May 2009 • Volume 16 Number 5
Perspective
REFLECTIONS FROM OUR MAN IN LONDON
May 2009 Vol. 16, No. 5 Brandon Dutcher .................................. Editor Perspective is published monthly by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Inc., an independent public policy organization. OCPA formulates and promotes public policy research and analysis consistent with the principles of free enterprise and limited government.
Churchill on Capitalism, Compassion, and the ‘Gospel of Envy’
OCPA Trustees Blake Arnold
Henry F. Kane
Oklahoma City
Bartlesville
Mary Lou Avery
Robert Kane
Oklahoma City
Tulsa
Lee J. Baxter
Tom H. McCasland III
Lawton
Duncan
Steve W. Beebe
David McLaughlin
Duncan
Enid
John A. Brock
Lew Meibergen
Tulsa
Enid
David R. Brown, M.D.
Lloyd Noble II
Oklahoma City
Tulsa
Aaron Burleson
Robert E. Patterson
Altus
Tulsa
Paul A. Cox
Bill Price
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City
Ann Felton
Patrick Rooney
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City
Josephine Freede
Melissa Sandefer
Oklahoma City
Norman
Kent Frizzell
Robert Sullivan
Claremore
Tulsa
John T. Hanes
Lew Ward
Oklahoma City
Enid
Ralph Harvey
William E. Warnock, Jr.
Oklahoma City
Tulsa
John A. Henry III
Gary W. Wilson, M.D.
Oklahoma City
Edmond
Daryl Woodard Tulsa
OCPA Adjunct Scholars Will Clark, Ph.D.
David L. May, Ph.D.
University of Oklahoma
Oklahoma City University
David Deming, Ph.D.
Ronald L. Moomaw, Ph.D.
University of Oklahoma
Oklahoma State University
Bobbie L. Foote, Ph.D.
Ann Nalley, Ph.D.
University of Oklahoma (Ret.)
Cameron University
Kyle Harper, Ph.D.
Bruce Newman, Ph.D.
University of Oklahoma
Western Oklahoma State College
E. Scott Henley, Ph.D., J.D., D.Ph.
Stafford North, Ph.D.
Oklahoma City University (Ret.)
Oklahoma Christian University
James E. Hibdon, Ph.D.
Everett Piper, Ph.D.
University of Oklahoma (Ret.)
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Russell W. Jones, Ph.D.
Michael Scaperlanda, J.D.
University of Central Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
Andrew W. Lester, J.D.
Andrew C. Spiropoulos, J.D.
Oklahoma City University (Adjunct)
Oklahoma City University
By Patrick B. McGuigan LONDON—I stood in many lines (queues, they call them in England) during explorations of London last month. One of the shorter ones was at the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, located in the underground bunker where the great man worked from 1940 to 1945, during his heroic first stint as prime minister. Winston Churchill had at least four phases of policy engagement, and two stints in journalism (crafting both “straight news” stories and memorable commentary). He was an unabashed British patriot and foe of fascism and communism. That is probably how he is now best remembered. Yet, his persuasive power and example reached sympathetic souls across the political spectrum during an eventful lifetime. From the first, he was a passion-
ate conservative with a classical Liberal understanding of commerce. In a 1904 speech on the floor of the House of Commons, he declared: “It is the theory of the protectionist that imports are evil ... we free-traders say it is not true. To think that you can make a man richer by putting on a tax is like a man thinking that he can stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle.” Churchill said socialism would bring a slow death for democratic values and limited government. “We are for the ladder,” Churchill said. “Let all try their best to climb. [The socialists] are for the queue. Let each wait his place until his turn comes.” The mature Churchill did not seek a “third way” between capitalism and socialism. He once said, “If once you penalize the
OCPA Fellows Steven J. Anderson, MBA, CPA Research Fellow
J. Rufus Fears, Ph.D. Dr. David and Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow for Freedom Enhancement
Patrick B. McGuigan, M.A. Research Fellow
J. Scott Moody, M.A. Research Fellow
Wendy P. Warcholik, Ph.D. Research Fellow
OCPA Legal Counsel DeBee Gilchrist ★ Oklahoma City
OCPA Staff Brett A. Magbee / VP for Operations Brandon Dutcher / VP for Policy Margaret Ann Morris / Director of Development Sandra Leaver / Event Coordinator Forrest Claunch / Operations and Special Projects Dacia Dodson / Executive Assistant Clara Wright / Receptionist
1401 N. Lincoln Boulevard ★ Oklahoma City, OK 73104 (405) 602-1667 ★ FAX: (405) 602-1238 www.ocpathink.org ★ ocpa@ocpathink.org
OCPA research fellow Pat McGuigan is pictured here April 15 alongside a bust of Winston Churchill in the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, an underground complex in the Whitehall area of Westminster that was used as an operational command-and-control center during World War II.
