Well, we’ve made through 13 years. On Friday, Feb. 28, the John Locke Foundation will hold its 13th anniversary banquet at the Brownstone Hotel in Raleigh. Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard and Fox News Channel contributor (and, more importantly, my first post-college boss) will be in town to headline the event, which will also feature an awards presentation to Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce and longtime Charlotte City Councilman Don Reid.

If you’ve already signed up to go, I’ll see you there. If you haven’t and live in the Triangle area (or are willing to take a road trip on short notice) then contact us and we’ll see if we can accommodate you. The reception starts at 6:30 p.m., with dinner at 7:30 p.m. and the program shortly thereafter.

For those not planning to attend the event – though I can’t believe you have anything better to do on a Friday night than talk politics and public policy with us – I’ll give you a little preview. One of the matters I’ll discuss during my remarks is how the world has changed since a handful of North Carolina business and civic leaders began planning the John Locke Foundation in late 1989 (we opened our doors in February 1990). We really have seen a series of dramatic transformations, here at home as well as far away. Think the fall of the Soviet Union. Think economic bust, boom, and bust. Think Internet. Think “Joe Millionaire.”

And I’ll point out what North Carolina politics and government would be like if the Locke Foundation had never been born:

  • Some 650,000 North Carolinians a week, on average, wouldn’t be reading free-market, conservative analysis and commentary by Locke Foundation staff quoted in the state’s major print media.
  • Some 500,000 North Carolinians a week, on average, wouldn’t hear Locke Foundation research and opinions on radio newscasts and radio talk shows across the state.
  • Some 700,000 North Carolinians a week, on average, wouldn’t have the opportunity to read free-market, conservative columns by Locke writers on the editorial pages of their local newspapers.
  • Some 270,000 North Carolinians a week, on average, wouldn’t be watching Locke staff comment on the state news of the day on “N.C. Spin” and other television talk shows.
  • Some 20,000 North Carolinians wouldn’t have the opportunity each month to read investigative reports and free-market, conservative opinions in a unique statewide newspaper, Carolina Journal.
  • And thousands more North Carolinians wouldn’t be exposed to news, analysis, and commentary via the John Locke Foundation’s cable television shows, its research reports, its fax and e-mail newsletters, and its series of weekly events and policy conferences in Raleigh and cities across the state.

Hey, it’s not exactly George Bailey jumping off a bridge, but you get the idea. The John Locke Foundation’s 13th anniversary is an occasion worth celebrating, don’t you think?

I almost forgot to mention to be looking for some dramatic changes right here at Carolina Journal Online. The newly redesigned site is almost ready to go, and will offer all the features and convenience you’ve come to enjoy – a “one-stop shop” for North Carolina politics and government news on the Web – in a more user-friendly and attractive package. We’ve vastly expanded the links, so you’ll always know where to go to look up your favorite state or national news organization or columnist. And there will be other goodies as well. Naturally, let us know what you think.

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal.