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Commentaries

 May 08, 2008
Hammonds
Dependency Mindset Limits Health Care Choices

A return to competition and personal responsibility will cure America’s health care crisis...if we let it.

 May 02, 2008
Hartnett White
The Folly of Food as Fuel
Federal Ethanol Policies Damage Texas Consumers and Businesses

Texas is the appropriate state to call for a change in federal ethanol mandates. The indirect costs of ethanol hurt Texans in the grocery store as well as key agricultural sectors of the state economy.

 April 30, 2008
Murchison
For Texans, a "Proposition 13" Moment

It goes with the robins and the roses – the bad news of what property ownership costs in a society that leans heavily, for the satisfaction of public wants, upon the owners of homes and businesses.

 April 24, 2008
Thornley
A Note of Caution as Wind Energy Whips Through Texas

Who knew a “free” source of energy could be so expensive?

 April 15, 2008
Heflin
Budget Shortfalls Create Opportunity for Fiscal Responsibility

All too often, it takes cutbacks to force government to re-prioritize its core functions and correct its indulgences.

 April 11, 2008
White
The Quality of Science Matters

Characterized by the EPA as perhaps its most expensive rule ever, this 75-ppb standard begs for solid scientific justification.

 April 08, 2008
Terry
One Salary Doesn't Fit All

Performance and results are commonly rewarded in the private sector via bonuses and raises tied to positive performance reviews. The same should hold true for education.

 April 02, 2008
Peacock
Texas Consumers Benefit from Competitive Electricity Market

The only things that have skyrocketed since full deregulation took effect in January 2007 are consumer choice and competition.

 March 31, 2008
Thornley
Missing the Big Picture in Homeowners’ Insurance Debate

As policymakers review the Texas homeowners’ insurance market, they should keep in mind that Texas insurers and Texas consumers are the proper parties to determine homeowners’ and windstorm insurance rates. Markets, not governments, will ultimately find the proper balance.

 March 25, 2008
Murchison
The “Right Price” and Other Economic Fantasies

The "right" price, every time, is that on which a willing buyer and willing seller agree in an encounter perfected by the tender of a credit card or a handful of pennies. A buyer who doesn't want your Edsel won't be induced at any price to acquire it. A buyer, by contrast, who truly, deeply wants a certain doll will calculate need, resources, and the present or future availability of this wonderful contrivance. He'll buy if he wants; he won't if he doesn't.

 March 20, 2008
Levin
Should Texas Bureaucrats Police Roses and Tacos?

Ultimately, Texas farmers and food vendors don’t profit from making their customers sick. In such very rare instances, they can face incredibly costly lawsuits. Instead of producing another crop of rules that stifle entrepreneurship and criminalize ordinary business activities, government should leave the field and let the market for food and flowers bloom.

 March 18, 2008
Hammonds
Mandating Expensive Health Insurance in Texas

Of course, a single mandate does not have a crushing impact on the cost of health insurance. However, researchers have found that the combined effect of the mandates drive up the cost of a basic health plan by nearly 50%.

 March 10, 2008
Story
Parents Desperate for Choices

Last month, dozens of Austin parents camped out on the cold concrete of the Austin Independent School District headquarters parking lot with one goal in mind: securing a better learning environment for their children.

 February 21, 2008
Levin
Texas No Longer Repeat Offender on Prisons

Rather than being handcuffed to the past – to the detriment of the taxpayers – legislators charted a new course that emphasizes alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders while continuing to lock up violent and sexual offenders.

 February 11, 2008
Stout
In Health Care, Government Is the Problem

As the presidential candidates discuss their plans for the American health care system, they point their fingers of blame in several directions – toward insurers, toward employers, and even toward over-eaters and non-exercisers. But none of the leading candidates are pointing toward the main culprit – the government.

 February 04, 2008
Stout
Runaway Train to Higher Taxes

Combine inflated ridership projections and enormous cost overruns that have plagued rail projects like this across the country with the reality that people have not given up their cars en masse despite the construction of fancy rail lines, and the only promise taxpayers can count on is that this will require their continued and growing financial obligation for decades to come.

 January 28, 2008
Terry
Texas’ School Accountability System Fails Students

The purpose of a state accountability system is to evaluate school performance and provide that information to parents and the public so they can determine the quality of a particular school or district. The current accountability system fails in this regard and needs to be redesigned.

