North Carolina Policy Solutions 2018

To flourish is to live life to its fullest. To have the wind at our backs as we navigate the twists and turns that shape our lives. At the John Locke Foundation, our highest duty — our calling — is to remove the barriers and backstops that threaten to derail each North Carolinian’s journey and instead light the pathway with potential and opportunities. We do that by making a spirited defense of economic liberty and urging policymakers to do the same. For it is the advancement of liberty that fuels and transforms lives while re-orienting government to its constitutionally limited role

As North Carolina’s premier free-market public policy think tank, we are dedicated to making North Carolina “First In Freedom” among the states. While these words are aspirational, they are also actionable and measurable. Using established standards of data analysis from national organizations like the Fraser Institute, the Cato Institute, and the Tax Foundation, we can measure the effectiveness of our mission and work through empirical rankings of the states on key measures of freedom.

Freedom has momentum in North Carolina. Keeping momentum requires laser focus on the long-term advancement of liberty, propelled by steady achievements. By methodically adding victories one by one, we have ushered in change that has lifted North Carolina’s stature to that of forward-thinking model of prosperity. From historic tax reform and restrained spending, to smart investments in education and infrastructure, our state’s economy is a shining example of pro-growth, pro-freedom public policies.

This transformed North Carolina is the legacy and life’s work of the John Locke Foundation.

Peruse North Carolina’s most consequential, freedom-advancing policy choices of the past half-decade and you’ll find the mark of the John Locke Foundation. Since 2011, when citizens handed the levers of power to fiscally conservative leaders, we have taken a seat at the table to ensure that North Carolina respects taxpayers and job creators. We have guided policymakers to decisions that lift up families by empowering parents with more education choices for their kids. And we have led the discussion beyond promises and toward tangible decisions about spending responsibly and prudently saving for the inevitable rainy day. We have proudly, and with vigor, accepted the mantle of leadership.

On the pages that follow, we provide you with the rationale, research, and principles that are responsible for North Carolina’s fundamental change, and which offer the promise of an even brighter future. We invite you into the uplifting world of freedom and liberty, and we look forward to you joining us in our embrace of freedom and transformative change.

Kory Swanson
President and CEO