Government Reform

North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has a history of breaking budgets with lax controls over Medicaid spending. It took nearly three years under Gov. Pat McCrory…

What is the common element that connects Medicare, occupational licensing, free college, and affordable housing? According to Ed Glaeser in a recent interview, they illustrate how past efforts to…

If asked who sets interest rates in for the economy, most of us would answer that the Federal Reserve (the Fed) does. In other words, a government-created central authority “sets”…

Anything done a first time becomes easier to do a second time, for better and for worse. This understanding is why parents force children to try new foods before refusing…

Former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal provides a picture of the true costs of what Progressives and Democratic Socialists call “free.” He notes that many people have never seen a…

Sometimes, when trying to explain how a political issue is a thorny mess, I’ve used the phrase “public-choice problem.” Recent examples include such issues as occupational licensing, film…

Introduction: A tale of two enterprising Tar Heels Bob has a bumper crop of North Carolina sweet potatoes. How can he get them to a consumer? Bob’s got a lot…

Echoing Bill Clinton’s declaration in his 1996 State of the Union address that “the era of big government is over,” Ross Douthat now sees conservatives justifying government interventions…

Background Did you know that North Carolina used to be the nation’s leader in locally owned and operated distilleries? It’s true. In 1904 the state had 745 registered distilleries, 540…

Nathan Glazer died last week at the age of 95. He was one of the original neo-conservatives, when the term still meant “a liberal who has been mugged by reality.”…