 January 17, 2008
Peacock
Cleaner Energy Means Cleaner Air
Today’s Technology Makes Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal the Fuels of Choice

Energy production from fossil fuels, e.g., coal, oil and natural gas, is often blamed for many of the world’s environmental ills. But no one today was around to experience firsthand how dirty the world was before the invention of the internal combustion engine, when horses—and horse manure—were prevalent on city streets.

 December 12, 2007
and Dr. Margo Thorning
Washington’s Answer To Energy Problems Doesn’t Add Up

The label of a “Do Nothing” Congress might well serve as a badge of honor, given the misguided national energy bills now being debated.

 December 10, 2007
Peacock
Football Follies 2007
Consumers Can Pick Their Own Winners

The “Football Follies” series of films contains classic highlights of players bumbling, stumbling, and fumbling their way across the gridiron. While highly entertaining – such as ex-Minnesota Viking Jim Marshall’s fumble recovery and ensuing 65 yard run to the wrong end zone – they also provide excellent examples of how not to play football. Recent government forays into consumer regulation provide similar examples of how not to intervene in markets.

 November 29, 2007
Story
Not Rocket Science
Teaching Kids Math and Science

Among the report’s dozens of observations and recommendations, perhaps the most astonishing finding is that none of the best practices require any changes in law by the legislature or Texas Education Agency. These innovative public schools are working within existing budgetary and legal guidelines to implement strategies that provide greater support to teachers and result in greater achievement for students.

 November 16, 2007
Thornley
Texas Tort Reform: Just What the Doctor Ordered

Though there is much room for improvement, Texas is showing the rest of the country what happens when doctors are freer to practice their trade and less encumbered by frivolous lawsuits and runaway juries.

 October 29, 2007
Guenthner
Schools Can't Break Addiction to Higher Taxes

Remember the big school property tax cut you were supposed to get? Your local school district might be about to take it away.

 October 23, 2007
Peacock
Facts Show Electric Deregulation a Clear Success
So Why Don’t More People Recognize This?

Today, there are too few people willing to follow the facts when it comes to the Texas electric market. Though the facts clearly point to the success of deregulation, many still refuse to believe that consumer choice is a good idea.

 October 16, 2007
Levin
Correct Competition in Corrections

The true promise of competition in corrections lies not in saving money while providing the same product as state-run prisons, but in harnessing the innovation of the private sector to develop programming that will reduce recidivism, since 99 percent of inmates are ultimately released.

 October 08, 2007
Terry
The Hidden Cost of Remedial Education

Last year, 35 percent of all freshmen at Texas public higher education institutions had to enroll in at least one remedial education course because they were unprepared for college-level work in math, reading, or writing. This equates to more than 162,000 incoming freshmen expending time and energy on remedial coursework that does not count toward their degree.

 October 01, 2007
Thornley
Truth is Conveniently Missing from Global Warming Debate

If the popular press is your source for climate science, you are probably terrified the end is near—moving as far inland as possible and staying inside to avoid heat stroke. You might be altering your lifestyle to combat the effects of carbon dioxide emissions. But if you look at the facts about “global warming,” the picture is not as bleak as it may seem.

 September 25, 2007
Levin
Fugitives, Please Come Forward

Our criminal justice system is bursting at the seams. There are simply not enough law enforcement and correctional resources to keep up with the glut of lawbreakers. Federal and local authorities are recognizing that it is more efficient to use carrots in addition to sticks.

 September 17, 2007
Story
Houston Students Benefit from District’s Embrace of Competition

While the public school lobby has traditionally opposed any introduction of competition into the education system, the state’s largest school district seems to have embraced it.

 September 06, 2007
Peacock
Consumer Sovereignty
Time to Bring Consumer Regulation into the 21st Century

“Many people want the government to protect the consumer,” said the late economist Milton Friedman. “A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.”

 August 25, 2007
Stout
Lone Star Spending Spree

Give George W. Bush credit. He's drawn a lot of criticism for not doing more to control federal spending over the past six years. But he is now deep into a spending fight against a sacred liberal program. And he isn't backing away.

