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<title>John Hood's Syndicated Weekly Column</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 12:13:58 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>John Hood's Syndicated Weekly Column</title>
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<pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=10164</link>
<title>NC Activists Need Teachable Tuesdays</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP is spearheading a weekly series of protests at the state legislature called "Moral Mondays" directed against Republican-supported bills such as tax reform and voter ID. Might I respectfully suggest that the participants agree to a weekly series of instructional sessions about free speech in a constitutional republic? Let's call them "Teachable...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=10146</link>
<title>Conservative Case for Spending More</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Fiscal conservatism comes naturally to me. After all, my middle name is McDonald.

But I am also persuaded by empirical evidence that fiscal conservatism is the best policy for promoting economic growth. North Carolina governments can improve our state's competitiveness by limiting spending, finding ways to deliver core services more efficiently, and using the resulting fiscal...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 3 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=10123</link>
<title>In the Absence of Argument</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  "People generally quarrel," G.K. Chesterton once wryly observed, "because they cannot argue."

To the extent North Carolina politics looks increasingly quarrelsome at the moment, it is because of a breakdown of argument  -  of constructive debate among people of good faith who happen to disagree on public policy. Instead, traditional and online media alike are filled with venom,...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=10101</link>
<title>Governor Should Be Mr. Fix-It</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Now that Pat McCrory has passed the oh-so-important mark of 100 days in office, the political class in Raleigh feels obligated to offer a critique of his administration. The most common one is that Gov. McCrory is playing "small ball."

That is, the critics say that because the governor didn't propose a major spending program in his 2013-15 budget plan, he's not really doing anything...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=10081</link>
<title>Research Guides Policy Initiatives</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  For a group of people who claim to believe in empirical study and higher learning, liberal politicians and other critics of North Carolina's new conservative leaders seem remarkably uninformed or contemptuous of the research basis for the policy initiatives now being debated in Raleigh.

For example, Gov. Pat McCrory's budget proposes to convert teacher-assistant positions in second...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=10058</link>
<title>Medicaid Reform Holds Promise</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  There are many unknowns regarding the proposal Gov. Pat McCrory announced last week to use competitive contracting to reform North Carolina's Medicaid program. But what I do know about it suggests the governor is heading in the right direction.

His idea is to award contracts to three or four provider networks that would coordinate and deliver services to poor, disabled, and elderly...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 5 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=10036</link>
<title>Time to Fix Our Interstates</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  I'm a strong advocate for the user-pays principle in transportation. As much as possible, those who use a particular asset  -  be it roads, airports, seaports, or railroads  -  ought to pay in rough proportion to the operating and capital costs they impose.

For the most part, that's our current policy. Surcharges on airfares pay the cost of operating North Carolina's airports. Users pay...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 29 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=10018</link>
<title>A Good First Fiscal Step</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  When Gov. Pat McCrory released his first state budget plan on the morning of March 20, I happened to be driving to Charlotte for a meeting. Perhaps it was my imagination, but at the precise moment his aides passed out the budget in Raleigh, I think I heard a loud crash as a teetering tower of political hyperbole and conspiracy theories suddenly collapsed in a heap of confusion.

To...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9999</link>
<title>A Modest Proposal on Electric Power</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Sometimes, despite good intentions, we just get things wrong. That's what happened in 2007, when the North Carolina legislature enacted a bill to force electric utilities to buy "renewable" power from wind, solar, and other expensive and unreliable sources.

When I say "we" got it wrong, I mean it in the broadest possible sense. The legislature and then-Gov. Mike Easley got it wrong...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9984</link>
<title>For Many Happy Returns</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Whether the setting is Raleigh or Washington, the tax reform debate will inevitably come down to one Big Question: Are you willing to trade current tax preferences for lower tax rates?

Most economists think the answer is obvious. Of course households and businesses should be willing to trade in special credits or deductions for a broader, flatter tax system, they say. There is strong...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 8 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9963</link>
<title>NC Progress Requires Growth</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  During the years that North Carolina was riding high, particularly the 1980s and 1990s, state policymakers wrung their hands about the problems associated with a fast-growing economy.

Rapid economic growth meant greater demand for public services such as infrastructure and education, they argued. It posed risks to the state's air and water. And because economic growth wasn't equally...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 1 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9941</link>
<title>Don&amp;#039;t Overdose on Government</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Do you take vitamins? You probably should. It ensures that even if you don't always maintain a varied and healthful diet, your body gets the baseline level of nutrients.

But vitamins are worth taking only at normal doses. If you take three or four times the recommended daily dose, you don't get three or four times as healthy. You just waste your money, give your bodily fluids an...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9920</link>
<title>Seasons of Change in Carolina</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Now is the winter of our discontent.

