The Lighthouse®
The death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer with a history of repeated abusive behavior has spurred protests, demonstrations, and riots across America. Peaceful protests are more than justified. However, the lawless riots, arson, theft, injuries, and killings are not; they are enacting the very injustices they claim to contest and on a colossal and catastrophic scale. In addition to ending the lawlessness and holding those responsible, needed reforms include deeper background checks for police applicants, ending “qualified immunity” for misconduct, and requiring police departments to purchase misconduct insurance that makes them accountable.
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By Ronald L. Trowbridge (The Hill, 5/26/20)
We are now living in a country where governors have become “benevolent” despots, denying shopkeepers and employees their livelihoods without due process or just compensation. Some of the thirty million people left out in the cold get relief payments from the government, but note that this “free” money was initially taken from taxpayers or borrowed or printed.
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By Richard K. Vedder (Forbes, 5/11/20)
Forty years after opening for business, the U.S. Department of Education is the second worst federal intervention in higher education, trailing only federal financial assistance programs. Fortunately, there are a couple of bright spots: the current department’s rescinding of the previous administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter urging an unconstitutional approach to sexual assault inquiries, and the College Scorecard, which provides potential students with useful information about colleges, including earnings data by major.
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The clash between the two main competing narratives about President Donald Trump signals an epic constitutional crisis. The failure of purveyors of both portrayals to enter into a rational discuss with their opponents represents a grave threat to the American project.
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By Scott Beyer (Catalyst, 5/28/20)
The longer we stay shut down, the more business closings, job losses, personal and government insolvency, shortages of basic goods, and economic stagnation we will see. The sooner we reopen, the more likely it is we avoid those consequences.
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Volume 22, Issue 21: June 3, 2020
By Samuel R. Staley (The Beacon, 6/1/20)
The death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer with a history of repeated abusive behavior has spurred protests, demonstrations, and riots across America. Peaceful protests are more than justified. However, the lawless riots, arson, theft, injuries, and killings are not; they are enacting the very injustices they claim to contest and on a colossal and catastrophic scale. In addition to ending the lawlessness and holding those responsible, needed reforms include deeper background checks for police applicants, ending “qualified immunity” for misconduct, and requiring police departments to purchase misconduct insurance that makes them accountable.
READ MORE »
By Ronald L. Trowbridge (The Hill, 5/26/20)
We are now living in a country where governors have become “benevolent” despots, denying shopkeepers and employees their livelihoods without due process or just compensation. Some of the thirty million people left out in the cold get relief payments from the government, but note that this “free” money was initially taken from taxpayers or borrowed or printed.
READ MORE »By Richard K. Vedder (Forbes, 5/11/20)
Forty years after opening for business, the U.S. Department of Education is the second worst federal intervention in higher education, trailing only federal financial assistance programs. Fortunately, there are a couple of bright spots: the current department’s rescinding of the previous administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter urging an unconstitutional approach to sexual assault inquiries, and the College Scorecard, which provides potential students with useful information about colleges, including earnings data by major.
READ MORE »
The clash between the two main competing narratives about President Donald Trump signals an epic constitutional crisis. The failure of purveyors of both portrayals to enter into a rational discuss with their opponents represents a grave threat to the American project.
READ MORE »
By Scott Beyer (Catalyst, 5/28/20)
The longer we stay shut down, the more business closings, job losses, personal and government insolvency, shortages of basic goods, and economic stagnation we will see. The sooner we reopen, the more likely it is we avoid those consequences.
READ MORE »
The Beacon: New Blog Posts
- K Street Lobbyists Go on a Feeding Frenzy, by Craig Eyermann
- George Floyd and the Future of Police Misconduct, by Samuel R. Staley
- Media Up In Arms Over Twitter, Remains Silent on EARN IT Act’s Threat, by Mary L. G. Theroux
- CoronaCrisis and Leviathan: Big Brother Comes to Your Town (and iPhone), by Mary L. G. Theroux
- Coronavirus Corruption: Bad Incentives and Politics as Usual, by Raymond J. March
- How to Fix a Perverse Coronavirus Incentive and Get More Americans Back to Work, by Craig Eyermann
- After the Government-Engineered Recession, How Soon Will the Economy Return to Normal?, by Randall G. Holcombe
- Keep Government Out of Developing a COVID-19 Vaccine, by Raymond J. March
- The Stand at Paxton County Puts Leftist Activism at Center of Corruption Drama, by Samuel R. Staley
- California Exploits Ammunition Background Checks to Confiscate Guns, by K. Lloyd Billingsley
- Pandemics Are Not Recessions, and Pessimism Isn’t Logic, by R. David Ranson
Catalyst: New Articles
- Economic Disruption from New Tech Could Deflate Cities, by Logan Smith
- Why the Shutdown in America Must End, by Scott Beyer
