Voice For Liberty

Tag: Politics

  • Reaction to Star Parker shows intolerance of left

    Before author and columnist Star Parker spoke at Wichita State University earlier this week, attacks were already launched, providing illustration of the rampant political correctness and intolerance in effect on the modern college campus.

    An editorial in the WSU Sunflower, the student newspaper, took issue with Parker’s visit to WSU. Not only was Ms. Parker herself attacked, but also Johnny Stevens, the Wichita businessman who had the idea to bring her to WSU and who paid the not inconsiderable expenses of the event.

    Here’s an example of the overblown rhetoric at Wichita State University, as used in this editorial:

    WSU College Democrats co-chair Katherine Paige contended, “It is ethically problematic to ask a group that believes in the value of public schools, helping the homeless and those in poverty and the separation of church and state to condone the wholesaling of our campus to conservative radicals such as Star Parker.”

    A few points: First, the university rented some of its facilities to a private person for one evening. Contrast this with the taxpayer-funded use of the university every day to promote leftist political agendas.

    Then, does this writer really believe the premise of her statement, that the public schools are doing a good job? That government really helps those in poverty? That it is “ethically problematic” to allow views other than those she agrees with to be expressed at a university?

    If so, this is more evidence of the decline in critical thinking and civility at our universities.

    The editorial also mentions “anti-government conservative propaganda,” presumably to be presented at Parker’s lecture. The implication of the writer is that the facilities of the university are to be used only for the glorification of government. Is no dissent allowed, even if the speaker pays for the privilege?

    That is what’s really troubling about this editorial, if it is representative of WSU students today. Not willing to allow alternative views to be heard, they turn the idea of “liberalism” on its head. Instead of being tolerant, the writer of this editorial and the WSU College Democrats co-chair show themselves to be as close-minded, intolerant, and bigoted as they believe are the conservatives they hate.

    Besides this, the editorial is wrong on two factual accounts. One relatively minor error is the report that Stevens “contacted the WSU Alumni Association with the hopes to bring Parker to the University.” Stevens said that this never happened.

    A more important error is the claim that WSU student fees will be used to pay for some part of this event. Stevens assured me that he is paying for all expenses the university might incur. He donated money up front, and his instructions were that he would supply additional funds if necessary after all the bills were known so that no university funds would be spent.

    Will the Sunflower publish a correction?

  • Star Parker delivers message in Wichita

    In an energetic message delivered to an audience at Wichita State University this Monday, author and columnist Star Parker spoke about breaking the cycle of poverty and other issues facing our country.

    Early in her talk, Parker noted the irony of the welfare office in Washington (the Department of Health and Human Services) being located on Independence Avenue. The approaches that have been tried over the last 45 years to conquer poverty haven’t worked and have led to two generations of government dependence with disastrous consequences, she said.

    Speaking of her own experience being on welfare, the rules of welfare are “don’t work, don’t save, don’t get married.” These rules are designed to keep poor people on welfare, not allow them to break out of poverty. There’s something wrong with our society, she said, if we allow this to continue.

    She believed the lie that “I was poor because rich people are rich.”

    There used to be a healthy black community, but the war on poverty has been very harmful to family life. Fathers used to be in the black home. But the government moved in and began to bankrupt family life.

    At the time, Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan looked at the plans for Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and recognized that it will hurt black families more than help them, Parker said. Then, black out-of-wedlock births was one in four; today it is three in four. Even though there was poverty and racism, black family life was largely intact.

    The ideas of the conservative right work for all Americans, including poor people, she said. Traditional values, including the duty to be self-sufficient and responsible in the choice they make, are an important factor in getting out of poverty.

    Who is in poverty, Parker asked? 53% of the poor live in families with only one parent. We need to “mention marriage every now and then,” she said.

    Developing a work ethic is also important, she said. “Work is how you get out of poverty.” But there is a hostile environment in Washington and elsewhere that says the wealthy need to be penalized. That means they can’t produce as many jobs as they could.

