April 2008 Volume 15 Number 4
- Peggy's Candor and Credibility
- April 04, 2008
On April 24, one of America's greatest independent journalists and commentators is coming to Oklahoma City. Peggy Noonan is a woman for all seasons. Some of the reasons are found in her writings this presidential campaign year.
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- The Constitutional Case Against Congressional ‘Earmarks'
- April 04, 2008
By a vote of 71 to 29, the United States Senate, on March 13, 2008, rejected an effort led by Arizona Senator John McCain-the presumptive Republican nominee for President-to place a one-year moratorium on the Congressional practice of earmarking. While the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and the House Minority Leader, John Boehner (R-OH), have voiced support of such a ban, no one expects the House to press for one in light of the overwhelming Senate rejection.
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- Forgive Us Our Debts
- April 04, 2008
- How did a state with such a strong constitutional ban on debt end up billions of dollars in the hole?By Steve Anderson We've got problems brewing at the state capitol that have been percolating for decades. Debt in the form of unfunded liabilities lurks everywhere you look in state government. Roads, bridges, state buildings, and other facilities combine with ... Read More >
- The Day the School-Choice Debate Changed
- April 04, 2008
In the current session of the state Legislature, Sen. James Williamson, a Tulsa Republican, is sponsoring a proposal called the New Hope Scholarship Act. The measure provides a tax credit for taxpayers who contribute to organizations that provide private-school scholarships for low-income children attending failing (the technical term is "needs improvement") schools in the state's two largest cities. The fiscal impact of the tax credit would be $5 million, with a practical doubling effect (to $10 million) for students who would benefit.
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- Politicians' Empty God-talk
- April 04, 2008
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I don't know if you've noticed this, but certain school-choice opponents in Oklahoma are not at all bashful when it comes to talking about God. For example, Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan (D-Stillwater) wants all Oklahoma schoolchildren "to become everything God intended for them to be." State Sen. Kenneth Corn (D-Poteau) wants every student to reach his "God-given potential." State Sen. Jay Paul Gumm (D-Durant) believes in "giving every child a chance to become everything God intends for him or her to become." But how is a child supposed to know what God intends?
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- It Takes a Family to Raise a Village
- April 04, 2008
I wrote Love and Economics in the late 1990s. My experience of raising a badly neglected adopted orphan son together with a birth daughter taught me that we economists had been taking the family far too much for granted. I intended the book as a conversation-opener with my libertarian and free-market friends. They appeared then, and still appear to be, uninterested. Perhaps the original subtitle, Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn't Work, put them off.
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- What Oklahoma Can Learn from ... Sweden
- April 04, 2008
For years the Left has pointed to the Scandinavian countries as case studies for where their policy prescriptions "work." Somewhere along the line, Sweden has grown tired of being a poster child and has decided to pursue excellence instead. In the field of education this has meant a counterrevolution-to choice. For once, people right of center in Britain, Canada, and America are looking for a policy model in Sweden.
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- Appreciating Capitalism
- April 04, 2008
Capitalism is a good thing. At least, that's what OCPA believes. In a world filled with alternative economic systems, capitalism reigns supreme. There's no other economic system which has thrust a nation and its people to such prominence on the world stage.
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- Quote/Unquote
- April 04, 2008
- "You tell me you have a shortage and then we try and show you how to take care of a shortage by giving bonuses, and the representatives of the teachers' unions are opposed to that ... We're doing everything we can for alternative education. You don't see that to be on the front burner for any of them. When is it going to be about the children? ... Let's look... Read More >
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