On September 29, 2015, the Wall Street Journal carried an opinion piece titled “The Feds Won’t Rate My College” by David Whalen, the provost at Hillsdale College, Michigan. The Feds Won’t Rate My College by David Whalen At first blush, one might think what’s so important about this and why didn’t they get rated by Read More…
Rank Choice Voting?
My, my, what a wonderful thing we have in St. Paul! Ranked-choice voting a hold on—a Success? If a “success” means a system that favors the re-election of the incumbency, then ranked-choice is it! Unfortunately, this writer lives in Ward 2, where the 2011 city election was not a success. The incumbent trailed the votes Read More…
Re: Un-friendly Business State
GE v. Connecticut… Thoughts by Robert L. “Bob” Smith, 3rd GE has announced that it is considering moving its headquarters out of Connecticut due in part to continuing corporate tax pile-ons. Two major tax changes have occurred in recent years to put GE on alert. One might be called a combined tax that taxes them Read More…
Jeb Bush Tax Plan – WSJ Op-Ed
WSJ Letter to Editor/Op-Ed Response: On September 9th, the Journal carried an opinion by Jeb Bush outlining his plan to overhaul our federal tax system to unleash 4% growth. We at the Gopher State Politics Institute were impressed by its depth, clarity and realism as to individual and corporate proposals. We believe this is a Read More…
Surprise, Surp-rise, Young People Aren’t Interested in Politics! By Bruce L. R. Smith
Every once in a while, one comes across an idea well-intentioned but so wrong-headed that it takes one’s breath away. I encountered such a one recently on the webpage of my esteemed former employer, the Brookings Institution, in a blog entry by an earnest non-resident Brookings scholar, Professor Jennifer Lawless of American University. Readers are Read More…
Observation… Is Free a Good Thing?
Are some charitable organizations whose purpose is to help the disadvantaged, unwittingly creating a new class of tin cup users? Is the well-intended over-arching charitable climate becoming a playground for abuse? Those were the questions haunting me after I recently attended a meeting for persons with challenging disabilities. Was I feeling an undercurrent of misuse Read More…
