Tag: Role of government
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Tax Chambers of Commerce, Right Here in Kansas
This week, Kansas Liberty has a very fine editorial titled The KC Chamber: Enemy of Life, Enemy of Business. Prominent is the mention of the work of my friend the Kansas Meadowlark in revealing the funding of the The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. See Greater Kansas City Chamber PAC, Awash With Cash, Forms…
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Efforts to Regulate ‘Wild West’ Markets are Long Overdue
A Christian Science Monitor article Efforts to regulate ‘Wild West’ markets are long overdue contains a number of misstatements. For one thing, characterization of the American West as “wild” in the sense that mayhem prevailed, and that life and property were not safe, is not correct. An article in the Journal of Libertarian Studies titled…
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Wichita Smoking Ban: Authoritarian, Elitist?
Here’s some good commentary I received from a citizen. Wichita’s smoking “ban” will take effect before too long.? Smoke ’em while you can, I guess. Wichita’s Smoking Ban and the latest authoritarian arrogance emitted by elitist professor University of Kansas School of Medicine professor Dr. Rick Kellerman is?on the front page of the May 30…
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Government Art in Wichita
Do we really want government art in Wichita? David Boaz, in his recent book The Politics of Freedom: Taking on The Left, The Right and Threats to Our Liberties writes this in a chapter titled “The Separation of Art and State”: It is precisely because art has power, because it deals with basic human truths,…
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Happy Cost of Government Day
According to Americans for Tax Reform today, July 16, 2008, marks national Cost of Government Day: On July 16, Americans mark the national Cost of Government Day (COGD), the date on the calendar year when the average American finishes paying off his or her share of federal, state and local spending, and the regulatory burden.…
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Where’s Leadership on Oil Speculation?
In the July 12, 2008 Wichita Eagle, Kenneth James Crist of Wichita blames oil speculators for ruining the U.S. Economy, writing that politicians should “do something positive to halt the rampant speculation in the stock market and oil futures that is really driving these runaway prices. All it really amounts to is tremendous greed on…
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Wichita Eagle Voter Guide Responses
I am running for Republican precinct committeeman. The Wichita Eagle sent me a request to answer some questions to appear in a voter’s guide. These are the questions asked (to the best of my recollection; I didn’t record the text of the questions and now I can no longer log in to the system to…
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The Threat of Social Progressives
In the July 5, 2008 Wichita Eagle, a Mr. Chet Syres of Hutchinson contributes a letter promoting the virtues of liberalism, proponents of which he now wants us to call social progressives. I remind Mr. Syres that leftists stole the terms “liberal” and “progressive” from the classical liberals. From For A New Liberty by Murray…
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In Wichita, is Economic Development Proven Public Policy?
In a statement read by Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer and released on the city’s website at Mayor Brewer Warren Theatre [sic] Statement, the mayor states “Economic development is proven public policy.” The word “proven” was used several other times in the statement. (I don’t know who wrote the title to the statement, but it combines…
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Spending other people’s money is not the best way to reflect one’s values
A recent Arizona Republic letter to the editor lamented the fact that our government funds war, but not universal health care. The writer asks what that says about our values. That letter got me thinking, what does government spending say about our values?
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Government makes things worse, not better
John Stossel eviscerates David Brooks, the ostensibly conservative columnist for the New York Times. Brooks has argued for big new government initiatives to boost human capital. Stossel correctly notes, though, that Brooks wants to expand failed government programs when the right approach is to move in the other direction:
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Political Decision Making Leads To Conflict
Writing from Davenport, Iowa A column by economist Walter E. Williams (Why we’re a divided nation) strongly makes the case for more decision making by free markets rather than by the government through the political process. When decisions are made through free markets, Dr. Williams says, both parties win, because in a free market, parties…