Opinion | 2012 Archive

In order to build up enough reserves to meet all its obligations, North Carolina governments would have to set aside more than $2 billion a year for many years.

I never bought the “economic data explains all” theory of politics. And now there is even more reason to be skeptical, thanks to a new analysis of presidential predictions.

In a court filing, Gov. Bev Perdue's friend Buzzy Stubbs has provided investigators plenty of justification to expand their inquiry of the governor's flight program.

In order to build up enough reserves to meet all its financial obligations, North Carolina governments would have to set aside more than $2 billion a year.

Unfortunately for the president and his party, events have conspired to put the media spotlight squarely on health care.

The use of extreme language, analogies, or images that demean others merely serves to demean ourselves, our causes, and our society.

North Carolina has the weakest property rights protection in the country.

Fixed-rail transit is the transportation equivalent of kudzu: You can't kill it.

Without a solid grounding in the history of our state, North Carolinians cannot hope to chart the right course for the future.

Much of the history of the Civil War is underreported, such as the compelling story of a woman who disguised herself as a man to be near her husband.

In all three scenarios, Pat McCrory wins the governor’s race, the GOP picks up congressional seats, and the GOP continues to control the legislature.

Sorry if fiscal reality doesn’t fit in the neat little box that many politicians and activists prefer to pack. They travel light.

North Carolina state and local agencies already contract out or partner with private entities to perform many tasks. In fact, they couldn’t function without private vendors.

Where the Center and Right part company is not what to do – invest in new supply – but how to do it.

There is no good evidence that states imposing tighter controls on eminent domain grow slower or create fewer jobs than do states with more permissive eminent-domain rules.

The Republican presidential contest might be running contemporaneously with the NCAA basketball tournament at the moment, but the two sports have little in common.

Widely known as the "dropout year," ninth grade represents -- for too many unruly, disengaged boys -- the point of no return.

Can you see now why the Left and Right, coming at the issue from very different starting points, tend to be against corporate subsidies while the Center favors them?

If you look at industry sectors merely as engines for job creation, you may see agriculture and manufacturing as sources of frustration.

Capitalism’s critics have painted an ugly portrait of the people who support new ventures that make our lives better.

RALEIGH — Protests across the country inspired by Occupy Wall Street featured plenty of people in their 20s. They fumed about everything from a lack of jobs to the cost of a college education. A fellow “20-something,” David Bass, is Associate Editor of Carolina Journal. Bass has been watching his generation’s involvement in the protests, and he poses the following question: Is society really to blame for the economic plight afflicting this age group? He discussed the issue with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio.

It’s an election year, and both major political parties have an interest in accentuating the differences between Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, legislature, and other North Carolina offices.

Schools ought to use value-added assessments to adjust compensation for teachers according to the amount of academic progress their students demonstrate.

Many GOP politicians wanted Romney at the top of the ticket rather than Santorum or Gingrich because they thought he posed less of a risk to their own electoral prospects.

Both liberals and conservatives saw the resulting Judicial Reinvestment Act as a step towards spending public dollars more wisely while reducing recidivism.

Past lawmakers and governors had the power to create preschool programs. But they were under no constitutional obligation to do so.

If you look only at the General Fund, you are looking at far less than half of what North Carolina state government does every year.

Democrats may have left too many potentially competitive seats on the table to pose a realistic challenge to overturn the GOP’s legislative majorities.

The school-lunch story offers a lesson about the blind faith bureaucrats have in their ability to modify behavior.