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Political power is the opposite of freedom
Read more: Political power is the opposite of freedomThe problem is that politicians are not supposed to have power over us – we’re supposed to be free. We seem to have forgotten that freedom means the absence of government coercion. So when politicians and the media celebrate political power, they really are celebrating the power of certain individuals to use coercive state force.
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The Plunder of the Legislative Process
Read more: The Plunder of the Legislative ProcessIt is amazing to read the words of Bastiat, written over 150 years ago, but applicable today: Your principle has placed these words above the entrance of the legislative chamber: “whosoever acquires any influence here can obtain his share of legal plunder.” And what has been the result? All classes have flung themselves upon the…
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The decline of local chambers of commerce
Read more: The decline of local chambers of commerce“I used to think that public employee unions like the NEA were the main enemy in the struggle for limited government, competition and private sector solutions,” says Mr. Caldera of the Independence Institute. “I was wrong. Our biggest adversary is the special interest business cartel that labels itself ‘the business community’ and its political machine…
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The taking of private property
Read more: The taking of private propertyEminent domain is not the only way that private property can be acquired by government. Placing restrictions on the land by law or regulation can also be a taking that warrants just compensation.
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Tax increment financing in Wichita benefits few
Read more: Tax increment financing in Wichita benefits fewIn Wichita, tax increment financing (TIF) benefits few at the expense of many.
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How To Judge the Worth of Ethanol
Read more: How To Judge the Worth of EthanolFrom The Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2007: “Ethanol gets a 51-cent a gallon domestic subsidy, and there’s another 54-cent a gallon tariff applied at the border against imported ethanol. Without those subsidies, hardly anyone would make the stuff, much less buy it — despite recent high oil prices.” Remove this subsidy and the tariff.…
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Bureaucracy vs. something that works
Read more: Bureaucracy vs. something that worksHere’s how the education bureaucracy and teachers unions won out over students in the creation of the No Child Left Behind Act:
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Market forces and teacher (mis)-education
Read more: Market forces and teacher (mis)-educationIn a system governed by market forces, teacher pay would be based on how well students learn, not how many superfluous degrees teachers accumulate
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Denouncing “Greed”
Read more: Denouncing “Greed”Today there are adults — including educated adults — who explain multimillion-dollar corporate executives’ salaries as being due to “greed.” Think about it: I could become so greedy that I wanted a fortune twice the size of Bill Gates’ — but this greed would not increase my income by one cent. …One of the reasons…
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The Value of the Businessman
Read more: The Value of the BusinessmanAn outstanding feature of the open market is the businessman, whose success or failure depends entirely on his ability to “focus on consumer needs” and so combine existing and potential factors of production to serve consumers most efficiently. The only constructive role government can play under the free market method of overcoming poverty is to…
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Spending and the true cost of government
Read more: Spending and the true cost of government(WICHITA) ? While lawmakers face a challenge to increase spending from many directions, they need to resist some of these pressures in order to control excessive government spending. In a policy brief released by the Flint Hills Center, ?The Virtue of a Self-Imposed Spending Cap for the Kansas Legislature,? Jonathan Williams documents the growth of…
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Record setting spending in Topeka
Read more: Record setting spending in TopekaNow that the inconvenience of the 2006 election is behind us, the statehouse is getting back to what it does best: spending your tax dollars. Governor Sebelius’ latest state budget will set two new records for increased spending.