Des Moines Teaches a Lesson in Economic Development Failure

Elected officials and bureaucrats always have big “economic development” plans. However, these plans are ineffective and cost taxpayers dearly. The changing fortunes of downtown Des Moines, the people who live and work there, and the companies that call it home should teach us all a lesson on the limitations of local governments’ economic development efforts. In the real world, even […]

A Victory for Free Speech on Campus

These days, it seems the last place where the free exchange of ideas is tolerated is a college campus. Too often we read about an example of a university administrator stamping out free expression and thought in the name of promoting ephemeral concepts like “social justice” or a “safe environment for learning.” Rather than promoting an environment where students and faculty exchange viewpoints and learn to live in a world where not everyone thinks alike, the trend is to treat certain views as out of bounds and subject to discipline.

It’s Time for a Healthcare Reform Checkup

It is impossible for me to imagine that we will see any meaningful healthcare reform soon. Nothing substantive has been offered by President Joe Biden’s administration, despite earlier declarations that “Obamacare” would be expanded as “Bidencare”.  Given the logjam in the Senate, thanks in large part to Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), any proposal which is unlikely to be offered in the next few months seems equally unlikely to pass.

Legal Victories

By Alan Ostergren   Freedom movement scores important legal victories Labels are useful for describing a person’s political views, but only to a point. People who define themselves, for instance, as Conservatives, Republicans, or even Patriots, do not agree on every issue. But one issue unites political observers of all stripes: the importance of the courts. In the last few […]

You Should Run for Local Office

By Alan Ostergren You should consider running for local office. No, really, you should. Later this year Iowans will elect representatives to school boards and city offices (county offices are elected in even-numbered years). These elections are nonpartisan and take little organizational effort to mount a campaign. Most of these elections are very low turnout, meaning that a person who […]

Healthcare as Stimulus and Infrastructure?

By Dr. Christopher Peters Between last fall’s election and inauguration day, many of us were speculating about what health care changes we could expect under President Joe Biden. Nearly three months into his presidency, the picture still is not crystal clear. Since President Biden’s inauguration, the administration has reversed some of the healthcare policy decisions enacted under the Trump administration. […]