    The welfare state and moral relativism has caused harm to all of America, she said. The black family was most vulnerable, so it was hurt first. Now the rate of births out marriage for Hispanics and whites is higher than it was for blacks was when the war on poverty started.

    Regarding education and school choice, Parker made the point that the rich — even the middle class — already have school choice. It’s poor people that benefit most from school choice programs across the country. She told of the Washington, DC scholarship voucher program, where 1,700 poor children each year were able to attend better schools. Parents desperate to get their children out of DC schools applied, 40,000 of them, so there had to be a lottery to decide who would get the scholarship.

    But President Barack Obama canceled this program.

    Social security is another government program that is harmful to the poor, Parker said. The little that they might be able to save gets sent to Washington for something they don’t own, they can’t transfer, and on which they get a horrible rate of return.

    In response to a question about the redistribution of wealth through the tax system to provide basic needs such as food and shelter, Parker said that the best approach is to create an environment where people can provide these things for themselves.

    Answering another question, Parker said it’s important for youth to hear all sides. Most curriculum, she said, is slanted towards the left.

    A question about race and racism brought out Parker’s observation that whenever the left is losing on an issue, such as health care, they bring up the issue of race. This is the case even when the people on both sides are black. There’s an industry that benefits from racism, but “most of the barriers of segregation have been removed,” she said. The number one crisis facing African-Americans today is not racism, but sexual immorality, she said.

    Regarding the murder of Wichita abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, she said that people should not take justice into their own hands. The debate is intense, and we need to “take it down a notch.” The death of Tiller was a horrible thing, and it is also horrible to glorify the man and the things he did, she said.

    Additional coverage of Parker’s visit is at Kansas Watchdog.

  • Star Parker to deliver message of freedom in Wichita

    Tonight in Wichita, author and columnist Star Parker will deliver a lecture titled “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: From Entitlement to Empowerment.”

    I spoke by telephone with Parker and asked her to give Wichitans a preview of the topics she’ll address tonight. One topic she will address is the notion that people do not have the ability to control their own lives. There are some that believe that other forces keep people from being able to live free, she said.

    Also, Parker will look at political freedom and its role in enabling people to live free. Then, she’ll examine the steps out of poverty, including self-government, work ethic, education, saving and investing, and charities, and whose role it is to provide these.

    A recent article in the Sunflower, the WSU student newspaper, criticized her visit to the campus. Parker said “In a free society, we have free speech. For too long, we’ve only allowed on our universities one side of the case to be made. It is healthy for students to hear both sides.”

    She said that her personal experience, having lived on welfare and experienced the social engineering that takes place, gives her a unique perspective on the war on poverty. That war has been fought for 40 years, she said.

    She also disputed the comments about the Iraq war attributed to her by the Sunflower article.

    Parker’s lecture is Monday, October 5th at 7:00 pm In the CAC Theater at WSU.

  • Causes of global finance crisis explained in Wichita

    Today, an audience of 600 business and civic leaders attended the 30th annual Economic Outlook Conference at Century II, produced by the Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR) at Wichita State University.

    The featured speaker was John A. Allison, chairman and former CEO of BB&T Corporation, the nation’s 10th largest financial-holding company. Its headquarters are in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

    The primary cause of the recent financial crisis is our federal government’s policies and actions, Allison said.

    It’s not the fault of free markets, as some allege, because we don’t have a free market economy. We have a mixed economy, with some industries such as financial services being highly regulated by government.

    What was the cause of the real estate bubble? We built too many houses, many of larger size than we should have built, and we built them in the wrong places, he said.

    How did we make such a mistake? Allison said there are four causes or actors that contributed to the problem: the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), housing policy as implemented by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    The action of these agencies turned a natural correction into a panic. Also, the policies government has taken since then may help us in the short term, but will almost certainly hurt us in the long run.

    The Federal Reserve’s errors include creating inducements to take risk based on false signals. The inverted yield curve that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke created induced banks to take on more risk than they had been assuming. Also, “The huge level of federal debt we have today would not be practical if the government did not own the monetary system.”

