucher legislation in South Carolina, a battleground where the Blaine Amendment looms large. With Amanda, we unravel the intricate dance between public funds and private education, focusing on the potential overreach that could threaten the independence of private schools. Concerns around transparency, admissions, and government control are laid bare, urging vigilant community involvement to safeguard educational autonomy. This chapter isn't just a discussion; it's a call to action to protect the sanctity and choices in our children's education.
Finally, we tackle the overarching theme of personal freedoms affected by state regulations and taxes, casting a spotlight on education and healthcare. From direct tax credits to medical informed consent bills, Amanda and I explore legislative pathways that can bolster individual autonomy. We analyze the restructuring of health departments and the critical need to resist employer mandates on vaccinations, emphasizing how informed and vocal citizens can drive meaningful change. As the episode wraps up, I extend heartfelt gratitude to Amanda for her dedication and urge listeners to stay connected through our platforms for the latest updates and resources.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, dr Robert Jackson, and his wife Carlotta and daughter Hannah Miller. So listen up, because the doctor is in.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Welcome to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, dr Robert Jackson, bringing to you biblical insights and stories from the country doctors' rusty, dusty scrapbook. Well, I'm privileged today to have as my guest Amanda Hovis, who in her former life was a physician's assistant, but now she's the leader or director of Spartanburg Christian Action Network and her responsibility, one of her responsibilities, is keeping up with legislation down in Columbia and keeping us informed about the legislation that is important and that requires our attention. So, ms Hovis, I'm glad to welcome you to More Than Medicine. So, ms Hovis, I'm glad to welcome you to More Than Medicine. Well, if you will go ahead and tell us a little bit of why in the world do my listeners need to be informed about what's going on down in Columbia in the arena of legislation?
Amanda Hovis:I think that we as Christians have left one particular mission field very empty, have left one particular mission field very empty, and that is to try and influence and encourage and empower our legislators to make right decisions.
Amanda Hovis:I think we've kind of grown up with an understanding in the church that it is the responsibility of the Christian to get out there and vote and, once they vote, to just be in prayer for our legislators and hope that they don't, you know, turn the wrong direction and end up doing exactly what most politicians seem to do, which is to become empowered and excited about their success and put their desire to continue their post above their need to take care of their own constituents.
Amanda Hovis:And that's a disappointing thing, because we seem to keep on running into that same problem that we'll try to find somebody who is, you know, a good Christian conservative, get them in office and then they seem to change or turn on us, and then we just get, you know, discouraged and no longer seem to change or turn on us, and then we just get discouraged and no longer want to be involved in politics and a lot of us have actually quit actually getting out to vote, and that's a very sad situation. But you see a lot of Christians that are just not even wanting to get out and vote anymore.
Amanda Hovis:Well, it's like our legislators quit listening to we, the People.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that seems to be a recurring problem, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of things have changed here recently.
Speaker 3:I think my eyes were opened by a lot of the partisan politics that was going on, how it divided the people up so much that we weren't being given good direction on how we should actually feel about particular issues, and I see Christians becoming split over issues like school to be involved more and figure out what it is God wants me and other Christians to do when it comes to government. What are biblical examples of how God sent his people in the past to influence our government? And since then, I've really learned a lot about the tricks and the schemes that are used in Columbia, washington, even in local county government, that are used to force these legislators, even with the best intentions, to make votes to support bills that are not in our best interest. And the truth of the matter is they really need us. They need us to be informed on what is going on, what these bills are doing, and they need us to have an opinion and they need us to share that opinion with them.
Amanda Hovis:Right, I agree. I agree we need to be informed and we need to be active and involved. Yes, sir, and of course, Christian Action Network in Spartanburg is really helping folks to stay informed and encouraging folks to be involved, and I appreciate your efforts and the efforts of Christian Action Network. Now you guys have a meeting once a month, is that correct?
Amanda Hovis:Yes, it's usually the third Tuesday of the month. I'm trying to get that happening a little bit more often and dividing it up into the different areas of Spartanburg. We currently meet at Covenant Baptist Church over on the west side of town, but I'm hoping to get some things started in Pauline and also in Chesney. But if people can get the newsletter by going to our website, then I can let them know when we're meeting and where the website is spartanburgcancom and that's where they can find information, the breakdown of these different bills that are coming across. They can also sign up for alerts letting them know when there are particular issues that they need to address with their legislators.
Amanda Hovis:All right Now. What's the specific legislation right now that you think my folks need to know about?
Amanda Hovis:Well, there are several, but seeing as how we're pressed for time, one of the biggest ones that is being rushed very quickly is this voucher school voucher bill. I don't know if you remember, but two years ago they passed an ESA it was actually called an Education Savings Trust Account they passed that in both the Senate and the House which allowed for a scholarship program to start that was given through the Department of Education in South Carolina. It was based upon a family's poverty level. I think you had to hit 300% of the poverty level the first year and then 400 thereafter. But it was very exciting and enticing to those families who have really seen major flaws in our public education system. And we all pretty much have to agree that it is failed. It's failing to teach our kids any longer and it's more about indoctrinating our children, and so there is a huge movement out of the public school system, which I'm actually glad to see.