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spirit of individual daring and initiative ... then you downwards. We do not want to pull down the strucare, in fact, abandoning the capitalist system, and tures of science and civilization, but to spread a net you ought [to] go to the other extreme and weave the over the abyss.” whole industry of the country into one vast structure Winston Churchill’s critique of socialism grew under state planning.” clearer as he matured. In a turn of phrase that pepIn one phase of his career—triggered, interestingly, pered his writings and speeches from the 1930s on by a lack of philosophical rigor in the Tory party— (even as his personal financial fortune was devasChurchill turned left. He advocated not socialism but tated by the Great Depression), Churchill memorably what, in our day, might be called a “safety net” for the declared: “The inherent vice of capitalism is the poor. unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of In a 1908 speech while a member of the Liberal socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” party, he reflected, “Liberalism is not Socialism, and In his informed opinion, “Socialism is a philosophy never will be. There is a great gulf fixed. It is not a of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of gulf of method, it is a gulf of principle. ... Socialism envy.” And yet, all his life, Sir Winston met regularly seeks to pull down wealth. Liberalism seeks to raise for off-the-record policy discussions with an eclectic up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests; group of political and intellectual leaders, a group for Liberalism would preserve private interests in the only a time called “The Other Club.” way in which they can be safely and justly preserved, In the words of a modern Churchill admirer, liberal namely by reconciling Canadian Senator them with public Jerry Grafstein, right. Socialism “Churchill always Sir Winston Churchill is a worthy would kill enterprise; believed that perLiberalism would sonal friendship and object for conservative reflection and rescue enterprise civility were more modeling in this era, where we are from the trammels of important in public witnessing the rise of socialism, a privilege and preferlife than personalized ence. ... Socialism political partisangospel of envy masked as liberalism. exalts the rule; ship.” Winston Liberalism exalts the Churchill would have man. Socialism accepted both Barack attacks capital, Liberalism attacks monopoly.” Obama and Tom Coburn as members of “the Other With time and reflection, Churchill returned foreverClub.” more to the ranks of the conservatives, yet retained Like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, his great heart for the powerless. Former U.S. Rep. Winston Churchill was a deeply informed politician of Jack Kemp reflects that Churchill “believed in particuthe right. He valued the good intentions of competilar that low taxes were the key to upward mobility for tors, even as he sought their defeat. He never surrenthe disadvantaged in society. One of the first changes dered his own worldview while seeking opportunities Churchill announced as Chancellor of the Exchequer to forge unusual and necessary alliances, even with [in 1924] was a ten percent reduction in income taxes opponents. for the lowest income groups.” Mr. Reagan, Lady Thatcher, and Sir Winston are Churchill believed that would “liberate the producworthy objects for conservative reflection and modeltion of new wealth from some of the shackles of ing in this era, where we are witnessing the rise of taxation, [and] stimulate enterprise and accelerate socialism, a gospel of envy masked as liberalism. ✪ industrial revival.” His vision of economic conservaOCPA research fellow Patrick McGuigan (M.A. in history, tism included this: “We want to have free competition Oklahoma State University) is the author of two books and upwards; we decline to allow free competition to run the editor of seven.
Where can you find news and analysis on education reform in Oklahoma?
Choice Remarks www.okschoolchoice.blogspot.com 3
Busted! Barack Obama doesn’t want Sir Winston looking over his shoulder. By J. Rufus Fears arack Obama has sent Sir Winston Churchill packing, The Sunday Telegraph reported in a February 14 news story. “A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to George W. Bush from the Government’s art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back,” Tim Shipman reported. “The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush’s tenure. But when British officials offered to let Mr. Obama hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’” Why would Mr. Obama do this? It’s really quite simple. Winston Churchill embodies the political and moral values which are the exact opposite of what Mr. Obama wants for our country. First and foremost, Winston Churchill was a patriot. For him, the British Empire was a force for freedom and law. Winston Churchill did not believe the British Empire was an evil regime. In fact, it had brought individual freedom and a protection of individual rights—to a degree never seen before or since—to countries like India and large portions of Africa. Indeed, Indian leaders who would ultimately want the British out, like Nehru, were possible only because of the British Empire, because of the education these leaders had received in the fundamental rights of freedom going back to the Magna Carta. So until his end, Winston Churchill thought the British Empire should be preserved. He thought it should move more toward becoming a commonwealth of nations, but that it should be preserved. And he foretold the chaos and the immense human suffering that has existed in Africa since the abolition of the
British Empire. He predicted the terrible discord and the lives that would be lost in the years right after the independence of India and Pakistan, and predicted that an unresolved, very dangerous situation would remain between those two countries. None of that would have happened if the British Empire had endured. Barack Obama is one of those who believes the British Empire is evil, and believes that self-determination is the same as individual freedom. It is not. It is the antithesis. Second, Barack Obama would not like Winston Churchill because Churchill stood for a belief in absolute right and absolute wrong. Barack Obama represents what we might call the second generation of Vietnam radicals. The first generation was determined to overthrow all traditional values—including things like patriotism, objective scholarship, and even objective beauty, the idea that some things are beautiful in their own right, that there are standards of art and poetry. They were determined to overthrow all authority in the universities. Now this second generation, including people like Mr. Obama, stands on the belief that there is no such thing as absolute right and absolute wrong. So of course Obama will be opposed to Winston Churchill. For Winton Churchill, the Nazis were absolutely wrong. For Barack Obama, Iran is not absolutely wrong. They’re people you can negotiate with. I think Obama believes Iran actually has a lot of right on their side. We mustn’t forget that a very negative view of our country’s history is being taught in America’s schools. Obama has absorbed this negative view. Recall that during the campaign his wife said that this is the first time she had ever been proud of her country. So Obama’s view would be that America must be up to evil things in the Middle East, and that Iran must have been victimized by America. So Obama will step in like the social worker and take this criminal nation and rehabilitate it. It is a naiveté
