Voice For Liberty

Month: June 2008

  • Wichita Tax Swap Has Dangers

    The City of Wichita is thinking about raising its sales tax and using the proceeds to lower property taxes (“City starts talks on 1-cent hike in sales tax”, May 14, 2008 Wichita Eagle). While some debate the relative merits of sales taxes vs. property taxes, there is one thing I am certain of: if Wichita…

  • Price Controls Will Harm Iowa

    In the article Price Controls Create Man-Made Disasters we learn that although the Iowa attorney general has imposed Iowa’s anti-price-gouging rule (Price-gougers beware, Attorney General says), the likely effect will be “shortages of needed supplies, long lines, delayed repairs, and, perhaps, increased incivility.” The price system is very good at allocating scarce resources. That’s certainly…

  • Understanding the Responsibility of Liberty

    A writer in the Wichita Eagle’s WE blog recently wrote this cautionary note about what our country would be like if libertarians were in charge: “… you can HOPE that the acid factory down the road didn’t taint your well water and the food you buy isn’t disease ridden.” This writer seems to believe that…

  • RightOnline Summit

    “While the left convenes for their annual meeting of the tin foil hat wearers, I invite all of you to take part in a conservative gathering that will be going on just across town.” Thanks, Eric Odom, for the invitation to RightOnline Summit.

  • It’s now WordPress

    Here at the Voice For Liberty in Wichita I’ve made the switch from Drupal to WordPress as my blogging platform. There’s really nothing wrong with Drupal; it’s just that WordPress is very good, and after four years with Drupal, maybe it was time for a switch.

  • Wichita’s Galichia provides what government health care doesn’t

    A recent editorial in The Wichita Eagle (Dr. Bill Roy: Universal care is most economic, efficient) contains several mistaken impressions. One may be disproved by recent developments in Wichita.

  • Kansas Blog Roundup for June 20, 2008

    When reporting on Kansas bloggers, a trip to The Kansas Meadowlark is just about the best place to start. This week the Meadowlark reports on SamSphere Kansas, an event hosted by the Sam Adams Alliance. I myself had the pleasure of attending this event and even spoke for a moment to the group. Thank you…

  • Is Boeing tanker “victory” good for America?

    A Wall Street Journal editorial argued that calls on Capitol Hill for “patriotism” in defense procurement are misguided.

  • The Wichita Eagle’s preference for government

    An article in the June 19, 2008 Wichita Eagle (Many businesses owners say they carry too much of local tax burden) provides an example of the frequently-expressed bias against individuality and markets, and in favor of government and its institutions. The article, which presents much useful information, unfortunately contains this sentence: “Needless to say, taxes…

  • Wichita Public School District’s Taxation Without Information

    Taxation without information. I wish I could take credit for inventing this phrase that I recently heard someone use. It captures very well the key characteristic of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, and its campaign for the proposed 2008 bond issue.

  • Wichita city manager’s warning is too late

    Wichita Interim City Manager Ed Flentje issued this warning to the council: “There are in this community much larger businesses with much larger employment who may see this opening as something that will open a door for those businesses to come and say, ‘You’ve done it before, you can do it for us.'” Dr. Flentje,…

  • Wichita School Bond Issue: Surrounding Districts Are Growing and Building New Facilities

    Supporters of the proposed bond issue for USD 259, the Wichita, Kansas public school district, say that Wichita schoolchildren deserve the same nice and new facilities that many of the surrounding suburban districts have been building. Typical is an editorial in The Wichita Eagle on February 10, 2008, stating “The [Wichita school] district officials kept…