 August 16, 2007
Terry
Locked Out of the Classroom

If student learning is the main objective, then it defies common sense to bar a genius like Albert Einstein or business guru Jack Welch from the classroom because he doesn’t have a teaching certificate.

 August 09, 2007
Story
A Monopoly by Any Other Name

What’s in a name? Apparently, to a government school monopoly, it’s everything.

 August 06, 2007
Levin
Crazy Crimes Prey on Citizens

Even the wealthiest man in Texas may be no match for the gargantuan growth in criminal law.

 July 26, 2007
Peacock
Insurance Regulation 101 — Higher Risks Generally Mean Higher Rates
Rate Regulation Harms Consumers and Taxpayers

The recent decisions by Farmers Insurance and Allstate Insurance to withdraw their proposed homeowners’ insurance rate increases in the face of opposition from the Texas Department of Insurance are an unfortunate turn of events for Texas consumers and taxpayers. The regulation of homeowners’ insurance in Texas has for years produced poor results for consumers.

 July 20, 2007
Stout
The SCHIP to Socialized Medicine

Twenty years of incremental expansions took the percentage of children on government health care from 17 percent to 47 percent. Today’s proposals would push that past 70 percent.

 July 16, 2007
Levin
Katy and Texas Must Not Write Off Students

"The words of a prophet are written on the subway wall,” Simon and Garfunkel once sang. Perhaps "I love Alex" could be a hit record, but in Katy these words written on a gymnasium wall instantly made a 12-year-old a potential felon.

 July 05, 2007
Rollins
Don’t Know Much About History
Colleges fail to teach next generation about America’s heritage

“Whenever the people are well-informed,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1789, “they can be trusted with their own government.” No doubt the Founding Fathers’ faith in self-government would be challenged today with the reality of how little Americans know about their heritage.

 June 28, 2007
Levin
New Brand of Lone Star Justice
Texas lawmakers chart a new course that emphasizes alternatives to incarceration

People suffering from depression must often hit rock bottom before they get better. The same can be said for criminal justice in Texas. Few could have imagined the abuses that surfaced earlier this year at the Texas Youth Commission, but they led to landmark reform legislation. Indeed, reforms made this session indicate that lawmakers are finally rethinking all aspects of the criminal justice system.

 June 21, 2007
and Dr. Margo Thorning
Price-Gouging Laws Will Only Cause More Pain at the Pump

Despite previous lessons learned and the overwhelming evidence that price controls simply do not work, Congress is again looking to shelve the requisite leadership needed to implement sound energy policies based on supply and demand. Rather than helping to increase domestic refining capacity and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, they instead have chosen a purely political strategy void of economic fundamentals.

 June 14, 2007
Terry
Vocational Education Changes Help Students Be More Competitive

To be employable in today’s economy, students need a solid foundation of reading, writing and arithmetic; strong technical skills; and problem-solving and creative thinking skills. To meet these new demands, vocational education must continue to change.

 May 25, 2007
Kress, Patterson, Terry, Windham
Lowering Education Expectations Hurts Texas’ Children

What is more important for our children than a rigorous education? Strong math, reading, and writing skills enable all students from a range of backgrounds to achieve their dreams.

 May 22, 2007
Story
Charter Proposal Would Fail Students

Across Texas, hundreds of charter schools educate thousands of the state’s neediest students. But a bill scheduled for vote today by the Texas House would shut down many of these schools.

 May 14, 2007
Levin
Legislative Preoccupation with Licensing Needs Repair

While many Texas families rightfully fear violent criminals and child predators, no police alert has yet gone out for an interior decorator on the loose. Yet, as the Legislature continues to produce solutions in search of problems, a pending bill would criminalize thousands of interior decorators.

 May 11, 2007
Peacock
Myths About Texas Electricity
Pending Legislation Would Harm Texas Consumers and Economy

A common saying around the Texas Legislature is that bad facts make bad law, meaning that lawmakers too often respond to an isolated bad situation or actor with an overreaching law that applies to everyone in every situation. Imagine, then, how bad the law can be when lawmakers respond not to facts, but to myths and misrepresentations.

 May 02, 2007
Peacock, Holtsberry
Temporary TIF Tax Must Go

The issue boils down to basic honesty and fairness. The TIF was created for a specific purpose and for a specific period of time. The original goal has been met and the policy rationale has disappeared. Given the disproportionate taxes they already pay on telecommunications, Texas consumers deserve relief. And yet the tax lives on.

