Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools: A government agency whose avowed purpose is to provide an education to all children, no matter their circumstance. It is with such lofty purposes every government venture begins. The results are in and have been for decades. They have been in since the 1950s and 1960s, long before the decline associated with the […]
For those who haven’t read ‘The Road to Serfdom’ by F.A. Hayek, let me recommend it to you. It is one of the cornerstones of modern fiscal conservative thought. Hayek wrote it in the 1940’s and does an excellent job of explaining why government cannot do certain things without detriment to society as a whole. […]
There will be a revaluation of property in Mecklenburg County this year. Look out for a tax increase. Did Jennifer Roberts really get reelected? Well it could be worse. If she transmorgrified into Parks Helms there would be no question about the chances of a property tax increase. With Helms out and Roberts in there […]
“In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.” Leon Trotsky, 1937, from “The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is […]
One of the major problems with our society is the dependence upon and use of lawyers. Often they seem necessary, but in many ways they are a drain, even a burden on society. It is the how and why of their methods which are the basis of this problem. There are two ways in which […]
For the first time in recent memory the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), in concert with county staff, is looking at how to be reasonable about the money they spend on capital projects. This is historic. Never before has the majority of the BOCC or county staff concerned themselves with how much they spent […]
As per my previous essay, the following is a quote from Mr. Martin Davis. There is no question of his strong religious beliefs and how they affect his decisions about life and thus how society should be ordered. The question for society, whether of similar religious beliefs or not, is how government should be structured […]
There seems to me a contradiction in the position of many social conservatives. While they push strongly against abortion laws and against homosexual marriage, prostitution or recreational drug use, they advocate for individual property rights. In a philosophically consistent moral system, it seems the two positions would be mutually exclusive. An examination of these positions […]
One of the ways the federal government controls local governments is with strings. An amorphous agency gives some amount of money for some wonderful, pie-in-the-sky program, with strings attached. Local governments, being unwilling to say no to tax money taken by another authority simply because they aren’t held responsible for the taxes but get to […]
When the United States was formed one of the goals was to enhance the ability of men to operate private businesses to their own advantage. Many of the rules in the Constitution are set down to enhance that ability. In seeming contradiction to that idealism, today we find laws written that are designed to help […]
