July 2009 Volume 16 Number 6
- Do Oklahoma's GOP Legislators Believe in Limited Government?
- June 30, 2009
- By Brandon Dutcher
"Unfortunately, too many in our party are not yet ready to return to the path of limited government," U.S. Senator (and former OCPA trustee) Tom Coburn wrote last spring in The Wall Street Journal. "Voters are tired of buying a GOP package and finding a big-government liberal agenda inside."
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- High-Speed Spending
- June 30, 2009
- By Randal O'Toole
How would you like to pay $1,000 so that someone-probably not you-can ride high-speed trains less than 60 miles a year? That's the question the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) effectively asked last month when it invited states to submit proposals for spending $8 billion of stimulus money that Congress allocated to high-speed rail.
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- Creative Budget Options Needed at 23rd & Lincoln
- June 30, 2009
- By Brandon Dutcher
The consensus seems to be that next year's budget situation at the state capitol will be tight. Sure, Oklahoma's share of "stimulus" money could help, but then again it could serve to lock in higher levels of spending, thus exacerbating our problems.
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- Bravery and Liberty
- June 30, 2009
- By Brett A. Magbee
At this time of year in particular, I think about the men and women who have given their lives in defense of our nation and the ideas of liberty, and one word invariably surfaces in my mind: bravery. For you see, without bravery there can be no liberty.
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- Quote/Unquote
- June 30, 2009
- "Oklahoma's Tort Secrets"
Title of a May 23 Wall Street Journal editorial criticizing Gov. Brad Henry for "turning down a bill that would have shed light on the state's pay-to-sue racket. That's the unseemly state practice of hiring outside lawyers to sue private companies on a contingency fee basis." The Journal acknowledged that Henry signed a different tort-reform bill in 2009, but says "the question now is whether Governor Henry will quit protecting the trial bar. ... [H]e still owes the state a better explanation for pulling the shades around the AG-tort bar condominium." Read More >
- Oklahoma, America, and the European Parliamentary Elections
- June 30, 2009
- By Patrick B. McGuigan
The Old World has a message for the New World, including Oklahoma. Recent European Parliamentary elections yielded broad gains for the center-right, combined with gains for a confusing array of new or strengthened small parties.
In candidate races where the economy was central but security issues lurked in the background, voters judged harshly those supporting policies of economic intervention, high taxation, and increasing spending.
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- Government Is Crowding Out Oklahoma's Private Sector
- June 30, 2009
- By J. Scott Moody and Wendy P. Warcholik
Personal income is an important economic measure of a state's well-being. Higher levels of personal income mean that a state's residents are able to buy more goods and services such as homes, cars, education, and health care. It is also a very useful way to gauge the ability of a state's residents to pay taxes.
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- Crowding Out Oklahoma's Private Sector: A Real-World Example
- June 30, 2009
- By Patrick B. McGuigan
The U.S. taxpayer bailout of General Motors points toward the rising trend of European-style socialism in the United States. But wait, in light of the recent European Parliament elections (see page 2), in a few years we might be talking about the decline of American-style socialism in the European Union.
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- Breaking Down Government Motors
- June 30, 2009
- By Brian Darling
During a recent speech denouncing capitalism, Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez said, "Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right."
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- Liberals Using Nonprofits to 'Change' America
- June 30, 2009
- By Mark J. Fitzgibbons
Conservatives are big financiers of the spread of socialism by nonprofits. Bigger even than billionaire George Soros.
There are tens of thousands of liberal nonprofits on the public dole. Conservatives tend to focus attention and even outrage on a few large and notorious taxpayer-funded nonprofits such as ACORN, Planned Parenthood, and AARP. That focus, though, is too myopic.
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