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Do you think there is too little or too much regulation? Though the appropriate amount of regulation may be in the eye of the beholder, we do have objective evidence of the growth of federal regulation.

The Annual Regulators’ Budget Report by Susan Dudley of George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and Melinda Warren of Washington University’s eidenbaum Center has just been released.

Their study shows both the cost and number of regulators continues growing far faster than inflation and population, which means in real terms we are becoming an increasingly regulated people. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the most of federal regulation has gone from $2.3 billion in 1960 to $38.9 billion expected in this next fiscal year. This is a greater than fourteenfold increase. The number of regulators has grown from 57,000 in 1960 to more than 240,000.

The recent news reports from Andijan, Uzbekistan, were troubling. The arrest and trial of local businessmen in the region sparked riots where there had been continuing civil unrest. The government of Islam Karimov, an ostensible U.S. ally in the war on terror, blamed “Islamist” incitement and launched a crackdown on the protests, killing many, possibly hundreds, of civilians. The situation Read More ›

In a recent interview with USA Today (March 23, 2005), Barbara Forrest, a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University and a critic of intelligent design, states incorrectly that “[design theorists] aren’t published because they don’t have any scientific data.” Similar critics of intelligent design have said similar things.  Initially, it’s not clear what Forrest is arguing. Obviously she’s not Read More ›

The basic function of government is to protect person and property, but all too often government does just the opposite. In their zeal to protect us from financial fraud, government officials recently engaged in a series of actions that have cost tens of thousands of innocent people their jobs, reduced U.S. international competitiveness, and destroyed more than $1 trillion in value for American shareholders.

Every American now suffers from the excesses of certain prosecutors and judges, and from Congress’ tendency to pass legislation aimed at correcting what they perceive as problems without thinking through the consequences of their actions. In the wake of the Enron scandal, the government went after Enron’s auditor, Arthur Andersen, and destroyed the company. The Supreme Court has just overturned the conviction of Arthur Andersen. The government’s irresponsible attack on the company cost 28,000 innocent people their jobs and made the auditing business less competitive, which has substantially increased auditing costs for every U.S. company. That, in turn, hurts their employees, suppliers and customers.

New York Attorney General Elliott Spitzer has just suffered a defeat at the hands of a jury for trying to convict a stockbroker for noncriminal actions. Mr. Spitzer has used intimidation against a number of companies, charging them with actions that may not even be crimes. In essence, he “blackmails” them into paying large settlements under the threat of destroying their business (like Andersen), though they may be innocent of any wrongdoing. These unfairly induced, forced settlements are costly to innocent stockholders and current and potential employees.

TOPEKA, KS – A new draft of science standards to be presented to the Kansas State Board of Education this week is drawing praise for recognizing that students need to study all the scientific evidence relating to chemical and biological evolution. At the same time, the new draft standards make clear that they do not cover the concept of intelligent design.  Read More ›

SEATTLE – An effort by three professors at Ohio State University (OSU) to publicly damage the academic future of a graduate student, Bryan Leonard, because of his support for teaching about the controversy over evolution is “an attack on academic freedom and a violation of professional ethics,” said Discovery Institute President Bruce Chapman. “Bryan Leonard has not even had a Read More ›

This article, published by The Salt Lake Tribune, quotes Discovery Institute Senior Fellow John West:

But proponents of intelligent design have a message for Buttars: Don’t help us.

“We get very upset when supposed friends are claiming far more than what the scholars are saying,” says John West, associate director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle.

For one thing, they oppose requiring the teaching of intelligent design. What they are pushing, West says, is a thorough discussion of Darwinian theories which would include criticism raised by legitimate scientists.

Does Oregon have the constitutional right to force the United States government to permit state doctors to assist patient suicides with federally controlled substances (narcotics)? Or is the federal government entitled under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to prevent these federally regulated drugs from being prescribed for lethal use regardless of state law? The Supreme Court will tell us soon in Gonzales v. Oregon, a case that will not only influence the course of the euthanasia and assisted-suicide debate, but will also profoundly impact the delicate balance of power between “states rights” and the overarching sovereignty of the federal government.

So far, court decisions have favored Oregon. Most recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Oregon’s right to regulate medical practice within its borders prevents the federal government from punishing state doctors who prescribe federally controlled substances to end their terminally ill patients’ lives. Under this view, the federal government can punish doctors who prescribe lethal doses of controlled substances for use in assisted suicide in states where the act is illegal. But punishing Oregon doctors would violate the principle of federalism because assisted suicide has been explicitly made a proper medical practice under Oregon law.

Hance Haney, a specialist in telecommunications and technology policy, has been hired to head Discovery Institute’s Technology and Democracy Project. Mr. Haney will be based in Discovery Institute’s Washington, D.C. office. “Hance Haney’s knowledge in the field of telecommunications and his previous experience on Capitol Hill will be vitally important to our efforts on telecom deregulation in the coming year” Read More ›