Season's Greetings
Merry Christmas from the Buckeye Institute
By David Hansen, President
For
those who support limited government, free enterprise, and individual
liberty, 2008 was a tough year. In 2009 it will be vitally important
for the Buckeye Institute to work to define conservatism
anew. It will be necessary to defend the freedoms won by
conservatism against the coming onslaught of Big Government hubris.
And most important, the Buckeye Institute will be needed to show how
Ohio's best days lie ahead of us. After all, the
distinction of conservatism is the faith we have for people to succeed
and prosper the more they are free to pursue their dreams and
ambitions.
Everyone here at the Buckeye Institute thanks you for your support over the past year. With your help, we look forward to continuing our work promoting limited government and individual liberty in 2009.
On
behalf of the Directors
and staff of the Buckeye Institute, I want to wish you and your loved
ones a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Click here to donate to the Buckeye Institute
BuckeyeVoices
In this week's BuckeyeVoices, Buckeye Institute President David Hansen and 1851 Center for Constitutional Law Director Maurice Thompson discuss Stowers v. Boggs. This week the Buckeye Institute took legal action against Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) for an unlawful raid on the Stowers' home and co-op, and subsequent seizure of their personal property. The institute believes ODA violated the Stowers' constitutional rights. Listen to Hansen and Thompson explain the issue on BuckeyeVoices.
New at the Buckeye Institute
The Buckeye Institute's 1851 Center for Constitutional Law filed suit on December 18 against the Ohio Department of Agriculture and other government agencies citing seizure of private property without compensation, unlawful exercise of administrative authority and unlawful application of state police power, among other violations of freedoms guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution.
This BuckeyeBlog
post
has a video of the Stowers family discussing the raid, a copy of the
court documents filed by the Buckeye Institute, and other material on
this situation.
Eliminate, Don't Just Cut, Income Taxes
An
editorial in the Cleveland
Plain Dealer
contends "But the question that should be on the Statehouse table is
whether it makes sense for Ohio to go ahead with the scheduled 2009
income tax cut (for returns filed in April 2010). According to
Strickland's spokesman, 'A delay [in the 2009 phase of the tax cut] is
not something the governor is considering at this time.' With all due
respect, Strickland should be considering exactly that."
In
Eliminate Income Tax and
See Ohio Thrive,
Buckeye Institute analyst Marc Kilmer writes,
"What should the state do to stimulate Ohio's economy? That's the
question many Ohio residents and politicians are asking as the state
continues to stagnate. Unfortunately, some seem to ignore the main
problem facing the state - its oppressive tax climate. Without
fundamental tax reform Ohio will continue to see jobs locate elsewhere
and population growth dwindle."
State Missing Medicaid Reform Opportunity
The Columbus Dispatch reports, "Ohio's Medicaid program has adopted just 15 of 109 suggested improvements from a 2006 performance audit, leaving more than $300 million in savings unrealized, state Auditor Mary Taylor said today."
In
Reforming Ohio Medicaid
-- Open the Markets and Level the Playing Field,
Director of the Buckeye Institute's Center for Health Care
Policy Mike Bond writes, "With virtually nonexistent productivity growth, and
Medicaid spending projected to rise 40 percent in nominal terms between
2006 and 2010, market reforms become imperative. These reforms involve
the creation of a real marketplace where subsidized buyers and
providers act in their own interests. Florida and South Carolina are
moving rapidly in this direction. It is useful to contrast Ohio's plan
with what these two states are doing. If Ohio follows their example of
empowering consumers and promoting competition, benefits will accrue to
taxpayers, beneficiaries, and providers alike."
School Funding Misconceptions
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports, "For decades, reformers' complaints have been the same: Ohio leaves the quality of a child's education up to flukes of geography and, to some extent, wealth. Districts with high-value property are far more economically stable than school systems with low property values, and as a result, they say, have better schools."
In
Getting it Wrong for
Ohio's Future,
Buckeye Institute Education Policy Director Matt Carr writes,
"[School funding reform] proposals rest on the fallacy that our schools
are under-funded, and that more dollars will inherently lead to a
better education system. This is a faulty assumption which rests on
rhetoric rather than evidence. According to the US Census Bureau, in
2004 Ohio had the 15th highest level of per pupil funding in the
nation. Over the course of the last 20 years, Ohio has doubled its
spending on K-12 education (inflation adjusted), but has seen little
return on this large investment."
Buckeye
Institute in the News
The Buckeye Institute's lawsuit on behalf of the Stowers family was featured in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Gongwer News Service, the Elyria Chronicle Telegram, Farm and Dairy News, and World Net Daily. 1851 Center for Constitutional Law Director Maurice Thompson also discussed the the lawsuit with 700 WLW-AM's Mike McConnell, 1370 WSPD-AM's Brian Wilson, 1100 WTAM-AM's Bob Frantz and 89.7 WKSU.
The Buckeye Institute's research on child-centered education funding was mentioned in National Review Online.
The Mansfield News Journal published a story on the Buckeye Institute's teacher salary database.
The Hillsboro Times Gazette cited Buckeye Institute research in an op-ed on reforming Medicaid and published Marc Kilmer's op-ed on Google's privacy issues.