Or so said Shakespeare's Richard III, a fictional villain who may have borne at least some resemblance to the fellow just found buried under a parking lot in Leicester. The phrase opens the play, as Richard proclaims that the winter of discontent will be "made glorious summer by this sun of York"  -  not a reference to the Yorkshire climate but a...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 15 Feb 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9897</link>
<title>Saying No Is A Start</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Now that the North Carolina legislature has sent a clear signal that it opposes both Medicaid expansion and a state-based health exchange, the state capital is abuzz with complaints and speculations.

Are Senate leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Thom Tillis, and Gov. Pat McCrory jockeying for political position? Are they trying to use state action to nullify a federal law? Are they...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 8 Feb 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9877</link>
<title>No Time to Relive Glory Days</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Although Raleigh is a much different state capital than it was when I started writing about politics in the late 1980s  -  the ratios of plaids to pinstripes and of diet sodas to high-test soft drinks have shifted markedly  -  there remain a large number of lobbyists, journalists, and politicos around town who still venerate "the good old days."

Most but not all are Democrats. Most but...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 1 Feb 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9853</link>
<title>A Freedom Agenda for NC</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  If your tenure in our state stretches back no further than the early 1980s, you may not be aware of the fact North Carolina's license plates used to say "First in Freedom" rather than "First in Flight." So you may not fully appreciate why we chose the title First in Freedom for the John Locke Foundation's just-published book of policy ideas for the new administration and...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9835</link>
<title>Breaking Up Is Hard to Do</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Want to make North Carolina public education more cost-effective?

You should. Even though our state isn't a big spender by American standards  -  our total expenditure for elementary and secondary schools of about $9,000 per pupil is lower than the national average  -  public education is still the single-largest expenditure of state tax dollars. And the "American standard" is far in...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9817</link>
<title>May I Speak to Mr. Locke?</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  "May I speak to Mr. Locke, please?"

I can't tell you how many times someone at the John Locke Foundation has taken a phone call and gotten this question. One would hope that the name of John Locke  -  the 17th century English philosopher, physician, and statesman  -  would be familiar enough to avoid such questions. But that's not the current reality. And if John Locke, that dogged...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9798</link>
<title>Let&amp;#039;s Reform Judicial Elections</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  North Carolina policymakers will have a lot on their plate in 2013. The General Assembly will tackle education reform, a rewrite of the state tax code, the unemployment-insurance debt, and other pressing issues. Gov. Pat McCrory will propose initiatives of his own, likely to include regulatory reform and changes to the budget process.

Nevertheless, I hope they make time early in the...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2012 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9757</link>
<title>Let&amp;#039;s Focus on Job Creation</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  It's about time for New Year's resolutions. My recommendation for North Carolina politicians of all stripes is to resolve to focus their attention, rhetoric, and legislation on reducing the ranks of the unemployed.

I don't mean to suggest that state government is the primary player in economic policy. To the extent public policy was implicated in the housing and financial bubbles,...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 14 Dec 2012 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9737</link>
<title>Time for Leaders to Step Up</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Newly elected Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the newly reelected Republican legislature may have an ambitious agenda for dramatically cutting taxes or adding new programs. But there is a fiscal constraint on any such agenda: Past governors and legislatures didn't pay for what they spent.

Like almost all states, North Carolina has a constitutional requirement that its budget be...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 7 Dec 2012 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9722</link>
<title>No Controversy about Voter ID</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  One of the first bills the North Carolina General Assembly will enact next year, and that new Gov. Pat McCrory will sign, will establish a photo ID requirement to vote in North Carolina. It will pass quickly because it is uncontroversial.

Yes, I know that left-wing activists and the news media consider voter ID laws to be controversial. But the public doesn't agree. Clear majorities...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 2012 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9702</link>
<title>Reform State Education Boards</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  The single-largest expenditure of state taxpayer funds in North Carolina is public education. We spend billions of dollars on public schools, community colleges, and universities. So why aren't we talking more about how weird and chaotic North Carolina's system of education governance is?
 
Public schools, community colleges, and the University of North Carolina system have their own...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 23 Nov 2012 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9685</link>
<title>Reform Taxes and Education</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Two of the top issues facing new North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and the General Assembly in 2013 are tax reform and education reform. For the performance of North Carolina's economy to improve significantly in the short run, we need a more competitive tax system. For the performance of North Carolina's economy to excel in the long run, we need a more competitive education...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9671</link>
<title>Some Hope for Concord and Union</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  The 2012 election results underscored a basic political fact: We live in a closely divided country.

Just over half the electorate voted to retain President Barack Obama. Nearly half voted against him. In the exit polls, a majority of respondents said they wanted government to get smaller, not larger, and a plurality of respondents said they wanted Obamacare repealed.

