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Oklahoma Rebellion
By: Walter E. Williams

One of the unappreciated casualties of the War of 1861, erroneously called a Civil War, was its contribution to the erosion of constitutional guarantees of state sovereignty. It settled the issue of secession, making it possible for the federal government to increasingly run roughshod over Ninth and 10th Amendment guarantees. A civil war, by the way, is a struggle where two or more parties try to take over the central government. Confederate President Jefferson Davis no more wanted to take over Washington, D.C., than George Washington wanted to take over London. Both wars are more properly described as wars of independence.

Oklahomans are trying to recover some of their lost state sovereignty by House Joint Resolution 1089, introduced by State Rep. Charles Key. READ MORE!

Nick's Law Champ Says School Choice Can Help

Andrew J. Coulson compares public schools to a 1971 Chevy Impala and asks: "Do you wish the automobile industry were run like public schooling, or do you wish that public education was part of our free enterprise system?" Mr. Coulson is the author of a book chapter on school choice in Oklahoma.

Probably no one is more familiar (and frustrated) with the shortcomings of a government monopoly than parents of special-needs children. OCPA has been making the case lately--in the Muskogee Phoenix, the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, and elsewhere--that state legislators should provide scholarships for autistic children. And we were encouraged to see the chief promoter of Nick's Law agree that when it comes to helping autistic children, a school-choice scholarship program "can be a part of the total solution for Oklahoma."

OCPA FaxLine Report

Slowing Down America's Economic Engine

By: Brett Magbee

Thank goodness President Bush has decided to lift the executive ban on offshore oil and gas drilling. However, this is only the first step of a two step process. Congress must now act to lift the offshore drilling ban. "Now," notes the President, "the ball is squarely in Congress' court." It's time for some common sense concerning this issue because the automatic default position for most opponents of off-shore drilling is to return to ideas and policies which have been tried and have failed.

Take the idea to return the national speed limit to 55 miles an hour. That law was originally enacted by Congress in 1974 as part of a package of measures which were passed to counter the Arab oil embargo. Milton R. Copulos, Senior Policy Analyst with The Heritage Foundation in 1986, studied the issue extensively and concluded that, "The assumption was that reducing speeds would help conserve significant amounts of motor fuel. This has not proved to be the case." Read MORE!