Walter Myers III

Board of Directors, Discovery Institute

Walter is a Principal Engineering Manager leading a team of engineers, working with customers to drive their success in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. He holds a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Biola University's Talbot School of Theology, where he is an adjunct faculty member in the Master of Arts in Science & Religion (MASR) program teaching on Darwinian evolution from a design-centric perspective. He is a former board member of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, where he served as Programs Chair from 2015-2018, fighting to reduce the power and scope of government, advocating for free markets, lower taxes, and more freedom for all. He is a regular contributor to Discovery Institute’s Science and Culture Today website writing on parallels in the design of computer systems and biological organisms. Walter lives in sunny Southern California where he enjoys road biking and landscape/night photography when time permits.

Archives

Tom Steyer’s Affordable Energy Promises to California Are Unaffordable

Walter Myers III
December 29, 2025
Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate activist running for California governor, promises to cut electric bills by 25 percent by breaking up big utility companies like PG&E and Southern California Edison. In his ads, he boasts about fighting oil and gas companies, like when he helped kill Proposition 23 back in 2010. But here’s the problem: California’s economy runs 84 percent on fossil fuels. It powers our cars (mostly petroleum), factories, homes for heating (mostly natural gas), and even backs up our electricity (gas plants fill the gaps). Steyer’s war on these companies ignores simple supply-and-demand math, making his bill-cutting talk ring hollow. My Southern California Edison (SCE) bill during winter rates are 25 cents per kilowatt-hour off-peak, spiking to 59 cents …

It’s Time to Say Goodbye to the Obamacare Failure

Walter Myers III
December 3, 2025
Imagine tuning into a Sunday football game. Amid the flurry of touchdowns and tackles, the commercials are filled with familiar names — State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, and Farmers — vying for your dollars to cover your cars, homes, and personal liability. You have choices, and the competing advertisements are evidence of a robust marketplace where consumers benefit from price competition and innovation. But imagine if, alongside those ads, you could also shop for your health insurance — across state lines, no different than car or home coverage.

Poking Holes in California’s Prop 50: See-Through Envelopes and Lack of Voter Privacy

Walter Myers III
October 30, 2025
For years, concerns about the lack of voting integrity in California have simmered beneath the surface — concerns rooted foremost in the absence of a requirement for valid identification at the polls. This has been a central issue for Republicans, who have fought for decades to implement common-sense verification measures, yet repeatedly found their efforts stymied by Democrats resistant to change. Now, with the approach of the November 4 election, these concerns are once again thrust into the spotlight thanks to the controversial California Proposition 50, a ballot measure that stands alone and, many argue, wastes both public time and money. At the heart of this issue is the gerrymandering that has come to define California politics. Despite making up roughly 25% of the …

The Indian American Community Deserves Immigration Fairness

Walter Myers III
October 7, 2025
The Trump administration's abrupt move to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B skilled worker visa applications has sent shockwaves through America's technology sector and the vast Indian immigrant community that powers it. Announced on Friday, September 19, and set to take effect the following Sunday, the directive sparked panic and confusion for workers, businesses, and families — culminating in a frenzied rush to return to the United States before the new rule's midnight deadline.

Land Acknowledgements in California Schools: “All of California is Indian Land”

Walter Myers III
September 4, 2025
In recent years, California’s K-12 schools, colleges, and universities have increasingly begun classroom sessions and meetings with land acknowledgements. For those unfamiliar, the California Community Colleges (CCC) website explains that a land acknowledgement is “a formal statement that recognizes and respects the Indigenous peoples as traditional stewards of this land, the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous peoples and their traditional lands.” The CCC further argues that “all of California is Indian land” and that these acknowledgements are a recognition of “the original people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial.” Reading this language for the first time can be jarring for the …

“Chief of War” Challenges the Myth of “Peaceful Natives” Before Colonization

Walter Myers III
August 26, 2025
When Warrior Chief Ka'iana discovers he's been manipulated into massacring the peaceful villagers of the island of O'ahu, Apple TV+'s "Chief of War" reveals a disturbing truth about power that transcends any single culture or era. This historical drama, starring Jason Momoa, follows the former Kaua'i chief who made his home on Maui in self-exile, disgusted by the violent nature of Kauai's King Kahekili.

