Spare_change
Gold Member
- Jun 27, 2011
- 8,690
- 1,293
- 280
Six questions we should ask about every policy:
· Is it the government’s business? Relatively few things really need federal intervention. Many can and should be handled at the state and local level, where accountability, knowledge and oversight is naturally better.
Does it promote self-reliance? Liberal policy proposals usually promote dependence on government, but nothing could be more un-American. We should, for example, measure a welfare program’s success not by how many people are signed up for it, but by how many who are on it have managed to find work.
· Is it responsible? Should we spend more than take in? Should we tolerate waste, fraud and abuse? Of course not.
· Does it make America more prosperous? That’s a key question to pose when it comes to trade barriers and business regulations. Yet we seldom do.
· Does it make us safer? The way we’ve been underfunding the military, to the point where current readiness levels are seriously compromised, suggests that we need to ask this more often.
· Does it unify us? We used to welcome immigrants as new Americans. Yet our current policies encourage balkanization. This needs to change -- and soon.
Ed Feulner - A Six-Question Test for 2018 -- and Beyond
· Is it the government’s business? Relatively few things really need federal intervention. Many can and should be handled at the state and local level, where accountability, knowledge and oversight is naturally better.
Does it promote self-reliance? Liberal policy proposals usually promote dependence on government, but nothing could be more un-American. We should, for example, measure a welfare program’s success not by how many people are signed up for it, but by how many who are on it have managed to find work.
· Is it responsible? Should we spend more than take in? Should we tolerate waste, fraud and abuse? Of course not.
· Does it make America more prosperous? That’s a key question to pose when it comes to trade barriers and business regulations. Yet we seldom do.
· Does it make us safer? The way we’ve been underfunding the military, to the point where current readiness levels are seriously compromised, suggests that we need to ask this more often.
· Does it unify us? We used to welcome immigrants as new Americans. Yet our current policies encourage balkanization. This needs to change -- and soon.
Ed Feulner - A Six-Question Test for 2018 -- and Beyond