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that borders upon foolishness. It’s the same naiveté that led Neville Chamberlin to say that Adolph Hitler is a man you can make a business deal with. Third, Britain has been our one steadfast ally in the Middle East. Indeed, Tony Blair is much like Winston Churchill. During the war, Winston Churchill found his strongest support in the Labor Party. And Tony Blair, this Labor Prime Minister, stood up for what we were doing in the Middle East. But Barack Obama has said from the start that he is opposed to our idea of bringing freedom to the Middle East, and also of protecting our self-interest. Another reason Barack Obama doesn’t like Winston Churchill is that Churchill is a constant reminder of the lessons of history. And Winston Churchill would have told Barack Obama: History shows that massive government spending in an economic crisis leads to ruinous inflation. When he was appointed Chancellor of Exchequer in 1924, Churchill put Britain back on the gold standard. He was very opposed to government involvement in business. Churchill was a great free-market proponent. In fact, he left the Conservative Party, which had been the party of his father, when the conservatives went for tariffs. He joined the Liberal Party, which was the party of free trade. And only when the Liberal Party became almost extinct after World War I did he go back to the Conservative Party. Barack Obama would be at home in Clement Attlee’s England, where everything was being nationalized. But Churchill warned that the nationalization of business would lead to such a set of regulations that it would create a “financial Gestapo.” That remark got him into a lot of trouble. Barack Obama is a well-educated person, so I think he understands how contrary his whole approach and political values are to those of Winston Churchill. So he would take that bust out, and send it back as a statement that he condemns what he would call the colonial empire of Britain. It’s important to understand the academic world in which Barack Obama has been raised. One of its favorite subjects is neocolonial literature. There is a whole industry in the academic world attacking the colonial empire of Britain, its oppressive quality, and celebrating all of these bad
writers who have built their careers upon how evil and oppressive these empires were. This all plays into the mentality of the victim that is so important today in the academic world. Winston Churchill is the archoppressor, so Barack Obama will send that bust home. Finally, sending the bust back is a sign by Barack Obama—and this is his most conscious reason for doing it—that he has broken with the Bush Administration. Bush, in his magnificent speech after the terrorist attack, invoked the words of Winston Churchill, and the bust was put in the Oval Office. President Bush (who, I am told, greatly enjoyed my tapes on Winston Churchill) saw himself as Churchill, standing up against this great evil of Islamic terrorism, which is our equivalent of the Nazis. Barack Obama does not believe that. He condemns Bush’s foreign policy, and returning the bust is a sign of showing a total break with the past. Truth be told, it’s a good thing Winston Churchill is not there in the Oval Office to see the cataclysmic change this country is going through, to see how wrong are the steps being taken in the economy and in foreign policy. The question is, whose bust should Barack Obama put in the Oval Office? I think the bust of Clement Attlee would be most appropriate. After all, it was Clement Attlee who took the British Empire, which was still the most powerful empire in the world at the end of World War II, and quickly dismantled it. He reduced Britain from being a superpower to being the equivalent of Portugal. Attlee and his Labor Party wrecked the economy by nationalizing its most vital industries, like the railroads. And he did it all under the principle—what he saw as the very good principle—of redistributing the wealth. Though, to their credit, Attlee and his Labor Party were at least honest enough not to call themselves Democrats, but to call themselves socialists (and that is what Barack Obama is). As Churchill once said of Clement Atlee, “He is a modest man, with much to be modest about.” ✪
A bust of Clement Attlee would be right at home in Mr. Obama’s Oval Office.
Dr. Fears (Ph.D., Harvard University) is a classics professor at the University of Oklahoma and the Dr. David and Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow for Freedom Enhancement at OCPA.
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Science Is Never Settled By David Deming Everyone knew that the science of astronomy had resident Barack Obama has said that the science been settled “beyond dispute.” When Galileo insisted of global warming is “beyond dispute” and that the Earth revolved around the Sun, he was therefore settled. This is the justification for the castigated by the Church for advocating an idea that imposition of a carbon cap-and-trade system that will was not only heretical, but also “foolish and absurd in cost $2 trillion. philosophy.” Unfortunately, Mr. Obama does not understand Late in the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton science. “Settled science” is an oxymoron, and demonstrated definitively that Aristotle’s physics was anyone who characterizes science as “settled” or incorrect. He proposed the Law of Universal Gravita“indisputable” is ignorant not only of science, but tion, and explained how the planets move around the also of history and philosophy. Sun in elliptical orbits. Newton is still regarded as the Aristotle, who lived and wrote in the 4th century BC, greatest scientist who ever lived. He settled the sciwas one of the greatest geniuses the world has ever ence of motion in such a conclusive way that his known. He invented the discipline of logic, and system was referred to as an “invincible edifice.” But founded the sciences of ecology and biology. the edifice crumbled early in the twentieth century Aristotle’s physics was accepted as correct for nearly when Einstein showed two thousand years. In that Newtonian phys1534, faculty at the Barack Obama says ics breaks down as the University of Paris speed of light is officially asserted that the science of global approached. the works of Aristotle warming is “beyond Near the beginning were “the standard dispute.” Barack Obama of the nineteenth and basis of all philosophic enquiry.” does not understand science. century, the Neptunian School of geology Aristotle taught that taught that all rocks heavy objects fall had formed by crystallization from a now-vanished faster than light ones. Over the centuries, a few universal ocean. Although the evidence falsifying this unreasonable persons expressed skeptical concerns. theory was both plain and abundant, Neptunists But the consensus was that the physics of motion was interpreted every observation as supportive of their described by Aristotle’s dicta. The science was hypothesis. Blinded by an immoderate zeal, they settled. selected and magnified any fact in accordance with Around the year 1591, an irascible young instructor their theory, while neglecting those that tended to at the University of Pisa demonstrated that Aristotle disprove it. Robert Jameson characterized the evidence was wrong. He climbed to the top of the tower of Pisa supporting Neptunism as “incontrovertible.” But the and dropped cannon balls of unequal weight that hit theory collapsed in a few decades, and today is the ground simultaneously. Aristotelian professors on recognized as an artifact of inexhaustible human folly. the faculty were embarrassed. The University adminMr. Obama, a lawyer and politician, would now istration responded by not renewing Galileo’s conhave us believe that the process of history has tract, thus ridding themselves of a troublemaker who stopped. For the first time, scientific knowledge is not challenged the accepted consensus. provisional and subject to revision, but final and Of course, Galileo is better remembered today for settled. Skepticism, which has been the spur to all clashing with the Catholic Church over the issue of innovation and human progress, is unacceptable and whether or not the Earth was at the center of the must be condemned. universe. An Earth-centered cosmology was first But in fact, it is our awareness of what we do not proposed by the Greek philosopher Eudoxus in the know that determines our scientific level. Socrates 4th century BC. About a hundred years later, an upstart named Aristarchus suggested that the Earth was the wisest man, not because he knew more than revolved around the Sun. Aristarchus’ system never others, but because he was the only one to recognize proved popular, and he was criticized for being that he did not know. Knowledge begins with skeptiimpious. cism and ends with conceit. ✪ The Earth-centered system was finalized by OCPA adjunct scholar David Deming (Ph.D., University Claudius Ptolemy in the second century AD and of Utah) is a geologist and an associate professor of arts remained unchallenged until the sixteenth century. and sciences at the University of Oklahoma.
