Heritage Foundation and OCPA fellow Matt Mayer is an unabashed proponent of federalism -- and that's not necessarily because he agrees with his governor's every idea. In fact, right now, he's irked by Ohio Gov. John Kasich's proposal to increase a severance tax on oil and gas producers. Such a punishing tax, Mayer insists, do...

To convert the United States from a net energy importer to a net energy exporter has been the elusive goal of every president since Richard Nixon -- and it's the stated goal of presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as well. Even should the United States attain that goal, though, we wouldn't be "energy independent." The Wall Str...

When arguing against parental choice in education, members of the education establishment often raise the subject of “fixed costs.” If a student leaves, they remind us, the school district still has to pay the electric bill and so on.“The implication of their argument is that all costs of running public schools are fixed,” ec...

A recent D.C. appeals court ruling rebuking the Environmental Protection Agency for overstepping its authority by mandating emissions restrictions to reduce cross-state air pollution is a victory for federalism, The Oklahoman editorial board writes today.We applaud the decision because it’s a victory for the American traditio...

I’ve written before of the condescension and the suffocating paternalism of some (doubtless well-meaning) folks in the education establishment who truly believe parents don’t know what’s best for their children. Yesterday the American Federation for Children condemned the latest incident in this “wave of recent denigrating co...

Our friends at the Mackinac Center, a venerable free-market think tank in Michigan, like to point out that their publications and programs “offer an integrated and comprehensive approach” that considers not just economics but all disciplines.Center research incorporates the best understanding of economics, science, law, psych...

News that state tax revenues have maintained and experienced growth is indicative of the hard work of Oklahoma citizens. The state just completed a fiscal year that provides a valuable lesson for the future.Some may have forgotten the latter part of 2010 and the first couple months of 2011. The final 0.25 percent reduction in...

A number of national pundits have been mentioning what Congressman Paul Ryan said in “a speech in Oklahoma,” and we think it important to remind everyone that speech wasn’t just “in Oklahoma”; it was for OCPA! Long before Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan as his running mate, the House Budget Chairman delivered a landmark speech...

Concerned taxpayers no doubt will be pleased to hear that Executive Director Deby Snodgrass and the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department are once again using taxpayer dollars wisely.Director Snodgrass and the OTRD have taken seriously their oaths, and are ensuring that they do everything possible to focus taxpayer funds...

Common sense dictates that cost-shifting does not save money (whether I pay for dinner or you pay for dinner doesn't change the cost), but advocates of Obamacare insist that the law will save money by forcing federal taxpayers instead of state taxpayers to pay for the expansion of Medicaid. In a recent piece, The Oklahoman ed...

In her most recent column, former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan says it avails little to warn Americans of the coming entitlement crisis with dramatic references to a declining Europe. To most Americans, Noonan explains, even a Europe in decline has its appeal, an elegance that derives from its status as an ancient contine...

With government spending already at an all-time high, Oklahoma’s political leaders decided this year to spend even more money. Regrettably, they’re now spending more than $500 per second.Why does this matter? It matters because, as OCPA economists Scott Moody and Wendy Warcholik point out in the current issue of Perspective, ...

As my colleague Jonathan Small has repeatedly pointed out, and as my colleague Tina Korbe noted recently in The Washington Times, Oklahoma’s political leaders continue to take your hard-earned money and give it to a big-government lobbying organization. That organization is in the news this week, as “hundreds of state lawmake...

Free enterprise and the American entrepreneurial spirit built this country and made it great.  Pioneers in the oil and natural gas industry – especially Oklahoman entrepreneurs – are clear examples of this.  Their innovation has led to breakthrough technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing, that boost our economy.&...

At an OCPA speech in Tulsa and in other venues, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has said: "Never take a dollar from a free citizen through the coercion of taxation without a very legitimate purpose. We have a solemn duty to spend that dollar as carefully as possible because, when we took it, we diminished that person's freedom."Ev...

When middle-school student Phylicia Lewis attended her local public school as an elementary student, she often ate her lunch in the bathroom."Some kids ... bullied me all the way until it was time for me to go home," Lewis says. "They'd say what a retard I was, sometimes, and it upset me really bad. ... Sometimes I wouldn't e...

In an October 2010 memorandum (“A Tale of Two States: The Real Effect of Individual Income Tax Cuts”), OCPA research fellow Steve Anderson noted that “recent tax policy in Oklahoma and Kansas gives us the closest thing possible to a controlled experiment.” After looking at the evidence, Mr. Anderson, an accountant who spent t...

We really should thank our northern neighbors because the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline is a praiseworthy project that would greatly benefit the U.S. economy.  Its ability to create much-needed jobs here in America, facilitating the flow of oil to our refineries and on to our consumers makes the project’s necessity a ...

In this brief video clip, OCPA distinguished fellow J. Rufus Fears recalls Gov. Ronald Reagan’s leadership in the area of higher education. If Reagan were here today, Dr. Fears says, he would take a close look at how efficiently higher-education dollars are being spent, and he would also support higher-education vouchers.

Last year in The Washington Times (“Power of the purse can ‘redress…every grievance’”), OCPA distinguished fellow J. Rufus Fears explained that “the power of the purse was crucial to maintaining freedom.”Hence the very important section establishing that all bills of revenue must originate in the House of Representatives. And...