Citizen Leadership

Mark L. Plummer, the distinguished economist and former Discovery Institute fellow who co-authored (with Charles C. Mann) Noah’s Choice (Knopf, 1995), has died of cancer in Federal Way, near Seattle. He and Mann earlier co-authored The Aspirin Wars, a riveting and amusing chronicle of the famous analgesic. But it was Noah’s Choice that famously explained the perversities of environmental regulations that sometimes use law and the Read More ›

Easter is a celebration of Christ’s love for the world and a reminder of our calling to love others. Americans have always sought meaningful ways to express their love in service to others. Just as Americans value effective business models, we value effective charitable models. Indeed, the most famous early colonial speech was John Winthrop’s “Model of Christian Charity.” Last Read More ›

President Obama is suddenly upset about the alleged wage gap between men and women, but he’s not responding to a national economic crisis. Instead, he is attempting to revive the “war on women” theme that, according to Washington wisdom, helped carry Democrats to victory in 2012 and might do again in 2014. If this narrative were true, the White House Read More ›

“Food banks are wonderful. But not as wonderful as food stamps.” This is the caption for a photo of volunteers sorting and packing food, featured with a recent Slate blog post by Jordan Weissmann. The post is entitled “Why Charity Can’t Replace the Safety Net.” It refers to an article by Mike Konczal in Democracy entitled “The Voluntarism Fantasy.” Konczal says that conservatives have missed the Read More ›

Recent U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael A. McFaul had an important article in Monday’s New York Times. It is important, if nothing else, for its more clear eyed awareness of the Russian challenge than the Times’ editorial stance so far. For example, he states ominously, “The shrill anti-Americanism uttered by Russian leaders and echoed on state-controlled television has reached a fanatical pitch with Mr. Putin’s Read More ›

What if the US in recent years had allowed gas fracking on public lands and had, for example, permitted the Keystone Pipeline to be built? What if instead of preventing oil and gas development, that is, we had supported it? What if we and the European Union had encouraged fracking attempts in Poland and Ukraine instead of looking away as Read More ›

Last weekend I got to sit on a panel entitled “True Compassion Doesn’t Come from D.C.: How Communities Are Addressing Poverty Better than Bureaucracies” at a conference of Washington State conservatives. It was humbling and inspiring to sit on the panel with Jeff Lilley, executive director of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. Jeff made one of the most powerful statements I’ve ever Read More ›

Eighteen million shares of Facebook stock valued at $992,200,000: that was the size of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s donation to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation a few weeks ago. It was America’s biggest charitable gift of 2013. And it was the first time a philanthropist under the age of 30 led the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual top givers’ list. This follows a Read More ›

The United Kingdom this month held what may turn out to be an historic debate on the topic of the growing persecution of Christians in the world. The debate — and an action agenda — should be picked up in the U.S. Christians are targeted for persecution more than any other faith in our times. Evidence in the House of Commons debate Read More ›

“Entrepreneurs Can Save the World,” declares the front of the December 2 issue of Forbes. It’s the second annual “Philanthropy” edition of Forbes. But the headline might as well say “Entrepreneurs Can Save their Communities.” Forbes has studied the giving habits of millionaires around the world. These philanthropists are making a difference globally—and in their own neighborhoods. Supported by Credit Suisse, Forbes Insights surveyed 317 millionaires regarding Read More ›