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Oklahoma Parents Getting False Impression By David V. Anderson early every state in the country, including OklaOklahoma’s school systems are conducting largehoma, administers achievement tests to public scale social promotion—usually accompanied by school students in the K-12 years to determine, among grade inflation. other things, who is proficient (at or above grade A U.S. Department of Education report issued in level) in reading and mathematics skills. June 2007 showed that Oklahoma is well above The federal government also administers the the median of the states when it comes to inflation. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Oklahoma’s reported proficiencies, which are also known as the Nation’s approximately three-fold Report Card, which likethose of the Oklahoma wise measures the percentproficiencies measured by Large-scale social ages of children who are the NAEP, apparently give proficient in these same more comfort to stakeholdpromotion, usually two areas. NAEP has a ers in Oklahoma’s public accompanied by long track record of 38 schools than if more accuyears, establishing itself as rate results had been grade inflation the de facto national provided. standard for achievement. It appears that education Unfortunately, nearly scholar Kevin Carey, author every state in the country, of the OCPA study Hot Air, including Oklahoma, uses was on target in an October achievement tests significantly inconsistent with the 11, 2006 article in The Edmond Sun: Oklahoma parNAEP. In fact, in nearly every case the states use tests ents “are getting a false impression of where their that produce markedly inflated numbers of children children really stand.” ✪ designated proficient or better as compared to the David V. Anderson (Ph.D. in physics, University of NAEP. California at Davis) is an education fellow at the Ocean State Policy Research Institute. Unlike the state tests, NAEP exam scores are not available for individual school districts or schools. However, in a recent study, I provided a method to convert Oklahoma’s state-reported proficiencies to Objectivity-strapped reporting more realistic NAEP-aligned estimates. “Cash-strapped school districts in three rural For example, Oklahoma claims 88 percent of its Oklahoma counties are eagerly awaiting the outstudents statewide are proficient in reading (that’s an come of a tax case tied up for years in the court average of the 4th grade and 8th grade results), system that could result in millions of dollars for whereas NAEP says only 27 percent of Oklahoma schools,” the Associated Press recently reported. Notice the decidedly non-objective modifier “cashstudents are proficient. Even in one of the “best” strapped” to describe these school districts in Grant, school districts in the state, Oklahoma claims 96 Woods, and Beckham counties. Is the reporter percent of Edmond’s students are proficient in readperchance referring to the Wakita school district, ing, but my NAEP scale estimate suggests only 47 which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Public percent of Edmond’s students are proficient. Education Finances 2006, spends $17,053 per Same problem in math: Oklahoma says 79 percent pupil? I’m thinking Holland Hall and Casady—to say of its students are proficient, while NAEP says it’s only nothing of several inner-city private schools—would 27 percent. Oklahoma claims 96 percent of Edmond’s love to be that cash-strapped. students are proficient, but our NAEP estimate says Or perhaps the reporter is referring to the Freeonly 53 percent of Edmond’s students are proficient. dom school district, which spends a mere $13,833 By comparing the NAEP scores with the testing per pupil? Or is it Waynoka ($10,423), Medford regimes used by the various states, we find that most ($9,336), Deer Creek-Lamont ($9,039), or Erick states “inflate” the actual performance levels by ($9,038)? practicing a kind of “grade inflation” wherein they No word yet from the AP on the cash-strappedplace many more children in the proficient or above ness of the consumers and ratepayers also imcategory than really deserve that designation. The pacted by the court case. large numbers of Oklahoma students scoring below —Brandon Dutcher proficient on the NAEP is a strong indicator that
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By Patrick B. McGuigan he end of the legislative session is nearing. Issues small and large, including education policy, have dominated debate and discussion this year, the first in which Republicans have controlled both houses. And another 800-pound gorilla—the cost of prisons, jails, and incarceration—is starting to receive more attention. Critics of Oklahoma assail our high levels of incarceration, including of women. Less often reported is the fact that our relatively high level of imprisonment has at least one pragmatic effect: Oklahoma has one of the lowest rates of recidivism (repeat offenders). The point is there are benefits to the high imprisonment rate, just as there are costs. Consideration of issues surrounding crime and punishment cannot stop with liberal vs. conservative, soft-on-crime vs. throw-away-the-key stereotypes. As Daniel Van Ness of Prison Fellowship has written, “Crime involves four parties: the victim, the offender, the surrounding community, and the state.” But the criminal justice process generally focuses on just two of those: the offender and the state. Van Ness notes that in the roots of Western law, the Old Testament, “all four parties were involved in fixing responsibility for a criminal act and in bringing restoration to the victim. For example, thieves and
other property offenders were required to pay restitution to the victim. The community was to help the offender and victim work out a fair payment. If they had difficulty in doing this, the case was taken to priests or judges for final determination.” Herb Titus, a former law professor at the University of Oklahoma, has observed that at its origins the Law—in the fundamental strictures given to Moses and passed on to us in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy—”was intended to be a principled guide for tailoring all remedies, civil and criminal, to restore a person injured in accordance with the blameworthiness of the wrongdoer and the seriousness of the injury of the person wronged.” The philosophy of restitution did not disappear with the arrival of the New Testament. In the story of Zacchaeus, the repentant sinner pledges to Jesus that he will repay “fourfold” anyone he has wronged. The restitutionary purpose of criminal law—restoration of the victim, and required recompense from the criminal—continued into the modern era and is, even today, not eradicated. But as government has grown more powerful, the role of mediating community institutions has comparatively weakened. As that has happened, the resort to imprisonment has become habitual. It has replaced the function, utility, and moral
