All Posts Tagged With: "George W. Bush"

To Own or Be Owned: That Is the Question

In coming months, and probably years, President Bush’s “Ownership Society” proposals—in particular, his plans for personal accounts within Social Security, health savings accounts, and more school choice—will stimulate national discussion in directions politicians for decades have feared to tread. Whether you think the President’s specifics have merit or not, this development should be seen as [...]

1Jul2005 | | 0 comments | Continued

Are Private Decisions Trustworthy?

In coming months, and probably years, President Bush’s “Ownership Society” proposals—in particular, his plans for personal accounts within Social Security, health savings accounts, and more school choice—will stimulate national discussion in directions politicians for decades have feared to tread. Whether you think the President’s specifics have merit or not, this development should be seen as [...]

1Jun2005 | | 0 comments | Continued

Federal Surveillance: The Threat to Americans’ Security

Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11 the Bush administration has launched many new surveillance programs in the name of homeland security. When critics raised questions about the potential abuses of the new powers, some administration supporters insisted that Bush’s new surveillance policies were benign because there was no evidence the programs were being abused. But [...]

1Jan2004 | | 2 comments | Continued

Massive Foreign Aid Is the Solution to Africa’s Ills?

President Bush traveled to Africa in July. Those sympathetic to the President might say he went to show his charitable concern for the problems of Africa and his sincere care for the downtrodden of the world. But a less rose-tinted view might have shown an unprincipled but skillful political machine bolstering its image among centrist [...]

1Nov2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

Washington’s Centrally Planned Heating and Cooling

While the Clinton administration had eight years to “save the environment,” it waited until the final days to push through a flurry of questionable environmental regulations. Among these was the regulation that would require increasing the efficiency of central air conditioners and heat pumps by 30 percent. In the arcane language of the energy business, [...]

1Jul2003 | | Comments Off | Continued

Project Labor Agreements: Economic Illiteracy 101

Perhaps it’s the result of a dumbing-down of the American citizenry, but these days economic debates are waged with the most illogical premises. For instance, in recent weeks news stories have discussed plans by some California cities to use tax dollars to build power plants, rather than to keep buying power from the quasi-private utility [...]

1Jun2003 | | 1 comment | Continued

Health-Care Demagogues

Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. The Bush administration seems ready to push Medicare reform, and Republican legislators are committed to creating a pharmaceutical benefit. The congressional hopper is sure to fill with bills attacking the pharmaceutical industry and [...]

1May2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

Homeland Security Circa AD 285

Alexis de Tocqueville said that nothing is so threatening to individual liberty as extended war. Wars add to the relative power of the central government, and this change in the balance of power is accompanied by the decline of personal freedom. “A long war almost always places nations in this sad alternative: that their defeat [...]

1Apr2003 | | 3 comments | Continued

Labor Law and the West Coast Dock Dispute

The two-month West Coast dock dispute was settled in late November, but not until after President Bush obtained an injunction to halt the shutdown that was underway at all 29 ports from Seattle to San Diego. The injunction imposed the full 80-day “cooling off” period permitted by Sections 206 through 210 of the 1947 Taft-Hartley [...]

1Feb2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Constitution According to George Bush

White House lawyers have reportedly told President George W. Bush that he doesn’t need congressional authority to go to war. For political reasons, the President says he will seek “congressional support for U.S. action” in Iraq. But will he agree to be bound by a no vote? If not, his request is meaningless. The Constitution [...]

1Dec2002 | | 0 comments | Continued

What’s Happening?

Every day brings news of another government threat to our liberty. President Bush has asked for a new look at the posse comitatus law, which prohibits use of the military in domestic law enforcement. He also called for “a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and [...]

1Oct2002 | | 0 comments | Continued

Protecting Precious Resources

“If our progress is to continue, it is important that we do not forget the things which have brought us thus far.” -HENRY GRADY WEAVER, The Mainspring of Human Progress Ever since President George W. Bush proposed opening up parts of the federally owned Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for drilling, the debate has raged [...]

1Mar2002 | | 0 comments | Continued

A Maturing Europe?

Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. Although the Bush administration has promised not to withdraw unilaterally from the Balkans, leading Europeans remain nervous about the administration. They recognize his reluctance to continue their continent’s free defense ride, especially as [...]

1Oct2001 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Bought Mind

Why did the Founders not mention money, that is, the government’s use of taxes to support religious organizations? The answer is simple and important. First, because religious bodies, exemplified by the Vatican, derived their income directly from their members, collected their own funds, and were often quite wealthy.

1Jul2001 | | 1 comment | Continued

Another Alcoa Executive at Treasury

When President-elect George W. Bush chose Paul H. O’Neill, chairman of the world’s largest aluminum manufacturer, to be his secretary of the treasury, Bush said, “it’s important for me to find somebody who has vast experience, who has a steady hand, and when he speaks, speaks with authority and conviction and knowledge.” If O’Neill turns out to be half as good as the other Alcoa executive who once occupied the same cabinet post, he’ll do the country great service.

1Jun2001 | | 0 comments | Continued

It’s Not Over Till It’s Over

“Year after year in Washington, budget debates seem to come down to an old, tired argument: on one side, those who want more government, regardless of the cost; on the other, those who want less government, regardless of the need. “We should leave those arguments to the last century and chart a different course.” —President [...]

1Jun2001 | | 0 comments | Continued

Cutting Off Subsidies Restricts Freedom?

One of President George W. Bush’s first acts on taking office was to end taxpayer subsidies to private organizations that provide abortion services overseas. The bellyaching was predictable and deafening. What is sadly emblematic of our time is the fallacy that underlay the protest. Typical was the New York Times editorial of January 24, which [...]

1May2001 | | 0 comments | Continued
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