The Declaration of Independence states that our inalienable rights include “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Life and liberty are easy to understand, but that last phrase is less intuitive. How can people have a right to strive for happiness?
Learn More
Uniting to Fight Poverty: A TED Talk
How do we solve problems like poverty with so much political polarization?
Welcome to the Pursuit
To pursue our happiness, to achieve our liberty, and indeed to find fulfillment in our lives, we must start with a moral consensus, a fundamental truth around which we all revolve. Think of an atom. The outer field of electrons is full of chaotic activity. Electrons are rapidly orbiting and moving in a constant buzz. What contains that chaos and gives it structure? The fact that the whole chaotic cloud orbits one central nucleus.
Freedom in America: A Comparison of Liberty in the 50 States
Because America is built on competition, and nothing spurs competition more than interstate rivalries, especially state-by-state comparisons of individual freedom, the CATO Institute has just released its new report Freedom in the 50 States, and it’s chock full of data to rev up that state pride.
read more
How to Achieve the American Dream: Start By Being Frugal
Are you an extreme coupon clipper? How’s that working out? Maybe pretty good, you’re saving money. Or maybe you’re spending to save. Or maybe it takes way too much time and you abandoned this strategy for living with fewer expenses.
Well, forget about it. If you want to know how to achieve the American dream, follow the lessons of the Fatzinger family. Learn from the “Einstein of economical.”
read more
Rights Vs. Duties: Getting Out the Vote for Better or Worse
Workhorse Mike Rowe is at it again, milking another sacred cow to expose its infertility. The latest installment in his ever-fresh responses to viewer mail is about rights vs. duties and whether get out the vote (GOTV) efforts are worthwhile or even potentially damaging, especially when targeted at people who are unaware or incapable of articulating their own political and economic perspectives.
read more
Social Security Calculator Lets You Decide Reform Policy
At first, the news report that said that the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget had created a Social Security calculator to determine how old readers will be when the Social Security Fund becomes insolvent seemed like a joke.
It appeared quite the sad interactive tool to ask people to use a calculator to see how old they will be when Social Security runs out when only two variables are at play. Well, turns out there’s more to the CRFB’s “Social Security Reformer” than just calculating your age in the year the retirement system goes bankrupt.
Making America Great Again: The Olympics Team and National Pride
On the world stage, the most striking aspect about the U.S. Olympic team is that its athletes represent just one nation. Its binding similarity is its diversity. The team is composed of widely varying ethnicities, races, economic backgrounds, and even ages. The team boasts Americans born in other countries as well as Americans born in the U.S. And regardless of their life circumstances, their individual stories — not just their collective athletic performance — make them champions back home.
read more
Pandhandling and Homelessness: One Mayor Who Looked the Problem in the Face and Helped
Mayor Richard Berry decided to test the truth behind the “Will Work for …” signs held by homeless panhandlers by actually starting a program to give work for hourly pay, lunch, and a shelter bed. Turns out many of the folks holding up the signs are willing to jump on the offer of a job.
read more
The Value of $100 in Every U.S. State
The Tax Foundation has issued its annual report on what $100 gets you in each of the 50 states. It’s a great reminder of the cheapest and costliest places to live, and also provides some additional insight into why a national minimum wage doesn’t really make sense.
read more
Cost of Higher Education to Spike From New Federal Loan Forgiveness Rules?
No one wants to be cheated in their learning after paying the pricey cost of higher education, and while some predatory for-profit institutions need to be reined in to prevent substandard college-level teaching, the creation of a new trigger in the Department of Education to cover the tab for students who didn’t get what they expected could be the next step in the push for universal higher education.
read more
3 Lessons on Work to Create Meaning in Your Life
Sure, pretty much everyone wants a career. It makes it a lot easier to plan your weekends that way. But having a career, or even a job, doesn’t mean that you are going to create meaning in your life. Indeed, if you hate what you do, your life is going to feel meaningless, and your likelihood of happiness takes a big tumble down the odds maker’s charts.
So how do you create meaning in your life? Ultimately, by having a vocation, a reason for doing what you do.
read more
The Persistent Marriage Penalty and Its Impact on Family Formation
You thought this was resolved in the ’90s, didn’t you? It wasn’t.
“Almost one-third of Americans aged 18 to 60 report that they personally know someone who has not married for fear of losing means-tested benefits.”
That’s right, the marriage penalty still exists on families who receive government subsidies, and it is impacting more families as the safety net expands.
read more