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purpose of nongovernmental means to hold the guilty accountable, while reaching their hearts and souls. Some studies estimate that nonviolent offenders constitute one-third to perhaps one-half of the population of prisons and jails. In the modern era, few analyses put the number at less than one-fourth. Including all drug offenders in either category can skew the numbers somewhat, but the “one-fourth” vs. “one-half” numbers more or less represent the parameters of the debate over violent and nonviolent offenders incarcerated. Imprisonment is justified for four reasons: incapacitation, deterrence, rehabilitation, and punishment. There is a rational purpose behind each of these, especially when it comes to violent offenders. But that doesn’t mean that every prison policy, let alone every imprisonment, is right. Consider this story. Recently the Oklahoma Department of Corrections blocked Wingspread, a Christian ministry, from sending Bibles, books about Jesus, and other faith-based materials to prison inmates. A lawsuit, filed by the Virginia-based Rutherford Institute, is under way to force a change in the policy. After a Marlin Oil Corporation advertisement concerning the incident appeared in The City Sentinel, the weekly paper where I am managing editor, people contacted me to say that policies blocking circulation of religious literature are, in some cases, now extending even to communications from family members to loved ones behind bars. As the Marlin commentary observed, “Keeping the good news away from incarcerated people is one way to make sure that prisons simply remain graduate schools of crime. Protecting access to the good news for every willing human heart is a way to make sure that conversion remains possible, that restitution and repayment to victims and society might be not only a possibility under the law, but an operational reality of the system.” To be sure, “Nothing changes the mind, and heart, of a person faster than the recognition that ‘I once was lost, but now am found.’” This is a magazine about public policy, not philosophy. So, here’s a modest policy proposal. A bipartisan team of legislators should undertake a comprehensive interim study, with the help of corrections officials, workers, and faith-based organizations, on how to go “back to the future”—returning to the roots of Judeo-Christian legal traditions. Oklahomans can make the system better. Specific steps should be considered to make it easier for people of faith to leaven the despair that can abide within the jailhouse walls. There are many reasons the faithful, even those who have themselves been victims of crime, should not give up on those behind bars. Convicted criminals
may be out of sight, but if they’re out of mind, we’re falling short of possibilities. In the 18th chapter of the Book of Genesis, our father in faith, the patriarch Abraham, was visited by three men he eventually discerned were angels. They spoke with God’s authority. Among other things, they informed Abraham and his wife Sarah that, after years of barrenness, she would bear a child. In that same story, Abraham learns the mysterious visitors are on their way to the city of Sodom, to investigate its evil. In one of the great intermediary prayers recorded in all of the monotheistic tradition, Abraham walks with the visitors, pleading for the minority to be spared. Abraham asks, What if there are 50 righteous men in the city? The angel responds that for the sake of those, he could spare the city. The sequence continues, through 45, 40, 30, 20 and 10. And then, after
Tough Love for Criminals When it comes to prevention of the conditions that put convicted criminals in a “graduate school of crime” in the first place, it’s past time to try something different. And the “something different” would, among other things, allow serious Christians to do serious work in crime prevention. Consider this story. In 1997, in Oklahoma City, there was a Laotian immigrant man running with the wrong crowd. He and his gang got into a gun battle with a Vietnamese gang. He was wounded, lying in a hospital bed and no doubt headed to prison, where he probably would have learned to be a better criminal. But his sister was a Christian. She begged a member of Windsor Hills Baptist Church to go pray with the lad, who was consequently born again. With the Laotian man (we’ll call him “Kam”) facing prison, Windsor Hills pastor Jim Vineyard went to his friend, Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy. Macy intervened and asked the court to allow the Laotian to be given over to Vineyard’s care, with the condition that Kam admit guilt in the shooting incident. The court agreed. Things went well for a time, but then Kam started skipping church and seemed headed for the dark side again. Vineyard dictated a letter asking that the man’s “parole” be revoked, but he left off the date. Vineyard told me, “I got (Kam) in my office and gave him the letter. I told him all I needed to do was date the letter ... and send it. He got down on his knees and promised me the moon, begging me not to send the letter. He didn’t miss any more services.” He stayed out of trouble and, well, you know the rest. A happy ending, by this world’s standards. Tough love, indeed. America needs more, not fewer, stories like this. —PBM
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Abraham’s final plea, the angel says, “I will not destroy it for ten’s sake” (Gen. 18:32 KJV). Eventually, sad to say, in Sodom there were no righteous. And the judgment was terrible, indeed. That was then. This is now. What if, in Oklahoma’s worst prison—McAlester, let’s say—there are 50 people who could yet be redeemed, becoming men who are “convicted” of the necessity to make amends for criminality? What if there are ten? What if, perchance, there is one? If so, then we
need to make McAlester a place where faith can be lived. And it seems clear we need policies that send to McAlester only those who absolutely need to be there. One day we shall stand before the Judge of all. Knowing of his concern for “the least of these, my brothers,” including prisoners, we dare not abandon the ten, or even the one. ✪ OCPA research fellow Patrick McGuigan (M.A. in history, Oklahoma State University) is the author of two books and the editor of seven, including Crime and Punishment in Modern America (1986).
