Month: May 2001

In case you wonder why Dick Cheney's so worked up about U.S. energy policy, you might consider the frustration of people who know where the energy is but just can't get to it thanks to restrictive regulations.

Some environmentalists seem to prefer banning man-made chemicals on the theory that they must automatically be bad. A recent story ought to give them pause.

Whatever the ultimate effect of the new tax bill, one thing is clear: it did not strike a blow for simplification of our tax system.

Post-war Italian politics has been the stuff of farce, however tragic the results have been for the Italians: there have been almost 60 — count 'em, 60 — governments, mostly left-wing patchwork quilts.

Set aside the fact Jim Jeffords told Vermont voters he'd be a republican when they sent him to the senate, and then, in effect, renegged on the promise.

As the Congress works with the White House on an education bill that doesn't include the choice initiative the president campaigned on, McCain has proposed an amendment to create a school choice pilot program for the nation's capitol – home to some of the worst schools in the country.

The Club for Growth has made a convincing case for a permanent reduction in the capital gains tax from 20 percent to 15 percent. Three of its leading economists, Arthur Laffer, Lawrence Kudlow and Stephen Moore argue that the current slump doesn't have anything to do with consumers not spending less; rather it's investors investing less. That's where a capital gains cut comes in.

There are currently 81 voucher programs operating in the United States. Four are education vouchers like Pell grants, which students can use at any school.

Americans have taken for granted instantaneous and reasonably priced energy for more than 50 years. Flip the switch and the light or television goes on; turn the knob and the burner lights up; stop at the gas station and fill your tank. But as any Californian will tell you, that assumption no longer holds. California and other places are beginning to run out of electricity, the most basic energy resource of all.

I've been amused by the howls of outrage from democrats about president Bush's new bi-partisan commission for the reforming social security. They complain that Bush is stacking the deck in favor of his partial privatization position, which is true.

The best George W's going to get on his tax cut is a reduction from 39 percent to 36 percent — the highest tax bracket instead of the 33 he campaigned on. Some conservatives are arguing he should promise to veto the bill until congress gets it right. I can sympathize, I just can't agree.

Leftist critics worry President Bush's faith-based charity plans will allow mingling of church and state. Some on the right worry religious groups will come to see themselves as part of the federal welfare state, not an alternative to it.

"Cato" was the pen name of two early 18th century Englishmen, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. They wrote a series of letters about the role of government, the nature of statecraft, and the application of natural law and natural rights. Oddly enough, the letters didn't create a stir in England, but they were perhaps the single most influential body of work read by the men who created the American Revolution and wrote the constitution.

Imagine you're a hardcore environmentalist, and I come to you and say, "I can reduce pesticides by millions of pounds every year."

The current edition of American Outlook magazine presents an excellent series on the differences. Irwin Stelzer identifies two crucial ones: the right and freedom of the individual to pursue his own dreams and opportunities, and the requirement the government to obtain the consent of the governed before launching substantial economic or social policy revolutions. The lack of these two principles has brought about disastrous public policies on the Continent.

The Netherlands has passed the termination of life on request and assisted suicide act, which clears physicians who kill patients on request or aid in assisted suicide. It passed the dutch senate just as the annual remembrance of the holocaust began.

At the recent Summit of The Americas in Quebec City, the thousands of protesters didn't care about saving the jobs of american steel workers or french farmers. They weren't advancing world peace or free health care. Their agenda was fundamental: End capitalism, establish global socialism.