It’s election season in Houston and, with apologies to readers who do not have a direct stake in the upcoming city election (although I submit that all Texans and many other Americans have a stake in a prosperous Houston!), here are some thoughts I have suggested to the candidates I am supporting: · The future […]
Archives for 2003
Summer Reading
The lulls of the summer just past allowed some time for reading and reflecting, and three books in particular are worthy of review: The American Republic, by Orestes A. Brownson. Originally published in 1865, when the nation had just weathered its most serious challenge to its continued existence, Brownson provides a timely (for now as […]
A Transforming Event – Part 2
In November 2001 I wrote: “The ultimate outcome [of the war on terror] will be transformational, for I believe there is no way to avoid the massive restructuring of the Muslim world that will follow (and parallel) this conflict. The ruling elites in these societies, friend and foe alike, must choose which future they want, […]
Labor Day Thoughts On The New Realities
Each Labor Day brings the usual editorials on the concerns of organized labor and the threats of globalization of world markets, and this one was no exception. David Broder currently laments the “wasting of the manufacturing sector”, and suggests it is a problem far too important to be ignored by the political class in pursuit […]
Tax And Supply Side Basics
A year or so from now, anyone looking for a pivotal date for the U. S. economic and market turnaround should remember May 5, 2003, the date of President Bush’s speech in Little Rock, of all places. It was an almost textbook treatment of the economics of small business and the impact of supply side […]
“Order” In Higher Education
Former Houstonian John Moores, currently Chairman of the University of California Board of Regents, hit upon an age-old problem in a recent op/ed essay, one that has vexed any number of Texas Higher Education Coordinating Boards and “blue ribbon commissions”—how to bring strategic order to the State’s system of higher education. There have been various […]
Defending Moral Clarity In Foreign Policy
As we move deeper into the “funny season” of Presidential election politics, it becomes increasingly more important to stay tightly focused on the principles of moral clarity that have defined Bush foreign policy since 9-11. The strategy of those who oppose the Bush Doctrine, particularly the policy of pre-emption, is to attack the so-called “soft […]
Advancing The Texas Education “Miracle”
Clearly, a major centerpiece of George W. Bush’s success as Governor of Texas and a significant plank in the platform for his Presidential candidacy was his leadership of the Texas public education reforms in accountability and standards of the mid to late 1990’s, and nowhere were these reforms in more evidence than in Houston, which […]
Liberty, Security, Stability, And The State Department
A couple of months ago, Newt Gingrich was highly visible speaking and making the rounds of the various talk shows with his call for major reorganization of the U. S. Department of State, criticizing its institutionalized duplicity and incompetence in the process. The furor settled down, but my immediate thoughts were that it is about […]
The God Of Diversity II
In the immediate aftermath of the momentous and disappointingly muddled decisions by the Supreme Court in the two University of Michigan affirmative action cases, I had in mind an essay summarizing my thoughts, particularly on the resulting tragic enshrinement of race-based “diversity” as a compelling public interest overriding the 14th Amendment. However, here I have […]