Gerard Joseph Lebreque talks with Cascade Policy Institute about his struggles with regulations on juniper and his life in rural Oregon. His work can be found at: http://www.creationsbyjoseph.com/  

By Susan Gore Freedom fighter Vaclav Havel’s recent death reminded freedom lovers everywhere that no matter how entrenched rulers seem to be, they are vulnerable to so-called “powerless” citizens who in fact are not powerless when they refuse to surrender their consciences. The lessons of his life can speak to us this election season, as [...]

Please join us for Cascade’s monthly Policy Picnic. Dr. Bill Conerly will lead a discussion of philosophy and economics in public policy, exploring the need to consider fundamental principles when forming public policy conclusions. Dr. Conerly is an economic consultant and chairman of the board of Cascade Policy Institute. Before entering the business world, he taught economics and public policy at the college level. [...]

By Todd Myers “From outside in the fields came a sickening smack of an axe on a tree. Then we heard the tree fall. The very last Truffula tree of them all.” –From The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss This spring, a motion picture version of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax hit the big screen with a not-so-subtle environmental message [...]

By Trent England On April 19, 1775, a group of ordinary, small-town Americans stood up in defense of their property, their community, and their ideas. First at Lexington and then at Concord, they put their very lives in danger. A new online program called “We The People” offers basic information about American principles and the [...]

By Liv Finne Third grader Enrique (not his real name) eagerly describes his Teach for America teacher like this: “He let us borrow bigger books.” “I am learning English now.” “My goal is to be at fourth grade in reading by the end of the year.” Teach for America (TFA) is a nationally recognized training [...]

By Rebecca Phillips Have you ever heard of someone waiting 18 months to get an MRI? It’s a frequent scenario in Canada, a country that is noticeably free in most respects. The exception is health care, which is controlled by the government. But waiting 18 months for an MRI rarely happens in the United States. [...]

By Randal O’Toole The Occupy Wall Street movement has focused attention on a supposed divide between the one percent and the 99 percent. But a much more serious class struggle divides America: that between the middle class, meaning college-educated people whose jobs require a lot of thinking, and the working class, meaning less-educated people whose [...]

By Roger Stark, MD, FACS Major health care reform (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) became law two years ago. The legislation passed with only Democratic votes and totaled a massive 2,700 pages. The Medicare and Medicaid programs, by contrast, were enacted in 1965 with broad support from both parties and totaled only 137 pages. [...]

To say that our public discourse today stands in need of some improvement is undoubtedly an understatement, but perhaps no area of our common life requires more careful consideration than our political speech. All too often we find public discussions of political economy cast in stark terms, such as “socialism” versus “capitalism.” Very often these [...]