 April 27, 2007
Stout
Using the Children
Grotesque health care politics in Texas

A recent e-mail from the Children’s Defense Fund, a leading lobby in the push to expand government-subsidized health care, asks its state coordinators to send “stories of children who have died because they did not have access to adequate health coverage” and adds that “a picture of the child to include with the story” would be especially valuable.

 April 25, 2007
Terry
Give Principals More Control Over Schools

Public education is one of the few industries that deny management the ability to evaluate employees annually so that the top performers are rewarded and the ineffective ones dismissed.

 April 23, 2007
Heflin
Will the Taxpayers’ Friends Please Stand Up?

Despite $14 billion in new revenue coming into the state’s coffers, any notion that the legislature will be measured by how it treats hardworking Texas taxpayers has been forgotten. Some lawmakers who wrapped themselves in the flag of limited government, limited spending, and low taxes during their election campaigns have removed it from display now that they are in Austin.

 April 18, 2007
Rollins
Give Universities Incentive to Produce Results

To the extent we put more money into our institutions of higher education, it should be targeted to producing the type of graduates Texas needs to preserve its competitive advantage.

 April 10, 2007
Story
Quality Teaching at Risk
Senate must restore incentive for teaching excellence

Unfortunately, the Texas House stripped the promising incentive pay program last month, converting it to a meager across-the-board “pay raise” of $850 for every teacher, counselor, nurse, and librarian. Make no mistake: this is not a pay raise. No new money has been added, and average teacher pay will remain the same. The legislature merely reshuffled the existing money from the highest-performing teachers to give the most ineffective ones another $850. The best teachers could lose up to $10,000 each.

 April 04, 2007
Levin
Break Texas' Addiction to Prison

No Texan should be fooled into thinking that we need more prisons to keep up with population growth or lock up sex offenders. The real question is whether we need more prisons to lock up more nonviolent drug offenders.

 April 03, 2007
Peacock
Texas Electric Market Sets the National Standard
Some Proposed “Fixes” Could Harm the Texas Economy

From tort, tax, and budget reforms to deregulation of the telecom and electric markets, Texans have decided that markets are often a better solution to our problems than government intervention. The results have proven this to be the right approach.

 March 21, 2007
Terry
Let the Sun Shine on School Expenses

Taxpayers have a right to know how and where their money is being spent. What better way to hold schools accountable than by letting the sun shine on their checkbooks and allowing taxpayers to examine their spending?

 March 15, 2007
Moses
Don't Mess With Texans' Long-Term Care -- Fix It!

If the nation isn’t prepared for the aging baby boomers, it isn’t because the boomers sneaked up on us. For some time, we have seen the warnings and been conscious of the coming “age wave.” The problem is that few have taken heed and been moved to act thus far.

 March 05, 2007
Levin
TYC Reform Must Go Beyond Ending Abuse

Texans have been horrified to learn that some of the 5,000 juveniles allegedly being rehabilitated at Texas Youth Commission facilities have instead been molested and mistreated.

 March 01, 2007
Peacock
What Texas Did Right
Electricity markets still at risk

Now that TXU will no longer exist as we knew it, what is left? Just the facts, which show a very different picture than what most people are trying to paint.

 February 16, 2007
Heflin
Spending for Tax Relief
The spending cap versus property tax relief

Texans need to understand that as long as current state spending increases at the low rate already proposed, a vote to exceed the constitutional spending cap is a vote for promised tax relief…and nothing more.

 February 14, 2007
Terry
Alternative Certification Reform Can Ease Teacher Shortage in Math and Science

Private sector experts are too often kept out of the classroom because of antiquated state certification requirements. If our primary concern really is our children, the Texas Legislature will act this session to start removing those barriers.

 February 07, 2007
Guenthner
Paying Too Much for Electricity? Switch

When your cable TV bill gets too high, you can switch to satellite providers. Home telephone too expensive? Go with voice-over-Internet protocol. Don’t like your cellular service? The kiosk at the mall will give you a free camera phone if you’ll switch. We routinely comparison shop for cars, for groceries, for clothes, for insurance... Why not shop for electricity?

