Category: Pete du Pont

You know how I feel about school choice. I'll take it any way I can get it, and Arizona may have a great way, according to a note from the Heritage Foundation.

After watching the Democrat's convention, it's apparent that they believe prescription drug coverage is their key to the house – the White House, the U. S. House, the 50 state Houses, etc., etc. That's why between now and election day it will be difficult to read any campaign related news and not see something about prescription drugs.

Maybe I'm reading too much into one article, but when one of the most liberal columnists — Ellen Goodman — from the one of the most liberal papers — The Boston Globe — all but swoons for Ralph Nader, I have to wonder how Al Gore feels.

If Al Gore was looking for a way to distance himself from Bill Clinton, he couldn't have made a more useful vice-presidential selection that Joseph Lieberman, the senator from Connecticut.

Is school choice redefining the civil rights movement? That's the thesis of Mikel Holt's book "Not Yet Free at Last." He argues, in writing the history of the fight for school choice in Milwaukee, that choice empowers black parents by giving them control over their children's education.

When Alec Guinness died last week, all the commentators noted of course that, to a younger generation of fans, he was known for his role in Star Wars.

It's a funny thing about Al Gore; he doesn't want to take credit for current gas prices. Yet of all the things he has taken credit for, this one is genuinely his responsibility. After all, in "earth in the balance," he wrote high gas prices were desirable as a national energy policy. And in 1993 he cast the tie-breaking vote for the gas tax increase.

Here's what happens when politics gets put in front of science, courtesy of the Capital Research Center.

Thanks to a growing number of tax-funded and privately-funded vouchers, more children, most of them racial minorities and many of them poor, will have a chance this fall to escape schools that can't teach them how to read, write and do arithmetic.

How much government spending is enough?

Today I want to send you to the movies– specifically to "The Patriot," Mel Gibson's American Revolutionary War epic.

We just witnessed the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. If ever a political convention reflected the city's nickname, this had to be the event. Now, the Democratic National Convention begins in Los Angeles, the City of Angels. If Vice President Al Gore intends to become the next President of the United States, he will need more than a City of Angels to overcome the impressive 11-point post-convention bounce that Republican nominee George W. Bush received earlier this month.

City planners and environmentalists love to use so-called "smart growth" to control "sprawl," that is, stopping suburban development. Here's what happened when Richland County, South Carolina got "smart."

Washington, D.C., is thinking about dumping one of the dopiest laws ever cooked up by the mind of a regulator: rent controls.

Are R-rated movies bad business? A couple of economists, Arthur de Vany and David Walls decided to find out.

Today, taking a sledgehammer to a gnat, a story courtesy of Georgia Representative Jack Kingston.

Presidential wannabe Al Gore doesn't want to take credit for current gas prices. Yet of the myriad things he has taken credit for – the Internet, love canal, Love Story and the economy – it's the one thing he genuinely has some responsibility for. After all, in "Earth in the Balance," Gore wrote that higher fossil fuel prices were desirable as a national energy policy and he cast the tie-breaking vote for 1993's gas tax increase.

There was a cautionary story recently in the New York Times regarding China's "march" toward free enterprise. The news is that it's going to be a long march.

Press coverage of Congress's passing, and president Clinton's threatened veto, of the bill ending the death tax hasn't given the historical background. So I will.

A funny thing happened on the way to Election Day. Both presidential candidates have proposed creating voluntary personal savings accounts to make average workers shareholders in our economy and more financially secure in their golden years.

Well, here's a nice change: Democrats are compromising with Republicans.

Thanks to a combination of tax-funded and privately funded vouchers, a growing number of children – most of them racial minorities and most of them from low-income families – will have an opportunity this coming school year to escape schools where they can't learn such basics as reading, writing and arithmetic.

Liberals couldn't have taken much heart from Jon Margolis's article in the July 17th issue of the American Prospect. Margolis examined Democrats' hopes of regaining the Senate. To give you an idea of how he handicapped their chances, the article was entitled "Chamber of Horrors."

Filled up at the pump lately? Wonder why it's so expensive?

Much of the talk leading into this summer's party conventions has been on the lack of news value in them. "It's just going to be one big infomercial," groans more than one media elite. "Both conventions will be planned and scripted down to the last second," complains another as they justify their plans for sparse coverage.