Amanda Hovis:I homeschool my children. I've had them in public school and private school and then, since I quit working as a PA, I've been homeschooling them and I'm very happy about the time that I've been able to spend with them and the way I've been able to direct their education in a more moral direction. They're definitely independent thinkers and I think that's best for every Christian family and, I heard, for those who do not have the ability to educate their own children, because I mean, it's very hard nowadays to not have two parents working. It takes two parents working full-time jobs just to be able to pay, you know, for their expenses, daily living. But there's a problem with the vouchers. For one thing, it has been found unconstitutional, which a lot of us that have been following this for a while knew that According to the South Carolina Constitution the Blaine Amendment, as it's so called, it's Article 11, section 4. This actually prohibits public funds from being used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private education institution.
Amanda Hovis:So, although we had this provision in our Constitution, our legislature passed a bill that brought public money that was given to the Department of Education into the private schools. So you know, it has failed constitutional muster, and this is the second time really. They were trying to make it work two years ago also, were trying to make it work two years ago also. But at this point they're scrambling to be able to get, because some people already got their scholarships and so now they are scrambling trying to somehow get them that money that was promised. And so now they've got a bill that actually started being heard in subcommittee even before session started taking money from the South Carolina Education Lottery in order to fund these scholarships, and supposedly that's a way of getting around the public fund situation, because, I mean, this is not a required tax that this money is coming from. It's from lottery ticket sales that this money is coming from. It's from lottery ticket sales.
Amanda Hovis:So that's actually gotten second reading already in the Senate, which means it is probably going to pass on Tuesday. Once it passes from the Senate it's going to go to the House and then they'll have a subcommittee hearing on it and in all likelihood, unless we oppose this bill, it is going to pass, and maybe with some changes. I don't know how they're gonna amend it in the House, but I am just. I am encouraging everyone in our group to even though it is difficult to place your kids in a private school situation or homeschool them in today's economy that they need to rethink having the government involved in any part of the education of these kids. It's an entitlement program, the way it's set up, and any time that you get money from our government, there's always going to be strings attached, and so I can give some examples of that.
Amanda Hovis:Yes, go ahead.
Amanda Hovis:So we've already seen, in the debates that have been happening on the Senate floor and on the House floor when it comes to these vouchers, that we already have Democrats that are arguing that if there is any money that's going from the public funds, tax money that's going to private schools, then there better had been some really good limits placed on how that money is to be used. And so there's already calls for transparency, which means that they need to be able to follow you know how this money is used and make sure that you know admissions requirements are equal Probably going to be looking at sometime in the future these scholarships being given to schools that embrace equity ideals, dei, ideas that you know our public schools are currently involved in. There's also requirements for testing, so no longer can the school, these private schools, determine their own testing to see how their kids are progressing, but this is going to be a required test, the SC PASS test or the SC READY test or some other test that has been chosen by the Department of Education that's going to be administered once to three times a year. Another thing is they're talking about, you know, if tuition starts increasing at these private schools, then they may have to cap tuition. So if the private schools realize that they can increase the amount of tuition now that they've got a good bit coming in from the government, then the government will come in and cap tuition at a certain amount. And this all if you.
Amanda Hovis:There are some different videos that, if you go to the Spartanburg CAN website, explains it much better than I can. It explains how this will tend to monopolize education instead of opening it up. It does the opposite of what we're asking for, which is universal school choice. In the end, when you have the government subsidizing a service, the costs go up, the regulations go up and it's no longer a private organization, it's no longer a private business, and we've seen this over and over again. I've seen it in the medical field and that's one of the reasons I'm attuned to the problems of such subsidies going into a service field.
Amanda Hovis:That's right, Exactly right. Yeah, anytime you have government funding, there are always strings attached, government strings attached, Cost always goes up and quality goes down and freedom goes down. I mean, I deal with that every day in my medical practice.
Amanda Hovis:Yes, sir, I'm impressed that you're able to continue in it, because I just remember all the red tape that was involved in trying to get the services paid for in our small clinic up in Saluda, north Carolina. And really it was the struggling after Obamacare that made me leave the field of medicine. And after I left, shortly thereafter, I mean, I was a solo practitioner. I loved the clinic, I loved my patients, but I had the computer telling me how I needed to, what medications I needed to prescribe, how I needed to refer my patients to certain people, and if I disagreed with the computer, it was telling me that I needed to indicate the reason for that. I spent more time talking to my computer than I did to my patients.
Amanda Hovis:So these things happen when you start taking tax dollars. Now we know that that money belongs to us and, to be frank, they are increasing the amount of money that's coming into our state general fund. They're increasing it just about with every bill that's passed, because they increase regulations, they increase fees, licensing. They're taking a lot of careers that currently have no need to be licensed or regulated. They're turning them into licensed and regulated careers. This happens a good bit, you know. They've got sales taxes going up, and sometimes it comes along with a referendum that people can choose. But I mean, they're not going to give up the money unless there are strings attached. It shouldn't be taking the money in the first place, and I think that we need to demand, instead of taking these voucher programs, which is like you know, we are going to oppress you with all these taxes, but then we'll give you a little bit of money back and then we're going to control how you use that money. We need to ask for direct tax breaks. You know you can do it.
