Term limits

Kansas and Colorado, compared
20
Mar
By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Colorado, compared

News that a Wichita-based company is moving to Colorado sparked a round of Kansas-bashing, most not based on facts. When a Kansas company announced moving its headquarters to Denver, comments left to a newspaper article made several statements that deserve closer examination.[8. Carrie Rengers. Viega to move corporate headquarters and 113 jobs to Denver. Wichita Eagle, March 18, 2016. Available at: http://www.kansas.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/carrie-rengers/article66851717.html.] One reader wrote "Yup another example that the tax relief for businesses is working in Kansas." Another wrote "The biggest takeaway here is that then didn't bother to mention the benefits of lower taxes meaning the tax policy…
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The real free lunch: Markets and private property
29
Jul
By Bob Weeks

The real free lunch: Markets and private property

As we approach another birthday of Milton Friedman, here's his article where he clears up the authorship of a famous aphorism, and explains how to really get a free lunch. Based on remarks at the banquet celebrating the opening of the Cato Institute’s new building, Washington, May 1993. I am delighted to be here on the occasion of the opening of the Cato headquarters. It is a beautiful building and a real tribute to the intellectual influence of Ed Crane and his associates. I have sometimes been associated with the aphorism “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” which…
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Wichita has examples of initiative and referendum
20
Apr
By Bob Weeks

Wichita has examples of initiative and referendum

Citizens in Wichita have been busy exercising their rights of initiative and referendum at the municipal level. The Kansas Legislature should grant the same rights to citizens at the state level. What recourse do citizens have when elected officials are not responsive? Initiative and referendum are two possibilities. Citizens in Wichita have exercised these rights, but Kansans are not able to do this at the state level. Initiative is when citizens propose a new law, and then gather signatures on petitions. If a successful petition is filed, the matter is (generally) placed on a ballot for the electorate to decide…
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Arguments for and against term limits
30
May
By Bob Weeks

Arguments for and against term limits

From RestartCongress.org. Arguments for term limits With term limits in place, Congress will be more responsible toward their constituents because they will soon be constituents themselves. They will have to live under the laws they have created while in office. Members of Congress will have less time in office to develop financially beneficial commitments to lobbyists and other special interest groups, thereby undermining the threat of lobbyists being a primary influence on legislation. Since the time of the Founding Fathers, a general consensus states that people, when given power, will eventually be corrupted by it. If Congress has term limits…
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WichitaLiberty.TV February 16, 2014
14
Feb
By Bob Weeks

WichitaLiberty.TV February 16, 2014

In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: The controversy surrounding the residence of a long-time senator from Kansas raises issues of term limits and the ability of citizens to exercise the power of initiative and referendum. Then, the seen and the unseen applied to economic development in Wichita, and why do we rely on certain experts. Episode 31, broadcast February 16, 2014. View below, or click here to view at YouTube.
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30
Jul
By Bob Weeks

The real free lunch: Markets and private property

As we approach another birthday of Milton Friedman, here's his article where he clears up the authorship of a famous aphorism, and explains how to really get a free lunch. Based on remarks at the banquet celebrating the opening of the Cato Institute’s new building, Washington, May 1993. I am delighted to be here on the occasion of the opening of the Cato headquarters. It is a beautiful building and a real tribute to the intellectual influence of Ed Crane and his associates. I have sometimes been associated with the aphorism “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” which…
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11
Jun
By Bob Weeks

In Kansas, redistricting went well, after all

The Kansas political class is upset because a federal court drew new districts they way they should be drawn -- compactly and contiguously, and also considering communities of interest. The court, in its opinion, explained: "we have developed new legislative maps that distribute population as evenly as practicable between districts, while also considering to a much lesser degree the state's legislative policies guiding redistricting." In drawing Congressional districts the court took into consideration the Roeck score, a measure of compactness. What the court has done is to ignore the desires of the political class. The legislature's consideration when attempting redistricting…
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06
Dec
By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday December 6, 2010

Cato scholar to speak on economic freedom. Friday's meeting (December 10) of the Wichita Pachyderm Club features noted Cato Institute scholar, Principal Attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, and author Timothy Sandefur. He will discuss his recent book The Right to Earn a Living: Economic Freedom and the Law. A description of the book at Amazon.com reads: "America's founders thought the right to earn a living was so basic and obvious that it didn't need to be mentioned in the Bill of Rights. Yet today that right is burdened by a wide array of government rules and regulations that play…
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29
Nov
By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday November 29, 2010

Louisville success factor may be gone. The secret sauce behind redevelopment of downtown Louisville, Kentucky may no longer be available to cities attempting to replicate Louisville's success, such as it is. The Washington Post reports in the article Sen. Mitch McConnell's earmark power credited for revitalizing Louisville: "The once grand downtown of this city on the Ohio River is shabby, as the nation's old downtowns tend to be. Magnificent tall cast-iron-fronted buildings sit empty. So do historic brick tobacco warehouses, surrounded in razor wire, tagged with graffiti. But the downtown of Kentucky's largest city also has a spectacular redeveloped waterfront…
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15
Nov
By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday November 15, 2010

This week at Wichita city council. An Old Town bar faces the possibility of losing its drinking establishment license and two apartment complexes seek city support in the application for housing tax credits. ... The old Coleman Company Plant at 250 N. St. Francis faces an obstacle on its path to demolition: The Wichita Historic Preservation Board found that "the demolition of the structure and construction of a surface parking lot does encroach upon, damage, or destroy the environs of the state and national register listed properties by removing distinctive buildings, and altering spatial relationships that characterize the environs." There…
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30
Jun
By Bob Weeks

The Hartman clean campaign pledge: Pompeo response

In the contest for the Republican Party nomination for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas, Wichita businessman Wink Hartman has run many advertisements making an issue of a clean campaign pledge. He's signed it, and says that leading rival Mike Pompeo won't sign it. I asked Rodger Woods, manager of the Pompeo campaign, why his candidate didn't sign the pledge. Woods mentioned two reasons. First, Woods said that the meaning of the word "clean" is subjective. He said that Pompeo has committed to running a truthful campaign, the meaning of which is not subjective, noting that "truth"…
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01
Sep
By Bob Weeks

Dale Swenson, tea party critic, a barrel of laughs

Today's Wichita Eagle contains a story (Tea party organizers: We paid for event) covering the dust-up between a member of the Kansas House of Representatives and tea party organizers. The state representative -- Dale Swenson, a Democrat whose district covers parts of southwest Wichita -- said of the tea party event: "We need taxes to support their protests." Today's Eagle story reports on organizer Lynda Tyler's expenditures necessary to put on the event. It's much the same information as in her statement presented in my post Wichita tea party paid its expenses from Sunday. In his defense, Swenson told the…
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27
Mar
By Bob Weeks

Articles of Interest

Wichita real estate development, redistricting, newspapers, free markets Wichita developer plans to turn old school into apartments (Bill Wilson in the Wichita Eagle) All that's missing from this story is the developer's propensity to seek subsidy, that is, a handout from government. We'll have to wait to see how that develops. Longtime Wichita developer George Ablah may be forced to shut down (Wichita Business Journal, a subscription service) "George Ablah says the economic downturn could force him to soon shut down his commercial real estate business. Ablah, who celebrated his 80th birthday Tuesday, estimates he has purchased and developed $2…
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