Controlling Oklahoma’s Corrections Costs While Protecting Public Safety By Marc A. Levin
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he State of Oklahoma faces projected prison growth and associated costs if its policies are not changed. Oklahoma’s prison population is projected to grow to 28,345 by 2011. Fortunately, there are alternatives to spending more on prisons. • Drug Courts. Drug courts are a proven alternative to incarceration for low-level drug offenders. Drug courts offer intensive judicial oversight of offenders combined with mandatory drug testing and escalating sanctions for failure to comply. The average recidivism rate for those who complete drug court is between 4 percent and 29 percent, in contrast to 48 percent for those who do not participate in a drug court program. • HOPE Court. In Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) drug court, offenders are ordered to treatment and must call a number every morning to see if they have to report to the court to take a drug test. If they fail, they are jailed for several days and ultimately can be imprisoned for multiple failures. This court has proven in a randomized controlled trial to reduce positive drug screens by 91 percent and cut both revocations and new arrests by two-thirds. • Mandatory Probation, Treatment, and Work Requirements for First-Time Drug Offenders. This policy should apply only to individuals caught with small quantities of drugs that are for personal use. By redirecting these first-time offenders from prison, states can save millions in incarceration costs. • Graduated Sanctions for Probationers and Parolees. Nationally, a third to a half of prison admissions are individuals revoked from probation or parole. Using graduated sanctions where each technical violation (not a new crime) is met with a swift and certain response such as increased reporting, a curfew, or even a shock-night in jail, revocations for technical violations can be reduced. • Electronic Monitoring. Electronic monitoring is an effective alternative for nonviolent offenders. A Florida study found offenders on GPS were 95
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percent less likely to be revoked to prison than those not being monitored. Performance-Based Probation Funding. In 2008, Arizona implemented performance-based probation funding. Under this market-oriented approach, probation departments receive a share of the state’s savings when they reduce their revocations to prison without increasing probationers’ convictions for new offenses. Some share of probation funding could also be tied to other outcomes such as restitution payments and employment rates. Earned Time Credits. Arizona also enacted legislation that gives probationers good time credit for time served when they fully comply with all terms, such as restitution. By reducing the total number of offenders on probation, there are fewer opportunities for revocations. More Short-Term Beds. In 2007, Texas solved a projected 17,000 prison-bed shortfall in large measure by establishing more beds at community corrections facilities and intermediate sanctions facilities. Probationers and parolees who commit a new misdemeanor or technical violations are increasingly diverted from prison and sent to these facilities for an average of 90 days. Geriatric Release. Geriatric inmates have three times the medical costs of non-geriatric inmates. Studies have shown that offenders over 60 have a minimal recidivism rate. Administrative Sanctions. Georgia and Delaware have changed the law so probation officers can impose sanctions such as a curfew and increased reporting in response to violations. A Georgia study found reductions of 70 percent or more in the average number of days that violators spent in local jails awaiting disposition of their violation cases. ✪
Marc A. Levin (J.D. with honors, University of Texas) is a director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He has served as a law clerk to Judge Will Garwood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and as staff attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.
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Creeping Socialism Shouldn’t Surprise Us By Brandon Dutcher s you know, OCPA is devoted to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. Our research and analysis covers such issues as taxation, health care, civil justice, and more. But the issue that occupies most of my time—the issue I believe is most important for the future of freedom—is education reform. Specifically, encouraging alternatives to the government-run school system. Recent news items illustrate why school choice is so important. Teacher organizations, including the state’s most powerful labor union, the Oklahoma Education Association, have been lobbying hard recently against a school-deregulation bill. “Remember how deregulation got us into trouble on Wall Street?” one public school teacher in Tahlequah asked. “Why would we want that in our schools?” “Take a look at the financial markets,” added a public school teacher in Moore. “That’s a good example of what’s wrong with our country today— economic deregulation. Are we gonna do the same with public education?” Economic deregulation? In reality, under President Bush, “Congress passed one of the most onerous financial regulations in Sarbanes-Oxley,” Commonwealth Foundation scholar Nathan A. Benefield reminds us, “and added more than 1,000 pages per year in regulations to the Federal Register.” Moreover, he writes, “the mortgage crisis was a failure of government. Government actors (including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and the Community Reinvestment Act encouraged subprime lending. The Federal Reserve’s effort to manipulate the U.S. economy by lowering, raising, lowering, and raising interest rates contributed to the boom in housing sales and prices, and then to the rise in mortgage defaults and foreclosures.” In any case, the statist mindset of these schoolteachers—economic freedom is “what’s wrong with this country”—serves to illustrate why educational freedom is so important to the future of freedom generally. And that future is very much in doubt today. It seems that every day’s news is more appalling than the day before: the saga of Government Motors; more borrowing from the Chinese and higher taxes to pay for mind-boggling new levels of government spending; ongoing talk of nationalizing banks and health care and (insert your own industry here). As conservative publisher Alfred S. Regnery writes, Barack Obama “will do whatever he can to shift the political spectrum to the left, to reshape the very foundations of American life, leaving, when he has
finished, a European-style democratic socialist state.” And where, exactly, is the pushback going to come from? A nationwide Rasmussen poll last month discovered that only 53 percent of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. A full 20 percent think socialism is better, while 27 percent (bless their hearts) just aren’t sure. My point is, none of this should surprise us. For as Joel Belz pointed out in a recent column (‘Children of the state’), with 9 out of 10 children attending government-owned-and-operated schools, we “long ago conceded the most critical territory of all.” “While strenuously wrestling over business and banking and health care and energy and a dozen other issues,” he writes, “we cavalierly handed over to the state a perpetual 90 percent share of the nation’s educational interests.” And “with a nine-to-one edge in value-shaping influence, why shouldn’t the government be producing products who think governmentsponsored-everything is best?” Why, indeed. Of course, there are exceptions. Just as some conservatives manage to win elections despite media bias and voter fraud, some public-school students will learn to cherish economic freedom (while some private- and home-schooled students will not). But I would suggest this is largely in spite of, not because of, the education these public-school kids received from their tax-funded teachers. So my message to anyone on the center-right is this: Regardless of which issues motivate you—if you’re a person who clings to guns and religion; or if you want tax cuts and tort reform; or if you think it’s better to torture terrorists than unborn babies—it’s time to get serious about school choice. ✪
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OCPA’s Brandon Dutcher speaks at a “Taxpayer Tea Party” in Norman while pamphleteer Thomas Paine looks on.