California’s Identity Support Plans Erode Parents’ Rights

Walter Myers III
August 21, 2025
California’s Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD), like many districts across the state, offers a confidential arrangement known as an Identity Support Plan for transgender and gender-nonconforming students. Under this policy, staff are required to affirm a student’s stated gender identity in all aspects of school life — including names, pronouns, use of facilities, and records privacy. The plan explicitly allows students to exclude their parents from being notified or involved if the student chooses. Although the policy’s stated goal is to promote equity and safety for LGBTQ+ students — a goal many support — it also means parents may remain completely unaware of major developments in their children’s identities and experiences at school. The …

California Proposal Further Erodes Parents’ Rights

Walter Myers III
August 19, 2025
California’s Family Preparedness Plan Act (AB 495), a proposed California law triggered by the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, is purportedly intended to provide children with a safety net if their parents or legal guardians become suddenly unavailable due to emergencies such as hospitalization, incarceration, or immigration-related detention. While the bill is promoted as a compassionate and practical response to crisis situations, its underlying structure threatens to undermine core parental rights and expose children to an array of unintended risks if left uncorrected. Central to AB 495’s mechanism is the Caregiver’s Authorization Affidavit. Under the proposed law, any adult could submit this affidavit, checking a box to state they …

Ethnic Studies: A Tale of Two California School Districts

Walter Myers III
June 9, 2025
In a state initiative with potential national implications, school districts across California are navigating the complexities of meeting the state’s looming Ethnic Studies requirement. This mandate, based on Assembly Bill 101 (AB 101) signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2021, stipulates that students graduating during the 2029–2030 school year must complete at least one semester of Ethnic Studies. California stands as the first state to enact such a requirement, aiming to ostensibly foster cultural understanding through core concepts of equality, equity, justice, and the study of race and ethnicity, as outlined in the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. As I reported previously here and here, the Northern California Pajaro …

“Systems of Power”: CA Ethnic Studies Program Continues to Radicalize Students

Walter Myers III
April 16, 2025
Controversy has reared its head again in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) in California. The district recently convened a special board meeting to deliberate on its Ethnic Studies curriculum and the potential renewal of a contract with Community Responsive Education (CRE). As I reported last month, the State of California previously rejected the draft Ethnic Studies curriculum co-authored by CRE founder and director Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, which was deemed to promote antisemitism and neo-Marxist ideology. Though the district’s multi-stage contract with CRE was canceled in 2023 amidst the controversy, Tintiangco-Cubales’s ideas live on. No wonder many are concerned that PVUSD is considering a renewed contract with CRE. The meeting made it …

How a New “Ethnic Studies” Curriculum Promotes Anti-Semitism in California

Walter Myers III
March 14, 2025
Since the October 7, 2023, massacre perpetrated on Israeli citizens by Hamas, with the subsequent response by Israel to declare war and enter the Gaza Strip to defeat Hamas, overt anti-Semitic sentiment has erupted on college campuses across America. Citing reports of “widespread antisemitic harassment,” the U.S. Department of Education is now actively investigating 60 institutions of higher learning. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is also playing out in K-12 education, particularly in a number of Northern California school districts like Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD), Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), and Menlo Park City School District (MPCSD). These and other districts are embroiled in controversy over California’s Ethnic Studies curriculum …

Blacks Need High-Quality Education, Not a DEI Agenda — Part 2

Walter Myers III
January 3, 2025
To increase the supply of quality black professional candidates, the focus should be on high-quality education, not equity. Specifically, the black community needs to improve the black college graduation rate, which will first require us to address the poor state of K-12 education. So how do we go about fixing a broken K-12 public education system?

Blacks Need High Quality Education, Not a DEI Agenda — Part 1

Walter Myers III
December 11, 2024
John Deere, Harley-Davidson, Ford Motor Company, and other major corporations are backtracking on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and returning to hiring based on merit. Make no mistake. A work environment featuring diverse ideas and opinions is highly conducive to success. Similarly, it is important to have a work culture that includes all players on the team. But most often, DEI is focused on prioritizing race and sexual orientation over the applicable criteria of merit. This DEI agenda is problematic. Some people counter that the “E” in DEI implies a commitment to equitable outcomes in addition to equal opportunity. In other words, equality of opportunity is insufficient — certain predetermined outcomes must …

A Remedy for California’s Destructive Ethnic Studies Curriculum

Walter Myers III
November 21, 2024
The state of California passed a law in 2021 requiring all students graduating from high school in the 2029-2030 school year to take at least one semester of ethnic studies. The intent, per the state’s California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, is to encourage cultural understanding of the struggles of equality, equity, justice, racism, ethnicity, and bigotry that have been prevalent throughout the history of America. Even though the state offers a model curriculum, it allows school districts to develop their own curriculum, or they can adopt an existing ethnic studies course. The Independent Institute’s Center for Education Excellence, led by Dr. Williamson Evers, has created the turnkey Comparative Cultures Ethnic Studies curriculum that school …

The Folly of Electric Vehicle Mandates and Subsidies

Walter Myers III
November 29, 2023
All-battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have been hailed as a breakthrough innovation that will end the reign of inefficient, emission-spewing gasoline-powered vehicles — in the same manner that gasoline-powered vehicles put the horse and buggy out to pasture at the turn of the last century.

Plug-in Hybrids Are the Future

Walter Myers III
August 17, 2023
If PHEVs were the preponderant vehicles, there would be no rush to build out an all-EV infrastructure, giving filling stations time to adjust and “right size” the number of fast chargers based on market demand rather than government mandates.