Down the...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 9 Nov 2012 07:00:00 EST</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9649</link>
<title>North Carolina Votes for Change</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  For all the time, energy, and money spent on federal campaigns over the past two years, American voters decided not to make any significant changes. They reelected President Barack Obama, albeit with many fewer votes than in 2008. They kept Democrats in control of the U.S. Senate and Republicans in control of the U.S. House.

Essentially, after watching the fractious political debate...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 2 Nov 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9631</link>
<title>Beware of Political Investing</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  The average North Carolinian has endured hundreds of broadcast ads, print mailers, emails, phone calls, news stories, and personal visits about politics during the 2012 election cycle. Those in targeted districts have been treated to an even-heavier diet of political messages.

Given how many of these messages now feature the word "investment," voters could be forgiven for thinking...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9612</link>
<title>Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Randal O'Toole is an observant fellow. A senior fellow at the Cato Institute, O'Toole took a close look at the Great Recession and its antecedent, the Great Housing Bubble, and saw something that few others did.

After a lengthy period of only gradual increase in the average inflation-adjusted price of American homes, the price began growing at 4 percent a year in 1995. By 2004, the...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9592</link>
<title>NC Needs More Competition</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Competition is an indispensable tool for promoting efficiency, innovation, and excellence. Its virtues are evident in virtually every field of human endeavor, including commerce, athletics, science, religion, and the arts.

Government may seem to be an exception to the rule. Although we use (somewhat) competitive elections to determine who runs the government, its operations don't...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 12 Oct 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9570</link>
<title>A Bold Bid for Freedom</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  During each election cycle, we are treated to an endless parade of politicians extolling freedom. Given how many of them subsequently vote to restrict our freedom in myriad ways, we have ample reason to be skeptical about politicians.

But we should not let our skepticism become cynicism, or realism become defeatism. The cause of freedom is not a sports team for whom we root but whose...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 5 Oct 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9543</link>
<title>Low Rank on Truthful Accounting</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Another day, another poor ranking for North Carolina government.
 
This time, it's the new Financial State of the States report by the Institute for Truth in Accounting, an Illinois-based nonprofit that has been pushing governments to reform their accounting practices for more than a decade. Founded by a CPA and chaired by a former Ernst &amp;#038; Young executive, the Institute issues...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9522</link>
<title>Politics Blocks Tax Reform</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  I don't find the structure of North Carolina's tax code to be at all surprising. I find it confusing, destructive, unfair, and absurd, as do most folks who have studied it. But no one should ever be surprised that tax systems are screwy. They get that way for a reason.

You can see why by looking at the North Carolina governor's race.

For at least two decades, the Democrats running...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 21 Sep 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9501</link>
<title>To Do Good or Do Better</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  There are at least as many different ways to explain the origins of political disagreement as there are political commentators. I, for one, think that such factors as cultural traditions, religious views, family background, educational experiences, and interpersonal relationships all help to shape how we choose our preferred political candidates or "sides"  -  and how we choose to act on...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9485</link>
<title>Dalton Plays Small Ball</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  While the national Democratic ticket is enjoying a modest lift in the polls after the convention in Charlotte, the party's gubernatorial nominee, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, remains significantly behind Republican Pat McCrory.

The political plight of Dalton is "over-determined," as a social scientist might put it. There are many plausible explanations for why he trails McCrory. Thanks to...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 7 Sep 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9466</link>
<title>More on More At Four</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Spending tax dollars on preschool intervention for at-risk North Carolina children may be a worthwhile idea. In fact, I have long favored a carefully designed, carefully targeted early-childhood program as part of a comprehensive strategy for education reform. But this policy is not required by the state constitution  -  as a N.C. Court of Appeals panel has just ruled in a case about the...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9448</link>
<title>Time of the Session</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Don't look now, but North Carolina seems to have survived a significant reduction in the duration of the state's legislative sessions.

According to the official count, the 2011-12 biennium of the Republican-led General Assembly convened on January 26, 2011 and adjourned for good on July 3, 2012. In-between those dates were two regular sessions  -  the "long" session in 2011 and the...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Aug 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9428</link>
<title>Standards Don&amp;#039;t Make the Grade</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Along with most other states, North Carolina is in the process of adopting new Common Core national standards for reading and mathematics. The good news is that the Common Core is much better than North Carolina's previously reading and math standards. The bad news is that, at least in the area of math, the new standards are inadequate to the task of raising North Carolina's math...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 17 Aug 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9413</link>
<title>The Campaigns May Actually Matter</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  I've changed my mind about the 2012 campaigns for North Carolina governor. I now think they may actually matter.

