I recently saw this headline claiming that abortion rates increased after Texas defunded the abortion provider Planned Parenthood in 2011. After claiming that the new policy resulted in the closure of some “women’s health clinics,” The Huffington Post article stated, “the abortion rate among teenagers in the state rose 3 percent over what it would…
Category: Government
Markets, Not the Governing Elite, Secure Life, Liberty, and Prosperity
A recent article by the Niskanen Center tries to make the case that regulations should be considered beneficial unless proven otherwise. The thing is is that we don’t need data to understand whether the effects caused by regulation are on balance good or bad. Liberty tells us that the cumulative effect of regulations will be…
Local Government Regulation Tramples Property Rights
“Property owners do not acquire a constitutionally protected vested right in property uses …” – Texas Supreme Court; City of University Park v. Benners, 485 SW 2d 773 (1972). To fully solve the problem of local regulations making Texas cities less and less affordable for the average Texan, delaying construction, and costing Texans jobs, the…
SwampCare 101 – Surprise, Surprise, Surprise
Few things in politics surprise me anymore; I expect to see the unexpected, the absurd, the mind blowing, etc. Still, the fact that the Republicans can’t see that with SwampCare (or RyanCare, or ObamaCare Light, etc.) they are doing the exact same thing that the Democrats did—“we have to pass the bill so that you…
What People Think about Texas Legislature’s Special Session
Look’s like some folks aren’t happy:
The Blessings of Inefficient Government
Below is a table that shows (on line 2) the numbers of bills and joint resolutions, i.e., bills that can become law, that were sent by the Texas Legislature to the governor for his signature by April 24 of the session in question. One thing that obviously stands out is that the Texas Legislature has…
Restoring Liberty through the States—and the People
Liberty has afforded all Americans the opportunity to live prosperous lives through hard work and civic cooperation. Unfortunately, the immense growth of the federal government has, in the words of Milton Friedman, made it more likely “that its actions will reflect special interests rather than the general interest.” Instead of government being the means for…
Why I am Not Voting for Trump
I am not going to vote for Donald Trump for president of the United States. This has caused consternation among some of my friends stuck in the binary choice paradigm that voting for anyone besides Mr. Trump or not voting at all is essentially a vote for Hillary Clinton. I am comfortable with the decision…
Good News and Not So Good News on Corporate and Constituent Pork
Good news from Florida on the corporate welfare front as reported by the News Service of Florida: The talks on [budget] allocations had largely centered on Gov. Rick Scott’s call for a $1 billion tax-cut package and a “Florida Enterprise Fund” of $250 million in business incentives. … In the end, lawmakers agreed to $400…
Chattel Law Enforcement
A Texas state representative recently complained about being treated like a child during an encounter with police after he had been clocked driving 94 miles an hour. His statement was in the context of hearings over the sad case of Sandra Bland. There are a lot of problems we face today as we move toward…