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A Look Back at Oklahoma’s Tax Burden By J. Scott Moody and Wendy P. Warcholik whopping 637 percent to 2.14 percent in FY 2008 from a mere 0.29 percent in FY 1950. Another fast-growing tax is the sales tax. Unlike the individual income tax, the sales tax is levied at both the state and local levels. The sales tax burden grew 86.5 percent to 2.75 percent in FY 2008 from 1.47 percent in FY 1950. Overall, at the state level, the tax burden has moved away from selective sales taxes and toward individual income taxes. At the same time, at the local level, the tax burden has moved away from the property tax and toward the sales tax. One reason for the dramatic growth in the individual income tax is the steeply graduated rate structure that quickly throws taxpayers into the highest marginal tax rate. As a result, income tax revenue systematically grows faster than income, especially when the nominal bracket amounts are eroded by inflation. As OCPA suggested in a January 2008 study (Oklahoma: A Tax and Budget Assessment), policy-makers should reform the individual income tax code by broadening the base, eliminating unnecessary exemptions and credits, and instituting a low, flat rate. ✪
he chart below shows the composition of Oklahoma’s state and local tax burden, as a percent of personal income, from fiscal year (FY) 1950 to 2008. Oklahoma’s overall tax burden has remained stable over the last 58 years, growing by only 5.9 percent to 9.38 percent in FY 2008 from 8.86 percent in FY 1950. This is in stark contrast to the national average, which has soared by 50.2 percent to 11.05 percent in FY 2008 from 7.36 percent in FY 1950. However, the trend in the state’s overall tax burden masks several underlying trends in the composition of that tax burden. In FY 1950, selective sales taxes—more commonly known as excise taxes, levied on products such as alcohol, amusements, motor fuels, and tobacco products—were the largest segment of taxes paid by Oklahomans. But since FY 1950 the selective sales tax burden has plummeted 66.1 percent to 0.84 percent. Another tax that has contracted is local property taxes, falling 37.2 percent to 1.51 percent in FY 2008 from 2.4 percent in FY 1950. The tax burden of licenses—such as corporate, hunting and fishing, motor vehicles, etc.—has also fallen. On the other hand, several taxes have significantly expanded. The tax with the largest expansion is the state individual income tax, whose burden grew a
State and Local Tax Collections as a Percent of Personal Income
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Scott Moody (M.A., George Mason University) and Wendy Warcholik (Ph.D., George Mason University) are OCPA research fellows.
Oklahoma State and Local Tax Collections by Type as a Percent of Personal Income State Fiscal Years 1950 to 2008
Sources: State and local tax collection data are from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau. Due to data constraints at the local level, the authors have made various estimates for years pre-1958 and post-2006. The personal income data are from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data have been adjusted into state fiscal years.
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Brown and Bolton Energize Citizenship Dinner
Photo by Paul and Fran Grounds, Captured Moments Photography
By Brett A. Magbee
CPA’s 2009 Oklahoma Citizenship Dinner, held at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, was a remarkable evening. Attendees, who filled the museum’s Sam Noble Special Events Center, included guests from across our state and nation. Before the keynote address by former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, those in attendance showed their appreciation to OCPA founder and chairman Dr. David R. Brown, who was presented with the prestigious Clare Boothe Luce Award by Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation. The award, Heritage’s highest honor, recognizes outstanding leadership in the conservative movement. Past recipients include the late William F. Buckley, Jr., former President Ronald Reagan, and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Heritage colleagues cited Dr. Brown’s involvement as a key part of the Heritage brain trust since 1978, the past 17 years of which he served as chairman of the board of trustees.
