Is South Carolina at War with the Homeless?
EQUALITY OF THE LAW OUGHT TO MEAN SOMETHING South Carolina has a homeless problem. That’s especially true in Columbia. The problem isn’t that the state and city are overwhelmed by…
Why Another Earned Income Credit Won’t Help
MORE LAYERS OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS WON’T ADDRESS THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY. BUT SOMETHING ELSE WILL. South Carolina is among the poorest states in the nation. That’s no secret. But with a…
A New Opportunity for the Policy Council
A LITTLE MORE WORK AND TRUE REFORM CAN HAPPEN. The Policy Council has been advocating legislative and fiscal reform in South Carolina for many years, and we’ve never seen a moment like this…
Public Colleges Don’t Need More of Your Money
ONE BLOATED COMPENSATION PACKAGE IS ONLY A TINY PART OF THE PROBLEM Late in 2013 University of South Carolina (USC) President Harris Pastides was making hat in hand entreaties to the…
Common Core: It’s Bigger Than You Think
COMMON CORE IS EVERYWHERE – BY DESIGN. REJECTING IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN A BILL. Across the country, parents and teachers are waking up and forcing their states to reject the…
A Return to Non-Adversarial Policing?
FEDERAL FUNDING HAS ENCOURAGED LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS TO MILITARIZE. THERE’S AN EASY WAY TO CHANGE THAT. The image of the public servant police officer committed to protecting the average citizen…
Do South Carolinians Have the Right to Work?
REMEMBER, THE FREEDOM TO WORK MEANS MORE THAN THE ABSENCE OF UNIONS Last year during National Employee Freedom Week, we posed this question: Is South Carolina really a “right-to-work state”? Of…
Why Common Core Fails Special Needs Students
ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL IS GREAT, UNLESS YOU’RE THE WRONG SIZE Common Core, whatever else may be said about it, is a one-size-fits-all standards regime. Parents of special needs children therefore have every reason…
The Unseen Costs of the Export-Import Bank
THE EX-IM BANK GIVES FOREIGN COMPANIES AN ADVANTAGE, COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER . . . TIME TO LET IT EXPIRE In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution,…
Government Transparency vs. Individual Privacy
IN SOUTH CAROLINA, THE TROUBLE WITH THE PUBLIC SECTOR IS THAT IT’S BECOMING PRIVATE . . . AND VICE VERSA It’s common shorthand to refer to the governmental and non-governmental…
Burwell: What Does It Mean?
THE BOTTOM LINE: WASHINGTON DOESN’T FORCE; IT BRIBES. Halbig v. Burwell, the legal case that’s now threatening to unravel ObamaCare, reaffirms this basic principle: that the federal government rarely usurps state…
Why S.C. Needs a Constitutional Carry Law
MORE FREEDOM, LESS CRIME A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be…
How Federal Funding Has Ruined S.C.’s Roads
AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT As South Carolinians hit the roads for summer vacations, they’ll have plenty of opportunities to discuss the state’s poorly maintained roadways. The potholes,…
Medicaid Expansion by Any Other Name
WHY THE ‘PRIVATE OPTION’ ISN’T PRIVATE AND SHOULDN’T BE AN OPTION ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion destroys states’ budgets, inflicts serious economic harm, and does little or nothing to help the uninsured. Many officials in “red”…
The Supreme Court Reversal: An Analysis
HIGH COURT UPHOLDS RULE OF LAW. BUT WHY SECRECY IN FURTHER HEARINGS? Wednesday’s ruling by the Supreme Court reversed an unprecedented and dangerous ruling issued by a Circuit Judge Casey…
The Case for Deregulating the Taxi Cab Industry
WE’RE ALL THE BENEFICIARIES OF CREATIVE DESTRUCTION In recent weeks, taxi services have protested in Washington D.C., Boston, London, and elsewhere over the existence of ride-sharing services like Uber (or…
The Lowest Taxes: How to Get There
WHAT STANDS IN THE WAY ISN’T LOGIC BUT POWER South Carolina will never truly be considered the freest state in the nation until its citizens are able to keep more…
Not a Great Year for Freedom
FAKE REFORM BILLS, NO EFFORT ON OBAMACARE, MASSIVE BUDGET INCREASE Every year should be a new opportunity in a supposedly “red” state like South Carolina for lawmakers to cut taxes,…
Governor Vetoes 0.07 Percent of the State Budget
HOORAY FOR LIMITED GOVERNMENT, RIGHT? After the General Assembly rammed through a record high $25.5 billion state budget with little public debate, Governor Nikki Haley had the opportunity to make…
The Ethics Bill: The Devil’s in the Details
THIS 23-PAGE ‘ETHICS BILL’ ISN’T WHAT YOU THINK (UPDATE: The bill analyzed here died on the Senate floor before the sine die session ended on June 19, 2014.) The South…
How to Dismantle the Regulatory State
REGULATION STUNTS OUR ECONOMY AND HURTS CONSUMERS. HERE’S WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. South Carolina, like the rest of America, is suffering from burdensome regulation on individuals and businesses.…
Conference Committee Misses Mark on Ethics Reform
ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK The conference committee on H.3945 (the “ethics bill”) met on Wednesday to hash out differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill before…
Governor Calls for Income Tax Elimination…In the Last Week of Session
A GREAT IDEA…BUT A LITTLE LATE This week, it came as a surprise to many when Governor Haley called for abolishing South Carolina’s income tax. This new proposal is significantly…
The need for judicial independence
“THERE IS NO LIBERTY, IF THE POWER OF JUDGING BE NOT SEPARATED FROM THE LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE POWERS.” South Carolina state government is inordinately under control of the legislative branch.…
Why Teachers Should Hate Common Core
IN A WORD: INFLEXIBILITY “Common Core has nothing to do with curriculum, instruction, or testing.” No matter how many times Common Core’s most prominent supporters make that claim, it’s still…
Sadly, Common Core Is Not Dead
IT’LL ONLY GO AWAY WHEN LAWMAKERS LEARN TO TURN AWAY FEDERAL CASH On several recent occasions we’ve heard pundits or public officials – and in one case a candidate for…
State Budget: Enough to Fund Roads Already
THE GOOD NEWS: THE STATE HAS ENOUGH TO FUND ROADS. THE BAD NEWS: LAWMAKERS WILL NEED TO GO WITHOUT PAY HIKES, CORPORATE WELFARE, AND PORK. State budgets are a big deal.…
The Attorney General’s Appeal: An Analysis
“The lower court’s order is unprecedented in American law and unsupported by any known legal authority.” On May 19, Attorney General Alan Wilson filed an appeal with the Supreme Court…
Harrell v. Wilson: What’s at Stake?
IT’S MORE THAN A SPAT BETWEEN POLITICIANS One June 24, 2014, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether Judge Casey Manning ruled properly when he shut down the Attorney…
Reforming S.C.’s Eminent Domain Law
THE GOVERNMENT CAN TAKE YOUR LAND FOR ALMOST ANY REASON. HERE’S WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. In June of 2005 the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in the now…