COMMITTEE WON’T MAKE DECISION, CITIZENS PAY THE PRICE In February of 2012 the State Board of Education approved the use of SMARTER Balanced assessments – the tests made by a “consortium”…
IF AN ETHICS REFORM BILL ALLOWS LAWMAKERS TO CONTINUE POLICING THEMSELVES, IS IT REALLY AN ETHICS REFORM BILL? During a brief debate on H. 3945 – a bill most legislators…
ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER RECORD BUDGET At roughly $25 billion, it can be said that the executive budget for Fiscal Year 2014-15 is the most liberal in state history. While the…
THE TROUBLE IS: MORE MONEY ≠ BETTER PERFORMANCE Last week Governor Haley unveiled her K-12 Education Reform Initiative for South Carolina. The governor’s new plan is consistent with most education improvement…
KEEP AN EYE ON THESE Throughout December, lawmakers pre-filed their bills for the 2014 legislative session – 102 in the Senate and 83 in the House. It’s extremely difficult to…
WHAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA, ISN’T Minimum wage workers around the country, including workers in South Carolina, made headlines recently when they protested in favor of higher wages. “America can’t…
ONCE UPON A TIME, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COULDN’T BAN A PRODUCT SIMPLY BECAUSE IT WANTED TO A bill pre-filed in the South Carolina Senate will likely attract a lot of…
MORE MONEY FOR K-12 AND HIGHER EDUCATION: A GOOD IDEA? State agencies virtually always ask for more money than they had last year. That’s what they do – even, or especially,…
SOME GET THE BOOK THROWN AT THEM, SOME GET SLAPPED ON THE WRIST, AND SOME GET IGNORED Action on ethics charges has been almost non-existent in South Carolina until recently,…
‘NULLIFYING’ COMMON CORE WON’T MAKE IT GO AWAY, BUT A BILL NOW IN THE LEGISLATURE WOULD GIVE TAXPAYERS SOME SAY IN THE MATTER The first step toward removing Common…
WHAT COMES AFTER THE WELFARE STATE? Today the welfare state is omnipresent in every part of the United States. The federal budget is dominated by entitlement spending, with 45 percent…
YOUNG AND HEALTHY? BE READY TO PAY UP. Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is actually being implemented, many Americans are not pleased with the law. One population of…
‘AGRITOURISM’ AND OTHER LESSONS IN NONSENSICAL GOVERNMENT GROWTH Every year, South Carolina state agencies tell lawmakers how much money they want for the upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately for taxpayers, they…
WHY THE DANGER OF ‘TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION’ IS STILL WITH US In many states – certainly including South Carolina – the state can raise taxes on citizens without even consulting…
HOW TO STOP FEDERAL COERCION – INCLUDING OBAMACARE – AND ENACT FREE MARKET REFORM [PDF of full report here; a briefer version of the report here.] For three years, policy…
WOULD THE FOUNDERS BE SATISFIED WITH JUST ‘SIMPLIFYING’ THE INCOME TAX CODE? Among the several tax-related bills we analyzed in our annual guide, The Best & Worst of the General…
GOVERNMENT IS SHIFTING THE COST OF COASTAL LIVING On October 30th a legislative subcommittee will meet to discuss the issue of the availability and cost of coastal property insurance. South…
LIKE IT OR NOT, THE FOURTH AMENDMENT EXISTS Among the few excellent bills filed during the 2013 legislative session – and analyzed in our Best & Worst guide (download here) – is H.3059. This refreshingly…
SOUTH CAROLINIANS ARE PAYING BILLIONS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE? On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce, and Industry met to discuss a massive debt owed by…
FIRST, THEY’D SCRATCH THEIR HEADS AND ASK WHY IT WAS NECESSARY In this year’s Best & Worst of the General Assembly (and here’s a polite reminder that you can download…
THREE PROVISIONS THAT SHOULD BE AMENDED, PRONTO Today, a Senate Select Committee on Ethics will consider H.3945, the ethics bill that failed to make it out of the Senate last…
HERE’S WHY WE’RE LOSING: OUR TAXES ARE HIGHER We’ve leveled a lot of criticisms at the South Carolina Department of Commerce over the last several years, and will no doubt…
MAYBE, BUT IT MAY TAKE MORE THAN PASSING A LAW Opponents of Common Core, the nationalized set of academic standards currently being imposed on South Carolina public schools, are wondering…
OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE SUGGESTS POINTLESSNESS OF MORE GUN LAWS South Carolina, as we contended in an August commentary, doesn’t deserve its fiercely pro-gun reputation – at least, not if the criterion…
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A CURRICULUM YOU WOULD CHOOSE? In Part I of our analysis of Common Core-based curriculum material, we discussed some problematic lesson plans disseminated by Student Achievement…
NOTHING WRONG WITH MYTHS … JUST DON’T REPEAT THEM AS FACT Since the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers have been blasting out emails that boast of the year’s…
A LOCAL GOVERNMENT PLAN TO DEFINE THE HOMELESS AS CRIMINALS PRESENTS ITS OWN SET OF PROBLEMS You don’t have to go to the shelter, but you can’t stay here.…
WONDER WHAT YOUR LAWMAKERS WERE UP TO IN 2013? IT’S ALL HERE. Our annual guide to the year’s legislative session, The Best & Worst of the General Assembly, has been…
Education Oversight Committee Passes the Buck on Common Core
COMMITTEE WON’T MAKE DECISION, CITIZENS PAY THE PRICE In February of 2012 the State Board of Education approved the use of SMARTER Balanced assessments – the tests made by a “consortium”…
Is Legislative Self-Policing Really a Problem?
IF AN ETHICS REFORM BILL ALLOWS LAWMAKERS TO CONTINUE POLICING THEMSELVES, IS IT REALLY AN ETHICS REFORM BILL? During a brief debate on H. 3945 – a bill most legislators…
Governor Proposes Most Liberal Budget in SC History
ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER RECORD BUDGET At roughly $25 billion, it can be said that the executive budget for Fiscal Year 2014-15 is the most liberal in state history. While the…
Gov. Haley’s Education Plan: More Money
THE TROUBLE IS: MORE MONEY ≠ BETTER PERFORMANCE Last week Governor Haley unveiled her K-12 Education Reform Initiative for South Carolina. The governor’s new plan is consistent with most education improvement…
Top Ten Bills to Watch
KEEP AN EYE ON THESE Throughout December, lawmakers pre-filed their bills for the 2014 legislative session – 102 in the Senate and 83 in the House. It’s extremely difficult to…
Why Raising the Minimum Wage Raises Unemployment, Too
WHAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA, ISN’T Minimum wage workers around the country, including workers in South Carolina, made headlines recently when they protested in favor of higher wages. “America can’t…
Allowing Hemp Cultivation: WWFD?
ONCE UPON A TIME, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COULDN’T BAN A PRODUCT SIMPLY BECAUSE IT WANTED TO A bill pre-filed in the South Carolina Senate will likely attract a lot of…
What You’ll Be Spending in 2014, Part II
MORE MONEY FOR K-12 AND HIGHER EDUCATION: A GOOD IDEA? State agencies virtually always ask for more money than they had last year. That’s what they do – even, or especially,…
Different Standards for Different Officials?
SOME GET THE BOOK THROWN AT THEM, SOME GET SLAPPED ON THE WRIST, AND SOME GET IGNORED Action on ethics charges has been almost non-existent in South Carolina until recently,…
Year-End Giving
Make sure to send your gift of $50, $100, $250, $1,000 or some other amount by December 31 to help start the new year strong! When you donate to the…
Rejecting Common Core – and the Structure that Made It Possible
‘NULLIFYING’ COMMON CORE WON’T MAKE IT GO AWAY, BUT A BILL NOW IN THE LEGISLATURE WOULD GIVE TAXPAYERS SOME SAY IN THE MATTER The first step toward removing Common…
The History and Lessons of Mutual Aid
WHAT COMES AFTER THE WELFARE STATE? Today the welfare state is omnipresent in every part of the United States. The federal budget is dominated by entitlement spending, with 45 percent…
S.C.’s Young, Healthy Adults: ObamaCare’s Impact
YOUNG AND HEALTHY? BE READY TO PAY UP. Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is actually being implemented, many Americans are not pleased with the law. One population of…
The State Budget: What You’ll Be Paying for Next Year
‘AGRITOURISM’ AND OTHER LESSONS IN NONSENSICAL GOVERNMENT GROWTH Every year, South Carolina state agencies tell lawmakers how much money they want for the upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately for taxpayers, they…
Fines & Fees Imposed by the Unelected: WWFD?