    The Fed has sophisticated financial models to help it manage the economy, but these can’t integrate the economic activity of billions of humans. Illustrating this, Allison mentioned Frederich Hayek’s “fatal conceit,” where smart people believe they can do the impossible.

    The FDIC contributed to the problem by allowing start-up banks to offer high interest rates to depositors. With FDIC insurance, depositors don’t have any incentive to investigate the soundness of the banks in which they place their deposits. This has led to a lack of market discipline.

    Government housing policy has been a long-term problem. Spurred by the theory that home ownership for everyone is a good thing, in 1999, the Clinton administration announced that it would be the goal of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to have at least half their loans in so-called “affordable housing,” now called sub-prime mortgages.

    At the time, economists, including liberal economists, warned that this is risky, and that this course could take them down, and the U.S. economy with it within ten years. Nine years later it happened, Allison said, and the government was forced to bail out these two agencies.

    Politics played a role in this. Allison said he served on financial services roundtable committee for nine years. This committee warned Congress numerous times that it was certain that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae would go broke. But Congress wouldn’t listen. Part of the reason was the political contributions to both Democrats (that party’s single largest contributor) and Republicans made by these two agencies.

    Fair value accounting regulations, particularly mark-to-market, led to inaccurate valuation of some assets when markets are thin (not many buyers). When banks were forced to mark down the values of assets more than what economic reality indicated, the loss of capital was multiplied, because banks are leveraged. This lead to larger losses in lending capacity that what was necessary.

    Banks with cash might be willing to assume the economic risk of purchasing some of these assets, but they couldn’t assume the accounting risk of future losses. This is an example of the distortions produced by our government-created accounting system, regulated by the SEC. Large and even small businesses don’t use this accounting system for their own management, because it’s not a good measure of value.

    The actions of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae also led to the end of the “originate and hold” model for home mortgages, where banks and thrifts would make home loans, and then hold those loans as part of their portfolio of assets. Private institutions simply could not compete with these government-backed institutions.

    This led to the “broker model” or “originate and sell,” which had a terrible incentive. If you simply originate loans but don’t hold them and its risk, your incentive is to originate as many loans as possible, without regard to the riskiness of the loan.

    Summarizing the first part of Allison’s lecture: It is government policy that is largely responsible for the crisis. Free markets are commonly being blamed for the crisis, but this assessment is false. Our economy, as Allison has shown, is far removed from free and unregulated. Government intervenes everywhere.

    Allison presented a great deal of information in his talk, including some steps we should take to get out of this crisis and to prevent another. I’ll report on this soon.

  • ‘State of the State Kansas’ covers state with video

    Just a few weeks ago Kansas gained a new news-oriented website. State of the State Kansas is different from most news sites, as it focuses on providing long-format video coverage of issues and candidates. Rebecca Zepick founded State of the State Kansas. I visited with her last week and learned about the site and its goals.

    What inspired you to start the State of the State Kansas website?

    Zepick said that while working on John McCain’s presidential campaign, she handled booking campaign spokespeople — and even McCain and his wife — with statewide media in Iowa and other states. She found that television stations didn’t have political reporters. They had just general assignment reporters. So while she prepared her spokespeople for the toughest questions, reporters would ask simple questions like “How do you think John McCain is doing in Iowa?”

    These questions were easy for the campaign to deal with, but didn’t do a lot to provide the public with useful information. There wasn’t much analysis and skepticism.

    Additionally, producers were more interested in booking celebrities rather than discussing issues, but I thought that people were interested in the issues. “There has to be an underlying base of education for the general public, so that when a campaign comes along, you can have an intelligent discussion about policy issues.”

    Sometimes news seems to focus on the “horse race” aspect of campaigns — who’s up or down in the polls, etc.

    That type of coverage is easy to provide, she said. What’s more difficult to provide is educational content, and that is one of the site’s goals.

