The evidence is strong that homework improves student achievement, especially when it is coupled with strong parental support.
Canada's nationalized health care system, with heavy costs of its own, is no answer to high prescription drug prices.
Government health-care mandates to help the uninsured too often drive up premiums and place insurance out of reach of more people.
As the economy slows, many lawmakers and pundits want to scale back the size of President Bush's proposed tax cuts and "moderate" the cuts already enacted by Gov. Engler and the Michigan Legislature. But politicians happily engaged in budget surplus spending binges ought to remember that those tax dollars rightfully belong back with the people who earned them.
As price controls come off this month, Michigan consumers will begin paying the higher, market-level rates for natural gas that the rest of the country has already been paying. State legislators have wisely resisted calls to re-impose economically harmful, California-style price controls, and instead are wisely proposing tax credits and other market-friendly solutions.
As Congress considers various "campaign finance reform" proposals, it should incorporate into any final legislative package the rights of workers not to be forced into paying for their unions' political agendas. "Paycheck protection," which requires unions to obtain up-front written permission before spending dues on political activities, is one way to safeguard workers' rights.
Two state-subsidized Internet job banks not only compete unfairly with taxpaying, private-sector job recruitment firms, but also with each other. The state agencies that run these wasteful and redundant sites should take them down, and leave the business of bringing together workers and employers to private entrepreneurs.
President Bush's funding for private religious charities initiative could undercut the effectiveness and compassionate missions of those charities.
Public officials must address the problems that cause people to move from cities to suburbs in the first place: high taxes, burdensome regulations, and poor schools.
California officials remain in the dark about how to properly deregulate electricity, but Michigan's plan proceeds more smoothly.
Michigan Sen. James Couzens opposed President Coolidge's growth-promoting tax cuts in the 1920s. Proven wrong, he lost the support of citizens and his party. Will Michigan's senators make the same mistake today?
Unions routinely thwart needed education reforms by spending large amounts of cash coerced from unwitting teachers. If unions had to voluntarily earn teachers' support, they would spend more time serving their members instead of playing politics.
Too many Michigan school districts are committing academic fraud by failing to deliver the quality education they promise. If parents could choose the schools their children attend, fraudulent schools would have to improve or lose customers.
It's time to repeal an outdated state liquor law that does nothing but give monopoly status to in-state producers, raise prices, and limit choices for responsible Michigan consumers.
Every school day, millions of American children are given a powerful drug called "Ritalin" to combat a disorder known as ADHD. But many experts say Ritalin is not the way to help children learn better.
Here are seven New Year's resolutions Michigan's new Legislature can make to ensure greater prosperity and opportunity for all citizens.
The Michigan Legislature recently gave the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality carte blanche to impose staggering fines on property owners for alleged environmental violations. This is a terrible idea given the department's past abuses.
Leaders of government "economic development" programs attempt to guess which companies will thrive and create new jobs. But the complexities of the marketplace make it impossible to predict which firms succeed and which fail.
Contrary to what some observers are arguing, it is far too soon to declare Michigan's experience with term limits for public officials a failure.
More districts should follow the example of Grand Rapids-area Rockford Public Schools, which guarantees that its graduates possess basic skills by requiring them to pass competency tests before receiving their diplomas.