 February 01, 2007
Levin
Legislature Must Empower Texas Crime Victims

We must not view crime as simply an offense against the state, and instead ensure that crime victims have a place in the courtroom and a seat at the table. The marginalization of victims is not only unjust, but deprives us of the public safety benefits that are only realized when an offender’s conscience is awakened upon realizing the harm caused to another human being.

 January 26, 2007
Stout
Bring Back Dickey Flatt!
Lawmakers should remember who pays for government

When U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm introduced the “Dickey Flatt test” to his colleagues and to the country, he brought a new conscience to budget writing and created an iconic image for fiscal discipline.

 January 24, 2007
Story
The Dropout Drain: How Dropouts—Not School Choice—Take Money From Public Schools
School choice saves students and dollars

Opponents of school choice fight parent choice and competition among schools by arguing that school choice takes money from schools. Unfortunately, they turn a blind eye to what is both a serious problem in education and the largest drain on school funding: dropouts.

 January 11, 2007
Schlomach, Ph.D.
Let Taxpayers Spend the $14.3 Billion
Why Returning the Surplus is Best for Everyone

The chief argument for new spending is always the desire to “meet people’s needs.” As good as this might sound, it is a strategy often doomed to failure.

 January 08, 2007
Peacock
Move Over New London
El Paso Set to Become Next Poster Child for Eminent Domain Abuse

El Paso is set to be the new poster child in the battle over private property rights in Texas.

 December 19, 2006
Terry
Improving the Quality of a High School Education
Using End-of-Course Exams to Measure Student Performance

End-of-course exams can move Texas students in the right direction.

 December 07, 2006
Burnett
Coal Power in the Black
A Boon for Human Health and the Economy

Texas will need more electric power in the coming years - lots more - and coal will be critical to meeting those power needs.

 November 14, 2006
Peacock
Texas’ Retail Electric Market Is Working
It’s the Price to Beat that is Causing Problems

Competition and retail choice are working in the Texas electric market.

 November 08, 2006
Stout
Moving Health Care Past WWII
Market Reforms Needed to Cure Ailing System

The wartime economy of the last century should no longer be allowed to dictate the health care choices available to this century’s health care consumers.

 October 31, 2006
Story
Choice Will Save Education, Not Destroy It

Milwaukee's school choice program benefits children, strengthens communities, and unites unlikely allies.

 October 25, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
Protecting Taxpayers
State Needs Budget Reforms Proposed By Perry

We are entering a period of great peril for Texans’ pocketbooks.

 October 19, 2006
Levin
Prison: The Choice of New Criminals
Less costly alternatives should be used for effective punishment

Less costly alternatives should be used for effective punishment.

 October 11, 2006
Peacock
Some Things Too Important For Government
Economic Growth Depends on Reliable Electricity Supply

Increased electric regulation will threaten innovation, investment and the reliability of supplies, harming our ability to bring new employers to Texas and maintain the strong job creation rate.

 October 04, 2006
Story
Pre-K Fails to Perform
Academic Defects Won’t Be Fixed with Expanded Costly Program

Research has shown preschool can actually hinder social development, especially for children from the poorest families.

 September 27, 2006
Stout
How Poor Is Poor?
We must meaningfully define poverty in effort to curb it

Poorly defining poverty is the first step in making us all much poorer.

 September 22, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
Parks and Politics
Bureaucracy Has the Advantage

Many of the state's parks should be privatized.

 September 13, 2006
Levin
Big House Blues
Don’t Get Locked Into New Prisons

Too many nonviolent offenders are entering state lockups while unreformed violent offenders go out the back door.

 September 08, 2006
Rockwell, Jr.
The Real Cause of Blackouts
Hint: It’s not deregulation

Consumers would adore a setting in which power companies beg for their business, encouraging them to turn thermostats to the coldest point.

 August 31, 2006
Stout
Saving Us From Ourselves
Illegal Immigration Is Only a Symptom

Illegal immigration is certainly a public policy priority in its own right, but it cannot be confused as the silver bullet solution to rescue government budgets from insolvency.

 August 24, 2006
Story
Missing The Bus On Math?
While most are lagging behind, some schools are bright examples

With the start of a new school year, many Texas kids are missing the bus on math and science.