    Since State of the State Kansas contains primarily video content, what is different about video as compared to print or radio?

    There’s nothing like seeing a candidate face-to-face and watching them, to see if candidates know what they’re talking about and if they’re being evasive. With the video on State of the State Kansas, viewers can see a longer interview, and people can get to better know the motivations behind the candidates.

    What’s involved in processing the video you capture during an interview?

    Zepick said the hardware (Apple Macintosh computers) and software (the simpler version of a video editing program) she uses is inexpensive. The amount of time it takes to edit varies, depending on whether one or two cameras are used, and if slides with questions are edited into the video. But if required, video can be put on the site very quickly.

    From what I’ve seen of your site, it looks like you’ll select an issue, and then have speakers from both sides of the issue.

    Zepick said that in order to remove as much personal bias as possible, she asks simple questions such as “Why do you feel so strongly about this?” Then, let them explain themselves with as little interference from the reporter as possible. For now, Zepick says she’s letting segments run long so that people can become educated and investigate issues for themselves.

    I asked a question about how it seems that often people on different sides of an issue can’t even agree on a basic set of facts. Zepick said that can be a problem. Suppose an interview subject cites a statistic. If she is not an expert in the subject matter, her hope is that other media sources will be able to watch the videos and call out inaccuracies. This is also why it’s important to talk to both sides. Personal stories are different, however, as they are based on experiences, not objective facts.

    What about the declining resources available to traditional news media?

    Television and newspapers have seen a decline in viewers and advertising, she said. This may have lead to a decline in some aspects of news coverage such a longer feature pieces. That, however, has lead to an increase in the ratings for shows like “60 Minutes,” which feature longer and more in-depth reporting.

    Zepick mentioned the term “fractured media,” and that people may be confused as to which are reliable sources for news. But in a democracy, she said, the more voices, the better. It’s more confusing than in the days of the three major networks, but ultimately better for the people.

    From Zepick’s experience working on major political campaigns, I learned that the typical campaign interview we see on television is not a freewheeling affair. Usually ground rules are established, such as the topics to be talked about — and topics not to be covered.

  • Betty Arnold’s Sedgwick County Commission race: running uphill

    Last week Betty Arnold, a member of the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, declared her intent to be a candidate for the Sedgwick County Commission. She’ll be running for the spot currently held by Republican Dave Unruh, who has already filed for re-election.

    Arnold, a Democrat, faces an uphill battle, based on registration figures. In this district, my analysis of a recent voter file shows voter registration runs 29% Democratic, 45% Republican, and 26% unaffiliated. (The remainder are Libertarian and Reform party registrants.)

    Considering recent voters — I defined this as those who voted in an election in 2008 — the numbers are worse for Arnold. In this case, 30% are Democratic, 21% are unaffiliated, and the Republican number jumps to 49%.

    It’s hard to figure out what Arnold could do to persuade Republican voters to support her. Her vote for a property tax increase, her recommendation that voters approve an expensive and unneeded bond issue, and her anti-school choice stance are not positions that will appeal to conservatives and those who value freedom and liberty, be they Republican, unaffiliated, or of any other party.

    If the only Republican candidate (incumbent Dave Unruh) consistently took conservative positions, Arnold might have a case to make to moderate Republicans. But Unruh’s vote for a tax increase, his support for the downtown arena tax, and his support of TIF districts and other taxpayer giveaways such as the AirTran subsidy place him firmly in the moderate Republican camp — making it difficult for Arnold to peel off potentially left-leaning Republicans or unaffiliated voters.

    Top off this with the likelihood that next year could be a big year for Republicans locally and nationwide, and Arnold starts off way behind.

    It’s still possible that Unruh may face a challenge in the Republican primary. Efforts have been made to recruit a candidate, and there is one well-known conservative Republican thought to be looking at the race. Last year’s take-down of moderate Republican commissioner Tom Winters in the August primary by Karl Peterjohn will be very difficult to replicate, as Unruh has shown signs that he has been preparing for the campaign.

