March 2008 Volume 15 Number 3
- Grace and Peace: Peggy Noonan's Glimpse of Heaven
- March 01, 2008
By Patrick B. McGuigan
To use a word Margaret Thatcher gave political meaning to, Peggy Noonan is not "wobbly." She knows, and she believes. That gives her writing tremendous authenticity. To an important degree, she's always been that way.
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- Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Oklahoma's CareerTech System
- March 01, 2008
By J. Scott Moody and Wendy P. Warcholik
An expensive tax-funded PR campaign assures us that the Oklahoma CareerTech system is "elevating our economy." But clear economic thinking requires us to look beyond special-interest pleading and to consider not only that which is seen, but that which is unseen.
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- CareerTech School Embraces Choice!
- March 01, 2008
- By Brandon Dutcher
A certain vo-tech school with an ample marketing budget is using all sorts of media-mail pieces, ads at movie theaters, billboards, and more-to inform Oklahomans that "It's About Choice." Which got me to thinking ...
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- Immigration Policy in Oklahoma: The Tension Between Liberty and Law
- March 01, 2008
By Patrick B. McGuigan
Immigration, not Social Security, is suddenly the third rail of American politics. Most everyone seems to agree it's a major problem of law and culture. There's a widely held belief that the federal government over the past two decades failed us all by losing control of our national borders and ignoring illegal immigrants among us.
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- New Neighbors: Will We Love Them as Ourselves?
- March 01, 2008
By Marvin Olasky
We worry a lot about presidential candidates, but this election is showing the need for thoughtful, hopeful voters. When voters are pessimistic and adamant about holding onto their slices of pie, candidates respond in protectionist ways. When voters are optimistic about the opportunity to bake more pies and share the bounty, campaigns brighten.
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- Unions to Underprivileged Children: You Can't Escape
- March 01, 2008
By Brandon Dutcher
Horace Mann, generally regarded as the father of America's current public school system, once prophesied: "Let the Common School ... be worked with the efficiency of which it is susceptible, and nine tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete; the long catalogue of human ills would be abridged."
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- In Praise of 'Price Gouging'
- March 01, 2008
- By Scott A.
Beaulier and Joshua C. Hall
Milton Friedman once said, "Only a crisis, real or imagined, produces change."
Friedman's point was that in times of crisis citizens turn to government for "solutions," and that historically those solutions have involved an expansion of government power over the economy. For example, economic historian Robert Higgs shows in his classic book Crisis and Leviathan how war and economic crises caused much of the dramatic growth in the U.S. government during the 20th century. Thus, increased government intervention into markets is often just a disaster away.
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- Extending the School Year: Another Non-Solution
- March 01, 2008
Over the last year, the idea of extending the school day and school year has gained favor among those who are looking for new ideas to improve Oklahoma's struggling public schools.
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- Weighty Matters
- March 01, 2008
By Brett A. Magbee
"Deliver your words not by number but by weight." It's an old English proverb, and one that OCPA takes seriously.
The reason is simple. With all the rhetoric around these days, people have to be very selective in what they pay attention to. For instance, there are daily newspapers, professional journals, countless television and radio pundits, the Internet, and even your next-door neighbor. There are speakers, conferences, and your barber as well. Every one of them has something to tell you, something to say. It's an idea, an opinion, or viewpoint. The motivation is to share information or to sell you on something or motivate you to action. But unfortunately, much of the information you receive each day is of varying degrees of importance.
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- Quote/Unquote
- March 01, 2008
- "The same old thing isn't going to get it done. We need to look at things like charter schools and school choice - a lot of things that are not business as usual." - U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, speaking Feb. 28 to a joint meeting of the Oklahoma House and Senate Education Committees. Read More >
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