 August 18, 2006
Sullivan
Bringing Spending Under Control
An audio commentary for Texas Public Radio

If Texans are serious about addressing the bite government takes out of our wallets, then we must be serious about restraining the size of the mouth doing the biting.

 August 16, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
When a Limit Is No Limit
Texas’ Courts and Constitution Fail to Protect Taxpayers

Without a meaningful limit, government tends to grow out of control.

 August 09, 2006
Levin
Dancing with Big Brother
Ever-Expanding List of Crimes Plagues Texas

The traditional and legitimate use of criminal law is being trivialized.

 August 03, 2006
Peacock
Your Planet or Your Pocketbook?
Government Energy Regulations Create a Catch—22

It shouldn't surprise people to know we are facing the Catch-22 of choosing between clean air and consumers’ pocketbooks because of a history of poorly thought out environmental regulations.

 July 27, 2006
Stout
Critics Ignore Benefits of Reform
Visit to welfare field office demonstrates why change is desperately needed

Rather than relying on in-person interviews in a field office with limited hours of operation, the new system allows applicants extended hours by phone, and 24-hour access online.

 July 19, 2006
Story
Universal Pre-K? A Losing Proposition
High costs, few benefits make idea bad for Texas kids, taxpayers

While the concept of paying for every child's preschool appears laudable, in reality it is an expensive notion that results in a bureaucracy and a massive financial hit to taxpayers.

 July 14, 2006
Sullivan
Lawmakers Must Address Eminent Domain
An audio commentary for Texas Public Radio

Local governments taking private property from one person and giving to another cannot happen here, right? Wrong.

 July 12, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
The Inevitability of More Costly Government
Why Government Costs Rise Faster Than Inflation

Government’s demand is unlimited. For any given program, no matter how generous, someone can be found who would benefit if the program was even more generously funded.

 July 06, 2006
Levin
A New Texas Pipeline
Zero Tolerance for Texas Kids

The newest Texas pipeline funnels children from schools to prison, by way of alternative education programs and juvenile detention centers.

 June 28, 2006
Stout
Flamboyant Giving
Uncharitable use of tax dollars demonstrates strength of private charity

Who is surprised that in its haste to show its big heart, the government lost millions of dollars in debit cards and fraudulent payments?

 June 22, 2006
Peacock
Kelo Anniversary: Much Work Left To Be Done
El Paso on the Verge of Becoming the Next New London

It is simply wrong for local governments to use eminent domain to take private property from one person and give it to another.

 June 15, 2006
Story
Choice Is The Best Choice For Teachers
Competition For Teachers Will Improve Pay, Working Conditions

Competition creates better working conditions, more competitive salaries, and greater public esteem for teachers.

 June 07, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
Whose Bottom Line Is It Anyway?
Wading into Texas’ biennial budget

Studying the state’s budget and trying to get answers to basic questions is a little like a physicist studying the big bang. But the Texas state budget is not the cosmos.

 June 05, 2006
Levin
Fixing the Jail Break
Harris County Jail crisis shows need for reforms

Building new jails and hiring more personnel is a costly stopgap measure.

 May 24, 2006
Peacock
Telecom Taxes Too High
Texas Ranks 3rd in the Nation

In a world where voice, video and data communications are merging into almost indistinguishable packets of electrons, taxes still discriminate based on the type of telecommunications service provided.

 May 18, 2006
Stout
Bullying Wal-Mart
Bad policies, not employers, are to blame for uninsured

Texas has become the latest state to jump on the anti-Wal-Mart bandwagon.

 May 11, 2006
Story
Pay Raise Short-Changes Teachers
Better pay will only come from better priorities

Lawmakers and educators fail to recognize there is plenty of money in our education system to pay teachers more – it’s just a matter of prioritization.

 May 04, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
Contradiction Is in the Eye of the Beholder
When advocates for the poor tax the poor

It is contradictory to praise increased costs passed on to the poor on one hand, while criticizing increased costs passed on to the poor on the other.

 April 27, 2006
Peacock
Private Property Rights (Still) in Jeopardy
Legislature must provide long-term protection from abuse

The Texas Legislature has much to do to protect private property owners from the overreach of local governments.

 April 24, 2006
Stout
CHIPs Down When Times Are Good
In a growing economy, less dependence on government is reality

Declining assistance rolls reveal a startling difference in worldview; one expects individuals to rely on government, while the other emphasizes personal responsibility and private charity.