  • Goyle holds campaign kick-off event in Old Town

    In front of a crowd of enthusiastic supporters at the Pumphouse in Old Town Wichita, Kansas House of Representatives member Raj Goyle held a kick-off event for his campaign for the United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas.

    In his brief remarks, Goyle said that after receiving his education out-of-state, he — unlike many young people — came back to Kansas. He told how outside Kansas, out state’s perception is not what we know it should be. The perception is that we’re not forward-thinking or dynamic. So he decided to run for the Kansas House of Representatives in 2006, from a district that had never elected a Democrat.

    He mentioned his work and leadership in passing legislation limiting the ability of Fred Phelps and members of his church from disruptively protesting funerals of soldiers.

    He also mentioned his advocacy in passing a bill that allowed Kansas to accept $70 million in federal stimulus money to extend unemployment benefits.

    He mentioned that he has never missed a vote in the Kansas House He said he has never taken a free personal meal from a lobbyist, nor has he accepted a taxpayer-funded trip.

    Goyle said that the American dream is in jeopardy, and is slowly slipping away, and that he will work every day to make sure that dream is “as available to you as it was for me.”

    He told young people that they should not have to choose between a well-paying, high-quality job and leaving Wichita.

    Analysis

    As Goyle has no serious challenger in the primary, and as he is unlikely to draw a challenger with name recognition and the ability to raise money, it’s a bit of a puzzle as to why he’s hitting the campaign trail so soon, some 11 months before the primary. The real action in the fourth district Congressional race in is the crowded Republican primary field.

    Goyle’s talk was short on substantive discussion of issues, which is probably the strategy I’d follow if I had no serious primary opposition and was speaking to an audience of enthusiastic supporters.

    I attended the event with my colleague John Todd, and as far as we could tell, we were the only non-Democrats in attendance. My presence caused a few tweets on Twitter, one remarking “Oh dear lord!” at my presence. Most of the Democrats I talked to were cordial — including the candidate himself — except for one quite disagreeable union activist who assumed I was there to collect dirt on Goyle, assumed I supported President Obama’s heckler, and painted me as a racist simply because I belong to the same party as Lynn Jenkins, she of the “great white hope” remark.

  • American Liberty Tour stop added in Salina

    It’s coming to Kansas City, and now a stop has been added in Salina.

    It’s the American Liberty Tour, which “seeks to bring together and support a new and dynamic breed of citizen activists borne of the desire to preserve personal and economic freedom.” It’s a collaborative effort of some great freedom-loving organizations: American Liberty Alliance, American Majority, Americans for Limited Government and the Sam Adams Alliance.

    The stop in Kansas City next Wednesday has always been in the plan, and now on Tuesday evening, the tour will stop in Salina. The web page for this event is American Liberty Tour Stop: Salina, KS.

  • Americans fail basic test on history and institutions

    If you took a test covering basic questions about American heritage and civics, how do you think you would do? Do you think college freshmen should be able to pass such a test?

    You can take the test to see how well you score. But for college freshmen and seniors, the average result is barely more than half the questions answered correctly.

    This test, created and administered by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, is not difficult. Some questions are so basic that everyone should be able to answer them correctly. Some are more subtle, including the one I missed. But for college freshmen — people who have, for the most part, just graduated from America’s public schools — the inability to answer nearly all these questions correctly is an embarrassing indictment.

    The results of the test show that there’s little difference between liberals and conservatives in their understanding of American civics, with liberals answering 49% of the questions correctly; conservatives 48%.

    By testing students at the end of their college careers, ISI found that college adds very little to students’ knowledge of these matters.

    Perhaps the most amazing finding relates to elected officeholders: “Officeholders typically have less civic knowledge than the general public. On average, they score 44%, five percentage points lower than non-officeholders.”

    You can learn more about this test and its conclusions — and take the test yourself — at American Civic Literacy Program. The test is 33 questions, and you’ll get your score, along with the questions you missed, right away.