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Conventional Wisdom
Capital Ideas
By: Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D
7.25.2000
The political conventions are upon us. If recent surveys are correct, reruns of "The Dukes of Hazzard" will attract a larger audience than the conventions, as the peoples’ disaffection with politics deepens. In 1920 H.L. Mencken asked the question that seems to be on the minds of more and more people today: "What ass first let loose the doctrine that the suffrage is a high boon and voting a noble privilege?" The chattering class is in a full hand-wringing dither about the public’s declining interest in public affairs, and the likelihood is that the media will take note of this concern with a whole new level of supercilious coverage during the conventions.
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PC Hysteria
The Contrarian
7.21.2000
Last month, Stockport College in Manchester, England, banned the use of more than 40 “offensive” words and phrases. To ensure that students and staff adhere to the policy, Stockport has made it a condition of service and admission. While this might seem alternately appalling and amusing from our vantage point across the Atlantic, it is a plausible manifestation of the attacks on the First Amendment that we’ve seen in our own country.
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Mickey Mouse Proposals
Action Alerts
7.21.2000
In the battle over control of Internet services, there’s a new player and his name is Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney Co. has announced that it wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to split AOL-Time Warner in two: one company for content and one for distribution. This effort to use government to dislodge AOL-Time Warner from its advantageous market position is misguided and harmful for consumers.
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Trading Places
Capital Ideas
By: K. Lloyd Billingsley
7.18.2000
The victory of Vicente Fox and his Partido Accion Nacional (PAN), ending 70 years of one-party rule in Mexico, is good news for both Mexico and the United States. But commentary on the elections has missed an irony. Some of the trends President-elect Fox is intent on eliminating are now taking hold in California.
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School Choice Lowers Taxpayer Costs
Capital Ideas
By: Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
7.14.2000
Perhaps the most disingenuous argument against school choice is the claim of the public education establishment that vouchers will cost taxpayers more money than simply continuing to fund the public
schools. The truth is that where choice has been tried, taxpayer costs have gone down. For example, in
Milwaukee, voucher-receiving private schools are actually sending taxpayer dollars back to the government.
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The Grim Tax Reaper
The Contrarian
By: Alejandra Arguello
7.10.2000
President Clinton, the anointed "First Feminist President," claims to be a staunch advocate of women’s rights. Yet he has vowed to veto a bill, passed by the House, that would phase out the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes. The so-called "death" taxes penalize business owners, including women-owned businesses whose numbers are on the rise.
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Why Government’s Medicine is Tough to Swallow
Action Alerts
By: Laura Dykes
7.10.2000
Republicans and Democrats have competing plans to provide prescription drugs for seniors. Beyond the combative rhetoric, however, the similarities outweigh the differences. Both plans are expensive, bureaucratic, and threaten future treatment options for seniors.
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Freedom vs. Censorship: A Tale Of Two Countries
ePolicy
By: Ian R. Harac*
7.7.2000
Two recent rulings on Internet libel, one in America, one in Britain, provide a wonderful demonstration of why the occasional tea party and revolution is a good idea. Although the outcomes of the two cases are radically different, they share similar circumstances.
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Notes on Dependence Day
Capital Ideas
By: Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D
7.5.2000
Independence Day here on California’s central coast, where I partake each year of what Vernon Parrington called "the great American barbecue," brings a startling reminder of the inexorable trend of our time. The local fireworks show, sponsored for as long as I can recall by the American Legion, almost didn’t come off this year because just a few weeks ago the Legion learned that it hadn’t applied for the necessary federal permit.
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Failing Grade: Crisis and Reform in the Oakland Unified School District
PRI Study
By: K. Gwynne Coburn, Pamela A. Riley
7.1.2000
Despite numerous efforts at reform, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is failing in its sole mission to provide quality education to Oakland's children. Student achievement data, dropout rates, college eligibility, remediation rates, and parental dissatisfaction statistics all testify to the failure of a district now poised for innovative change.
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