 April 24, 2006
Levin
Time to Empower Texas’ Crime Victims
New initiatives would increase victim satisfaction, reduce costs

Giving victims a seat at the table in plea bargaining is a matter of justice.

 April 13, 2006
Sullivan
Done With Taxes? Not Yet
Dedicating surplus to tax relief shields Texans from sting of government growth

Texans are working longer just to pay the cost of government.

 March 31, 2006
Story
Bigger Is Not Always Better
School Services Should Be Consolidated

Shared services would enable districts to save thousands of dollars each year on non-academic expenses.

 March 28, 2006
Levin
Big Government’s New Pet Project
Mandatory animal registration burdensome, unnecessary

New regulations will soon require animal owners to tag their animals, creating new costs with few benefits.

 March 21, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
Progressive Envy
Class Warfare Should Not Determine Tax Policy

In determining the best tax policy for Texas, class warfare should not be part of the debate.

 March 01, 2006
Peacock
Consumer Choice Benefiting Homeowners
Political Calls for More Regulation Not Helpful

Consumer choice, not government regulation, has provided the best value for policyholders. More of this, along with some fair weather, is what will lead to lower homeowners' insurance costs in Texas.

 March 01, 2006
Stout
Health Costs? Who Knows!
Price Transparency Needed In Medical Market

Greater price transparency within the health care industry will go a long way in helping to right the market, bring greater competition to the marketplace, and encourage more sensible pricing.

 February 24, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
No Rest for the Weary
Why a School Property Tax Buy-Down Is Only a First Step

Current property tax reduction debate is only a temporary solution.

 February 13, 2006
Sullivan
Give Surplus Back to Taxpayers
Legislators Can Solve School Finance Dilemma Easily

With the recently announced $4.3 billion revenue surplus, lawmakers have the solution to the state's school finance problem staring them in the face. Let's hope they put it to good use to buy-down property taxes, and not engage in more spending.

 February 06, 2006
Levin
It Shouldn’t Be a Federal Offense to Offend
From T-Shirts to Kitten-Registries, Everything (Could Be) a Crime

Criminal law is a blunt instrument and should be reserved for conduct that is blameworthy and threatens public safety, not wielded to enlarge the power of government at the expense of ordinary Americans.

 February 01, 2006
Peacock
“Windfall” Taxes Not the Solution to Energy Challenges
Innovation, Investment, Free Market Keys to Success

To combat rising energy prices, we need to remove burdensome regulations, not add new taxes.

 January 24, 2006
Peacock
Benefits of Renewable Energy Overblown
Businesses, Not Consumers Or Environment, Are Main Beneficiary

The current focus on renewable energy is doing little to meet America's energy challenges.

 January 20, 2006
 New Drug-labeling Rule to Benefit Consumers
Allegations about Federal Preemption Should Not Worry Texans

A new drug-labeling rule from the FDA aims to give medical providers and patients clearer information about prescription drugs.

 January 18, 2006
Schlomach, Ph.D.
Big Taxes, Big Government
What Income Tax Advocates Really Want

According to some, bigger government extracting more resources from the economy will build a healthier and more prosperous middle class.

 December 27, 2005
Peacock
Telecom Reform Moves Ahead
But There is Plenty of Work Left to be Done

It's good news that telecommunications reform is moving forward in Texas. But there is a lot of work to be done before we enjoy the fruits of a truly deregulated marketplace.

 December 22, 2005
Story
Texas Lags in Math, Science
Economic Future Demands Curriculum Improvements

Approximately half of all students in Texas’ state universities and colleges need remedial classes. But particularly in math and the sciences, Texas’ school children are lagging behind.

 December 12, 2005
Schlomach, Ph.D.
Don’t Create More Problems
Taxing Business Is Bad Business

We have heard it before and no doubt we’ll hear it again: business must pony up more cash. It turns out Texas businesses pay just over 60 percent of all state and local taxes, the fourth highest business tax burden in the nation.

 December 05, 2005
Patterson
Making Earning a Part of Learning
All Texas Schools Should Follow Houston ISDs Lead

The impact of one teacher on student learning has gone unrecognized in public schools for far too long, but that is changing.

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