Policy Review articles from September 1996

Policy Review archives from September 1996

A morningstar for human services. (programs for people with disabilities)
September 1, 1996... Every now and then an idea comes along that is so breathtakingly sensible, one wonders why no one ever thought of it before. The National Results Council, a new nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota, plans to give users of human...

The prisoners' accomplice. (Clinton Justice Department alleges violations of prisoners' rights in Supermax, Maryland's prison for the most dangerous prisoners)
September 1, 1996... The 288 most dangerous convicts in Maryland are incarcerated in "Supermax," the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center. Supermax is a prisoners' prison, one in a growing class of "supermaximum security" facilities that take the worst of the...

A solution waiting to be adopted. (adoption reform)(includes related article about a plan for adoption reform)
September 1, 1996... When 48-year-old Hillary Rodham Clinton confessed to Time magazine recently that she wanted to adopt a child, it set off a small tempest of controversy. Her comment was hailed by supporters as evidence of her bona fides as a child advocate and...

Don't brake for big government. (federal speed limit repeal)
September 1, 1996... In 1974, in the wake of the OPEC oil embargo, the federal government imposed the 55 mile-per-hour "National Maximum Speed Limit" (NMSL) on American motorists to conserve gas. But long after the fuel crisis had abated, the federal speed limit...

Out of order. (Clinton appointees to the US Supreme Court)
September 1, 1996... On January 20, 1993, Bill Clinton raised his right hand and took an oath before God and the American people that he would "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Now, as the next presidential election approaches,...

Arise, take up thy mat, and walk: most homeless programs fail because they protect lifestyles that produce homelessness and neglect the moral and spiritual means to overcome it.
September 1, 1996... Spend a little time in virtually any city in America and you'll see them -- in doorways, under bridges, poking through trash cans, begging for loose change. They are America's homeless. They no longer wear the face of the 55-year-old alcoholic...

AmeriCorps the beautiful? (AmeriCorps national service program)
September 1, 1996... Let's conduct what Charles Murray might call "a thought experiment." Imagine it's 1993 and Newt Gingrich has been sworn in as president. In his Inaugural Address, he pledges to "dismantle the welfare state and replace it with an Opportunity...

Ready for round two? The achievements of the 104th Congress.
September 1, 1996... Of all the passions that distort one's view of politics, the greatest, I think, is the desire for closure, the yearning for some golden moment at which it can be said, "Well, that's the end of that." The jury announcing its verdict, the...

Can government save the family?
September 1, 1996... What can government do, if anything, to make sure that the overwhelming majority of American children grow up with a mother and father?" Policy Review asked a number of family experts across the political spectrum to address this question,...

The lady in red tape. (laws and regulations affecting women business owners)
September 1, 1996... Judy Hooper has two passions in life: doughnuts and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Hooper loves doughnuts. That's one of the reasons she opened a bakery in Evanston, Illinois. It's a small shop, bringing in about...

English is broken here. (foreign-language ballots)
September 1, 1996... California's Yuba County is getting ready to spend $12,000 this November on election materials that nobody will use. That's because the federal government forces local officials to print voting information in Spanish for every election....

Addicted to failure. (war on drugs)
September 1, 1996... A year ago, a 16-year-old constituent of mine, Jeff Gardner, died from a lethal combination of "huffing" gasoline and smoking marijuana. After Jeff's death, his mother, who was aware of a much larger drug problem in the community, called a...

Who owns our sidewalks? (local self-government)
September 1, 1996... It does not take a legal scholar to recognize that transferring authority to the federal government undermines the whole constitutional structure designed by our Founders. Few realize that this shift is also destroying local self-government in...