California is a huge state with a huge population, a huge economy and a huge, rapidly growing government. Any attempt by that government to address health care issues draws the aggressive lobbying attention of a huge number of corporate, union, religious and political...
A few weeks ago, men working for an advertising agency installed light screens in cities to promote a Cartoon Network program. No one seemed alarmed by the signs featuring cartoon characters flipping the bird — until suddenly, weeks after the promotion began,...
If you’re looking for a map of world poverty, check out the “2007 Index of Economic Freedom” jointly published by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. You might think that’s a strangely titled source for a poverty map. The 13th...
I began my career as a private teacher for a few families committed to providing their children with a real education. These parents had abandoned a fruitless search for a school in which their children would read the classics of literature, learn the story of...
“Imprimis” is Hillsdale College’s monthly publication that has over 1.25 million readers. It’s Hillsdale’s way of sharing the ideas of the many distinguished speakers invited to their campus. And, I might add, Hillsdale College is one of...
“The Muslim loves death and martyrdom, just as you love life. There is a great difference between he who loves the Hereafter and he who loves this world. The Muslim loves death and seeks Martyrdom.” So declared an Islamic clergyman in Jerusalem just...
Doctors should demand to work on their own terms and recognize they have a right to trade their services voluntarily in exchange for what the market will bear.
The Federal Highway Administration has apparently reached its limit with Portland’s fantasy transportation planning. In comments filed recently on Metro’s so-called “Regional Transportation Plan”, the federal government noted that,...
Two weeks ago, U.S. drug agents launched raids on 11 medical-marijuana centers in Los Angeles County. The U.S. attorney’s office says they violated the laws against cultivation and distribution of marijuana. Whatever happened to America’s federal system,...
Christians have it backward. If you’re worried about your child obsessing over magic, it’s not Harry Potter you should guard against; it’s the Bible. Author J.K. Rowling doesn’t bill her writing as anything other than fiction. Youngsters are...
For a small-scale corn farmer driven out of business in Mexico by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the fancy economic theories about the benefits of “free trade” might not seem too believable. As the theory of comparative advantage goes,...
Making individual premiums tax deductible may open the door for further reforms that help get employers out of providing health insurance altogether.
When I tell people that I teach literature to junior high students, the response is nearly universal: an expression of profound sympathy. Teaching junior high is regarded as a martyr’s job, to be taken on only by those with such a selfless commitment to children...
I’m told to worry about the trade deficit. Commentators and populist politicians are wringing their hands. The trade deficit is a “malignant tumor in the intestines of the U.S. economy,” says Pat Buchanan. Lou Dobbs is very upset that...
Two recent articles ought to give pause to current political and journalistic ignorance, perhaps demagoguery, about our international trade deficit. In a December Wall Street Journal article titled “Embrace the Deficit,” Bear Stearns’ chief economist...
Whatever their views of President Bush’s new “surge” of 20,000 soldiers, both liberals and conservatives continue to claim that they support our troops. Liberals say they support our troops by criticizing or opposing “Operation Iraqi...
Entrepreneurs, risk-takers, men and women of creative ability, of talent, of inventiveness, of productive achievement–for what you do, you are good! Yes, good–as in “moral,” “ethical,” “virtuous.” Throughout history,...
Several weeks ago, in my article “Pattern Recognition vs. Real Understanding,” I stressed the crucial connection between writing and understanding: For the student to write explanations, in complete sentences, about every subject–whether history,...
In the wake of New York City’s ban on restaurant use of trans fat, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the ban is “not going to take away anybody’s ability to go out and have the kind of food they want, in the quantities they want. . . . We are just trying...
Mary Baker and Ruth Neikirk love to cook. What’s more, they love to cook for poor people. They do it frequently, preparing meals at home and bringing them to their church in Virginia. “I love it,” Mary says. “I can take a little bit of...
In the first hundred hours of the just-started session of Congress, the new leadership promises to raise the minimum wage. The Democrats won’t be opposed by many Republicans. President Bush says he’ll go along with a higher minimum wage if it’s...
Not that many complimentary things are said about politicians. When a problem arises, people say, “Government ought to do something.” They seem to have forgotten that it’s the politicians who are running the government. Many think things can be...
Back in September 2006, Gus Van Horn blogged about a first grade teacher who got her students to start a school-wide petition to protest the demotion of Pluto to “dwarf planet” status on the grounds of “sticking up for the little guy,” (or more...
Every class in elementary and junior high school should be in a lecture format. The teacher must be an authority on the subject, he must grasp its basic purpose, he must carefully define the knowledge to be conveyed by reference to that purpose, and he must present...
On March 1, 1973, eight Palestinian Black September killers stormed the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum during a send-off party for American Charges d’Affairs George C. Moore. They took Moore, U.S. Ambassador Cleo A. Noel, Jr., Belgian Charges d’Affairs...
There is only one solution to the “North Korea problem”: the United States and its allies must abandon the suicidal policy of appeasement.
The motto at the popular Heart Attack Grill in Tempe, Ariz., is: “Taste … worth dying for!” That’s because it serves only artery-clogging food like big hamburgers (the biggest is called the “Quadruple Bypass”) and “Flatliner...
Congressman Charles Rangel plans to introduce legislation calling for reinstatement of the military draft. He says, “There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence...
Delivered at a Town Hall Meeting on the Clinton Health Plan Red Lion Hotel, Costa Mesa CA December 11, 1993 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen: Most people who oppose socialized medicine do so on the grounds that it is moral and well-intentioned, but impractical;...
Does morality depend upon religion? Most people believe it does, which is a major reason behind the appeal of the religious right. People believe that without faith in a supernatural authority, we can have no moral values–no moral absolutes, no black-and-white...
It is unlikely that any significant improvements in health care policy will come out of the U.S. Congress in the next two years. However, major changes might develop at the state level–especially in California–for two reasons. First, as the most populous...
In recent years, the United Nations has often gone out of its way to avoid getting involved in the world’s trouble spots. It ignored genocide in Darfur. Pulled out of Iraq in 2003. Done nothing to stem Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Can an organization this...
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