Dr. Brown was also recognized for founding the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. “OCPA has become the leader among state-based think tanks, and the organization’s success is due in large part to the outstanding vision and leadership of Dr. Brown,” Feulner told the gathering, referring to OCPA as “the flagship of the conservative movement in Oklahoma.” “You personify the Jeffersonian spirit that made America a great nation and a good nation,” the Heritage board said in a resolution bestowing the award on Dr. Brown. “Thanks to your wise counsel and generosity as trustee and chairman of The Heritage Foundation, our institution has grown into a permanent rampart for the defense of freedom.” The resolution concluded: “You have set a lifelong example of what it means to be a man, a citizen, and a patriotic American.” Feulner read a portion of a congratulatory letter from Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) thanking Dr. Brown
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David and Ann Brown (center) with The Heritage Foundation Board Members
Claudia and Joe Atkinson with John Bolton
Dr. David R. Brown is presented a ResoluMembers of the David and Ann Brown family tion by Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, Jr. Barbara and John Keating with John Bolton
Students of Regent Preparatory School of Oklahoma in Tulsa with John Bolton
Barbara and John Kane with John Bolton
OCPA Trustee Debby, Mallory, and Bill Post Josephine Freede with John Bolton
entitled “Risks for the U.S. Economy: A Global Tour.” Bolton talked about the various threats throughout the world and the impact on America and our future. “Despite all the rhetoric about America’s decline in the world, the evidence doesn’t support it,” Bolton said. “I think if anything, the evidence is exactly the contrary. I think the one thing that can cause a lessening of American influence or weakening of America’s position in the world is when we do it to ourselves. When we lose the will to protect what we have in this country and to protect our friends and allies around the world. “I don’t have any doubt how we would succeed if people in this room were running things; unfortunately, at the moment, we’re not. So the question is going to be one extraordinarily grave consequence for the United States in the years ahead and particularly in the very near term. And I think that’s one
for “leadership and service in the medical field as well as … effectiveness in the conservative movement.” Tom Saunders of New York, a Heritage board member who oversees the think tank’s “Leadership for America” campaign, joined Feulner in presenting the award. Dr. Brown told the crowd that “The Heritage Foundation and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs have occupied a very special place in my life. Both strive for limited government and individual responsibility along with many other goals.” Limited government “is vital for our precious personal freedom,” Brown noted. “We need to retain the teachings, virtue, and honor of our founding fathers who gave us a blueprint for the greatest, most successful, most prosperous nation on earth.” After he concluded his remarks, Dr. Brown was given a standing ovation. Oklahoma City businessman Rob Luke then introduced Ambassador John Bolton, whose speech was
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Photo by Paul and Fran Grounds, Captured Moments Photography
Ron and Yvonne Mercer with John Bolton
Photo by Paul and Fran Grounds, Captured Moments Photography
John Bolton addresses the 13th Annual Citizenship Dinner
Dr. Vince Orza as Master of Ceremonies
Heritage Board Member Tom Saunders
Pat Wallis sings “America the Beautiful”
Rob Luke introducing Ambassador Bolton
reason why all of you who are concerned about public policy and the future of our country, who have supported OCPA and other institutions like it, really have a continuing responsibility very much to stay active because a lot hangs in the balance in just the very near future.”
The crowd rose to its feet in applause and appreciation for Bolton’s career of public service in defending this nation and its vital interests. The 2009 Citizenship Dinner demonstrated that there’s still a strong allegiance to conservative ideas built upon the principles of America’s founding. ✪
Citizenship Essay Contest Winners Recognized at Dinner The question for the 2009 OCPA essay contest was: “If you were to become the President of the United States, what three issues would you consider high priority and why?” Karl Grosz, a senior at Oklahoma Bible Academy in Lahoma, took first place and a $5,000 scholarship. Ken Adams, a senior at Duncan High School, took second place and a $2,500 scholarship. Kelci Werner, a senior at Elk City High School, took third place and a $2,000 scholarship. Chelsi Clakins, a senior at Cushing High School, took fourth place and a $1,500 scholarship. Misty Clifton, a senior at Sallisaw High School, took fifth place and a $1,000 scholarship. Total scholarship money awarded was $12,000, and many Oklahoma universities committed to offer matching scholarships for the winners.
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Perspective is published monthly by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Inc. No substantial part of the activities of OCPA includes attempting to influence legislation, and OCPA does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.
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“Research suggests Oklahoma soon could be the Problem Gambling capital of the nation.” Tulsa World associate editor Janet Pearson, in an April 5 column
“I believe President Obama has proposed the most significant shift toward collectivism and away from capitalism in the history of our republic. I believe his budget aspires to not merely promote economic recovery but to lay the groundwork for sweeping expansions of government authority in areas like health care, energy, and even daily commerce. If handled poorly, I’m concerned this budget could turn our government into the world’s largest health care provider, mortgage bank, or car dealership, among other things.” U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn
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“[Barack Obama] is the most radical president in the history of the United States.” Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, in a recent interview with Mike McCarville and Ginny Simone
Yes, Keep Going In a recent letter to the editor, Mr. Jim Adams of Hobart wrote that a previous correspondent, Ron Reese, “thinks President Bush gets too much blame for ‘the economic meltdown’ and that it’s really due to ‘the 60 or so years of our movement toward socialism.’ Which of the current socialistic policies would Reese like to eliminate? Medicaid? Medicare? Social Security?”
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E “Public education is hurting our kids. All of us have been defending the system. It’s time to stop. I’m not pussyfooting with this anymore.” South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford (D-Charleston), an African-American legislator who introduced a bill to give students tax credits or tuition grants
“Keep in mind that over 60 percent of state employees are going to be eligible for retirement in the next 10 years. Just imagine if we can modernize government and become more efficient and not have to replace all those people.” Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee
“Sometimes there’s not much difference between a school bully and the way teacher representatives treat lawmakers.” West Virginia state Sen. Erik Wells (D-Kanawha)
“Queer Theory” Title of a course being offered this summer at the University of Oklahoma. Course topics include “post-structuralist feminism” and “epistemology of the closet.”