It comes as a surprise to many that there is currently much more substantive policy work underway in Texas than during the legislative session. In fact, someone sent me a list that indicated a total of over 20 appointed or elected boards, commissions, and committees, not including the interim legislative committe work, have been authorized by […]
Archives for 2008
Book Notes
Two recent books to recommend, which have interesting overlaps in the several ways in which they treat the history of liberalism in America: **Camelot and the Cultural Revolution, by James Piereson. The subtitle of this book describes it well–“how the assassination of John F. Kennedy shattered American liberalism”. This is a fascinating and unique treatment […]
Clarity in Tax Policy
Let’s be clear: we know where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will take the country in tax policy–roll back the Bush tax rate cuts, restore the death tax, reverse the capital gains and dividend tax cuts, increase the cost of capital, thereby damaging investment, job creation, and prosperity. It works every time. It also works in reverse […]
“A Nation at Risk” at 25
During the past couple of weeks, there have been a number of articles and features marking the 25th anniversary of “A Nation at Risk”, the groundbreaking 1983 report on the dismal status of American public education, wherein the most famous line was the one that served as the national wake-up call: “If an unfriendly power had attempted to […]
Potpourri
A few odds and ends on the domestic front: * The Economist reports that the gap between the Hispanic and African-American out-of-wedlock birth rate in the U. S. is narrowing considerably. In the past 10 years the birth rate among unmarried Latinas has risen from 89 to 100 per 1,000. It is now much higher than the rate […]
Letter from China
Anyone who is reasonably perceptive on the broad sweep of public affairs would be hard pressed to challenge the case that the massive economic, political, and societal transformation of China and, in particular, the future of its relationship with the United States, is the leading geopolitical issue of the 21st century. The only other issue […]
Clinton/Obama–You Gotta Love It
This spectacle of a race for the Democratic nomination for President is unlike anything any of us have seen in our lifetimes and seems to be transforming the entire electoral landscape that we have known for at least 30 years in ways that will not become entirely clear for years to come. I have never […]
It’s the Currency, Stupid!
The elephant in the living room–the topic Washington won’t broach–is the dollar itself as a powerful but unused monetary policy tool………….probably the most important economic and investing variable in the last decade. The best stimulus policy is a sound currency.–David Malpass, Chief Economist, Bear Stearns, Wall Street Journal. No less an authority than Lenin well […]
Buckley Remembered
I believe that the duel between Christianity and atheism is the most important in the world. I further believe that the struggle between individualism and collectivism is the same struggle reproduced on another level.–William F. Buckley, Jr., God and Man at Yale, 1951. Obviously, Bill Buckley had the essentials of the struggle pretty well nailed […]
American Genius
A recently released study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, contrary to the analysis offerred by some observers, should give Americans renewed comfort in the founding concept that has, probably more than any other single element, fostered American exceptionalism among the nations. This concept, based on the dual U. S. Constitutional guarantees of […]