Well, perhaps that's not the best choice of words. The outcome of the governor's race was always going to matter. If Pat McCrory wins, the likely result will be a unified Republican government in Raleigh for the first time since Reconstruction  -  and major initiatives in...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9393</link>
<title>Not-So-Great Rate Debate</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  While hardball politics is not the place one should ever go looking for intellectual rigor, North Carolina's political culture seems especially prone to hyperbole and silliness.

These characteristics were in full display when the news broke that the graduation rate in North Carolina schools had exceeded 80 percent for the first time. As recently as 2006, only two-thirds of freshmen...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 3 Aug 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9375</link>
<title>Sorry to Ruin Your Day</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  If during the past few years of fiscal instability, you consoled yourself with the fact that at least North Carolina's pension fund for teachers and state employees was sound, I'm going to ruin your day.

Bond-rating agencies and regulators are about to change the system for evaluating state and local pension funds. Rather than use the average stock-market return to estimate the...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9333</link>
<title>What We Still Don&amp;#039;t Know</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  I have no problem offering electoral predictions. Until 2008, I had a fairly good record pegging races, and my 2010 predictions proved to be within a couple of seats of the actual congressional and legislative results. But President Obama's autumn surge in North Carolina confounded my model in 2008, tossing many of my statewide predictions into the trash heap  -  no, make that the dung...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9315</link>
<title>Why Politics Costs So Little</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  American politicians, parties, and interest groups spend relatively little on their electoral campaigns. The side that spends the most money doesn't always win. And if we really want to improve our political system, we'll know we're succeeding if total spending on campaigns goes way up.

If these propositions strike you as strange, I'm not surprised. They clash with years of...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9297</link>
<title>A Rewrite to Restore Justice</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  For the activists who have fought for years to abolish North Carolina's death penalty, the just-completed short session was a crushing disappointment. Their chief accomplishment, the Racial Justice Act of 2009, was substantially rewritten. Both chambers then voted to override Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of the rewrite.

The Racial Justice Act was just the latest in a series of initiatives...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 6 Jul 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9274</link>
<title>The Ship of State Turns</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  When North Carolina's first Republican legislature in more than a century adjourned just before the July 4th holiday, assessments of its handiwork couldn't have been more varied.
 
Among Democratic lawmakers and left-wing activists, reaction ranged from disappointment and despair to fury and fulmination. They railed against Republican budgets balanced with spending cuts rather than...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jun 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9241</link>
<title>Hackney Lets It Slip</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  I don't often agree with Joe Hackney, the minority leader of the North Carolina House. A longtime Orange County representative who is retiring this year, Hackney previously served as majority leader and speaker. His political philosophy lies to the left not just of the overall House but also of the Democratic caucus.

Still, I've always respected Joe Hackney. Now I have reason to...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jun 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9214</link>
<title>Walter Dalton&amp;#039;s Poor Choice</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton wants a new job. President Barack Obama wants to keep his current job. The two Democrats have the same challenge, however. In order to win this fall, they have to persuade disaffected voters not to try a new direction in the executive branch.

Dalton won his short nomination contest against former Rep. Bob Etheridge by raising his statewide name recognition and...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9185</link>
<title>In the Taxpayers&amp;#039; Interest</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  As the North Carolina House and Senate work out their differences over a 2012-13 spending plan, it's not too early to be thinking about what the state's fiscal policy choices will be in 2013.

There will be a new governor. There will be many new members of the General Assembly, although it seems likely that Republicans will retain control. I think 2013 may prove to be an opportune...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 8 Jun 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9164</link>
<title>Politics and the Big Sort</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  If you see the two major political parties as more polarized and more ideological than they used to be, congratulations! Your Spidey sense is working. But let's be sure to interpret those tingles accurately.

According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, Democrats and Republicans are further apart today than they were in the past on many issues. The gap is particularly wide...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 1 Jun 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9122</link>
<title>The Right Choice on Education</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  If you say that North Carolina's public schools are better than they used to be, you'll get no argument from me.

A generation ago, educational attainment and quality in North Carolina ranked low by national standards. We had a low rate of high-school graduation. Our students ranked low in reading, math, and college readiness. In 1992, more than 60 percent of North Carolina students...]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 25 May 2012 07:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
<link>http://johnlocke.org/news_columns/display_jhcolumns.html?id=9105</link>
<title>Is NC Back on Track?</title>
<description><![CDATA[RALEIGH  -  North Carolina's unemployment rate fell in April by three-tenths of a point, to 9.4 percent. Good news? Not really.

When interpreting government statistics, you have to look at the details, not just the top-line number. North Carolina's April decline in unemployment was attributable entirely to people leaving the workforce, according to the seasonally adjusted figures. At 9.4...]]></description>
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