Amanda Hovis:Yeah, you can do a direct tax credit, not a, a refundable tax credit. That's not what I'm talking about. And there's another bill that's been introduced by a member of the Freedom Caucus that that has that language. But that's still an entitlement type of program and with any entitlement programs you're going to have the strings attached and with any entitlement programs you're going to have the strings attached. Now if you do a direct tax credit which is what I'm hoping people will start mentioning to their legislators and tell them this is what we want With that you get a certain percentage or a certain dollar amount of the money that you have paid into our state through income tax.
Amanda Hovis:You get that back and you can use it for whatever you want it for your child that you do not have in public school system. So if you can do that and not have them in public school, let the government know. You know on your tax forms. Ok, I have a private educated or a homeschooled student. Therefore, I get, you know, paid $6,000 back. All right, not back, but I don't have $6,000 taken out of my taxes and I can use that for the purpose of educating my child. That's pretty much the only way that this is going to be done in a way that does not become a burden on the very system, the very thing that we're trying to elevate, which is private education, that's right, all right, we're going to run out of time.
Amanda Hovis:You want to talk about another bill?
Amanda Hovis:Well, so there is a medical freedom bill that I helped Shane Martin with about a year ago, martin with about a year ago, and it has not gotten anywhere yet. But parts of that bill were taken and used for another version of the HealthSAR bill that you know there was a lot of opposition to last year. Most of your listeners probably know about that bill. Listeners probably know about that bill. But so this, what this would do, instead of having all six of your different health departments go under one director, it would be taking some, some departments that are very, very connected they're very related to one another which is, you know, mental health, physical disabilities and substance abuse and combining those particular departments together, having one director that is appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, and then that person chooses the directors of these other smaller divisions within the department, of these other smaller divisions within the department. You know, I personally don't have a huge problem with that. It sounds a lot more reasonable than what they were trying to do last year. So I still I do believe that consolidationization of healthcare decision making is a bad idea, but you know this particular thing if you're trying to just make sure that the department works cohesively. I understand the call for that, so I don't really have a problem with that.
Amanda Hovis:But one of the big provisions of the medical freedom bill was removed when parts of it was placed into this restructuring bill. It's called S-2. If you look up S-2, the restructuring bill left out the prohibition of employer mandates. So what we saw back during the COVID pandemic and the subsequent mandates for vaccination, that was coming more from employers than from the government itself. That part of it needs to be stopped. That needs to be addressed. And that that part of it needs to be stopped. That needs to be addressed. And I believe most of your listeners probably have realized that there. There were indeed some problems with the super rushed covid vaccines, which are actually gene therapies.
Amanda Hovis:People in our state need to get on the phone and call their representative and their senator and let them know that we want to see a medical freedom bill passed and we want to make sure that it includes the prohibition of employer mandates. So right now S2 is going through. The bill that Senator Martin introduced has not gotten any traction yet. I would love to see that happen. So please call your senator and your house member and let them know that we want to see the it's called Medical Informed Consent Bill be passed as soon as possible the education voucher bill. That was S-62. If you want to go to the website, I've got an outline of what the provisions for that bill are See. Another bill that came up recently was some changes to our election laws and that's mentioned on the website also.
Amanda Hovis:The medical informed consent bill. Is that separate from S2?
Amanda Hovis:Yes, so the medical informed consent bill is the one that Senator Martin sponsored.
Amanda Hovis:Okay, but that is separate from S2, the health design bill.
Amanda Hovis:Right, it's separate.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Okay, just making sure I want to clarify that for my listeners.
Amanda Hovis:But they can get all this information if they want to go to the Spartanburg Can website. I try to keep everything updated and I've also got links to other supporting podcasts and books I've got your podcast listed on there.
Amanda Hovis:Good good. So you know I'm always available. If they want to contact me through the website, I'm available to answer any questions. And if they're interested in getting involved and maybe want to run for office or want to know other things or want to help me out with reviewing all of these bills, making amendments to bills, I can teach them how to do. It Just need volunteers.
Amanda Hovis:Exactly right. All right, you're listening to More Than Medicine. My guest today is Amanda Hovis with Spartanburg Christian Action Network and, as you can tell, amanda is a fountain of information. She keeps up with all this legislation. Fountain of information, she keeps up with all this legislation. She stays in contact with legislators, she keeps us informed, she even helps to craft legislation for some of our conservative legislators. And, amanda, I just want you to know we appreciate all of your hard work, we appreciate your diligence, we appreciate how well spoken you are and we appreciate how much you keep us informed, and I pray that the Lord will bless you bless your family and I hope you'll come back and be on More Than Medicine again at a later date.
Amanda Hovis:Well, I appreciate it. It's all for the glory of God.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Amen, amen. Well, thank you, the Lord bless you and I pray that my listeners will have a good week and may the Lord bless you real good.
Dr. Robert Jackson:We'll be back again next week. Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Slone Audio Production at bobslone. com.
