Principles Of Government

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This site is designed to generate ideas for a supplementary section on think tank websites.
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Foundational articles (AA) are repeated in Section (A). Both (AA) and (A) articles provide key insights on major policy and cultural issues, while (B) articles address currently urgent or more technical topics that may be replaced more frequently as they become dated.

Articles

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    Emission Cuts Will Fail to Stop Climate Change. What to Do Then? B

    By Tunku Varadarajan , Nathan Myhrvold - Feb. 17, 2023

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    By Tunku Varadarajan , Nathan Myhrvold – …“There are activists who oppose funding or experiments. There’s no evidence I can see that many of the people involved in the climate debate want a solution.”…Geoengineering would appear to be the application of science par excellence. …“Opponents worry that once you have geoengineering, people won’t make sacrifices to cut emissions. They want a sword of Damocles hanging over humanity as a means to force us to follow their ideology.”…. In climate change, he says, this moralistic attitude takes the following form: “I don’t like aspects of our society, I don’t like technology, I don’t like capitalism, and this is nature’s retribution. And so we have to change the way we live.” Such beliefs “have become a very powerful disincentive, particularly for academic researchers.” …He calls it “insane” not to fund such research … Read More

    DEI Spells Death for the Idea of a University AA

    By Matthew Spalding - Feb. 10, 2023

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    By Matthew Spalding – Wherever this agenda is allowed to take root, free expression and academic integrity are doomed…The first object of government, Madison tells us,…is the protection of diversity in … different opinions, to be encouraged to preserve liberty. Equity is an ancient legal concept of justice …, developed over centuries of English common-law practice. …. Yet in true Orwellian fashion, they have been redefined.…Diversity is no longer a term to describe the breadth of our differences but a demand to grant privileges to purportedly oppressed identity groups. Equity assigns desirable positions based on race, sex and sexual orientation rather than character, competence and merit.  Read More

    New York vs. Florida, by the Numbers B

    By The Editorial Board - Feb. 9, 2023

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    By The Editorial Board – WSJ – Some numbers tell a story about comparative governance. Comparative governance is a useful course of study, not least because bad governance is so costly to people and prosperity. We often write about the migration from the Northeast to Florida and other states, but sometimes the contrast is best illuminated with some data. Read More

    Congress Once Constrained Government Debt AA

    By John F. Cogan - Jan. 23, 2023 

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    By Judy Shelton – Entitlement programs have accounted for all the growth in federal spending relative to gross domestic product in the past 60 years, causing the persistent budget deficits during that period. Entitlement expenditures are determined differently from so-called discretionary programs. Spending on the latter programs is set by fixed appropriations of money. Entitlement expenditures aren’t fixed in advance but determined by the program’s level of benefits, its eligibility rules and economic factors. Jurisdiction for entitlement legislation is dispersed among more than a dozen committees in each congressional chamber….In this system, no committee is accountable for total spending. Each committee has a reason to expand its programs and resist attempts to restrain them, but none have an incentive to keep overall spending down. It’s analogous to the classic tragedy of the commons. Read More

    Paul Volcker’s Recipe for Prosperity AA

    By Judy Shelton - Jan. 31, 2023

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    By Judy Shelton – Going back those 40 some years, we can draw lessons … about how to coordinate monetary and fiscal policy effectively. …The Reagan plan consisted of four parts: “(1) substantial reduction in the growth of federal expenditures, (2) significantly reduced federal tax rates, (3) prudent relief of federal regulatory burdens, and (4) a monetary policy on the part of the independent Federal Reserve System consistent with those policies.”…“The goal of this Administration is to nurture the strength and vitality of the American people by reducing the burdensome, intrusive role of the federal government; by lowering tax rates and cutting spending; and by providing incentives for individuals to work, to save, and to invest. It is our basic belief that only by reducing the growth of government can we increase the growth of the economy.” Read More