WHY THE DANGER OF ‘TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION’ IS STILL WITH US In many states – certainly including South Carolina – the state can raise taxes on citizens without even consulting…
Contract, Clarity, and a Return to Sovereignty
HOW TO STOP FEDERAL COERCION – INCLUDING OBAMACARE – AND ENACT FREE MARKET REFORM [PDF of full report here; a briefer version of the report here.] For three years, policy…
What Would the Founders Do about Our Income Tax?
WOULD THE FOUNDERS BE SATISFIED WITH JUST ‘SIMPLIFYING’ THE INCOME TAX CODE? Among the several tax-related bills we analyzed in our annual guide, The Best & Worst of the General…
The Risks of State Property Insurance
GOVERNMENT IS SHIFTING THE COST OF COASTAL LIVING On October 30th a legislative subcommittee will meet to discuss the issue of the availability and cost of coastal property insurance. South…
Unlawful Seizure of Cell Phones: What Would George Mason Say?
LIKE IT OR NOT, THE FOURTH AMENDMENT EXISTS Among the few excellent bills filed during the 2013 legislative session – and analyzed in our Best & Worst guide (download here) – is H.3059. This refreshingly…
A New Approach to Unemployment?
SOUTH CAROLINIANS ARE PAYING BILLIONS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE? On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce, and Industry met to discuss a massive debt owed by…
‘Restaurant Carry’: What Would the Founders Say?
FIRST, THEY’D SCRATCH THEIR HEADS AND ASK WHY IT WAS NECESSARY In this year’s Best & Worst of the General Assembly (and here’s a polite reminder that you can download…
The Ethics Bill Is Back
THREE PROVISIONS THAT SHOULD BE AMENDED, PRONTO Today, a Senate Select Committee on Ethics will consider H.3945, the ethics bill that failed to make it out of the Senate last…
South Carolina’s Uncompetitive Income Tax
HERE’S WHY WE’RE LOSING: OUR TAXES ARE HIGHER We’ve leveled a lot of criticisms at the South Carolina Department of Commerce over the last several years, and will no doubt…
Can Common Core Be Stopped?
MAYBE, BUT IT MAY TAKE MORE THAN PASSING A LAW Opponents of Common Core, the nationalized set of academic standards currently being imposed on South Carolina public schools, are wondering…
Why S.C. Should Resist Federal Coercion on Gun Laws
OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE SUGGESTS POINTLESSNESS OF MORE GUN LAWS South Carolina, as we contended in an August commentary, doesn’t deserve its fiercely pro-gun reputation – at least, not if the criterion…
What Will Our Children Learn Under Common Core? – Part II
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A CURRICULUM YOU WOULD CHOOSE? In Part I of our analysis of Common Core-based curriculum material, we discussed some problematic lesson plans disseminated by Student Achievement…
S.C. Politicians’ Talking Points: Myths vs. Facts
NOTHING WRONG WITH MYTHS … JUST DON’T REPEAT THEM AS FACT Since the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers have been blasting out emails that boast of the year’s…
Best_Worst_2013_Online_b
What (Not) to Do about the Homeless
A LOCAL GOVERNMENT PLAN TO DEFINE THE HOMELESS AS CRIMINALS PRESENTS ITS OWN SET OF PROBLEMS You don’t have to go to the shelter, but you can’t stay here.…
Best & Worst of the General Assembly is Here
WONDER WHAT YOUR LAWMAKERS WERE UP TO IN 2013? IT’S ALL HERE. Our annual guide to the year’s legislative session, The Best & Worst of the General Assembly, has been…