The 24-hour news cycle provides no shortage of incidents that illustrate the need for police reforms to our current system, the most recent and tragic example being the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. After the shooting, shocking news broke that the school resource officer, who was armed, failed...
This commentary was originally featured in The Federalist on March 13, 2018. A California lawmaker recently came up with the bright idea that waiters who serve unrequested straws should go to jail for six months because … the environment. Another duo of lawmakers have proposed more than doubling California’s business tax under the theory that...
Texas is frequently criticized in the media for having the highest uninsured rate in the nation. The presumption is that uninsured Texans and uninsured residents in other states aren’t getting health care because they lack health insurance, particularly government supported insurance. But, is this true? Does the insured rate really reflect people being harmed for lack of health...
Imagine: You own a business. You love what you do, the opportunity to employ people, and satisfying customers. But the cost of doing business is escalating as local property taxes increase. Down the road, a large corporation started construction of a new building. They considered other locations before choosing your community. That corporation received...
When I was invited to Mississippi to meet with policy leaders and discuss productive ways to address the national opioid epidemic, I leaped at the opportunity. At Americans for Prosperity’s reception and at the Clergy for Prison Reform’s Third Annual Policy Summit, I learned about the great strides the good state of Mississippi has...
Gov. Greg Abbott recently called for significant changes to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, noting the agency faces long-term problems that require legislative action. The current model for state youth lockups is not working, and reports of sexual misconduct and violent behavior by employees at these facilities has filled the news cycle for months. As the conversation turns to solutions,...
May the government monitor your internet habits or the location of your cell phone without a warrant? The United States Supreme Court will soon decide. This year, the court could decide as many as three cases involving the scope of the Fourth Amendment in the digital age. If the oral arguments in these cases...
Over the past few years, a glut of news accounts has exposed serious restrictions on free speech and debate on American campuses. University speech codes, restrictive “free-speech zones,” commencement speaker “dis-invitations,” and campus shout-downs of invited speakers (the unconstitutional “heckler’s veto”) threaten to undermine our schools’ defining mission: the free, nonpartisan quest for truth. There...
Critics often claim Texas’ prosperity is based on abundant oil and natural gas production. Others suggest it’s a “miracle.” Evidence, however, proves the Texas model, based on conservative fiscal policies, that ranks second best in economic freedom according to the Fraser Institute supports sustained human flourishing. With less than 10 percent of the U.S. population, Texans have created 26 percent...
In the face of rising intolerance on our campuses, there is confusion in some quarters regarding not only how, but whether state lawmakers should act to protect the right to free speech at our public institutions of higher learning. Here in Texas, as one newspaper account recently stated it, “After months of media conflagration, hand-wringing and attempts to...
Mississippi lawmakers have impressed conservative policy leaders around the country with their commitment to smart justice policies. Smart justice means protecting public safety by using taxpayer dollars wisely to get the best outcomes from our criminal justice system. Mississippi has been leading the way since 2014 when Governor Phil Bryant championed the most comprehensive criminal...
The modern flashpoint of police and community tensions might have been Ferguson, and a cluster of high profile incidents within a year that fanned the flames. Now over three years removed from the incident, time has softened some of the high emotion of the issues, and conservatives have the opportunity to lead the way...