Uncertainty
Like well-worn work gloves, the life lessons simply stated by reflecting on a lifetime of careful endeavor deserve the attention of young people facing an uncertain future.

No budget, no pay
Well understood by working people all across Kentucky, here is an easy way to remind elected officials what their constituents expect from them.

Where's the wolf?
Successful public leaders understand that saying ‘no’ endears themselves to voters as effectively as ‘yes,’ especially when public monies are involved.

Kentucky’s new GED mill: Grinding kids down, not building them up
Introducing the GED as a measure of educational attainment lowers the expectations of students, whose future employers will reward them accordingly.

Warning: Smoking ban hazardous to the tenure of Supreme Court justices
Justices who bow to the pressure of public sentiment when rendering constitutional judgments will find that sword cuts both ways.

Endangering the Dream: Kentucky's racial divide
A widening racial achievement gap clearly identifies the disparate academic results of black and white students in the same classrooms across Kentucky. At risk are both the cultural progress we’ve made and the expectation of a high standard of living for all Kentuckians.

Good news from Korea, China and Vietnam
Largely taken for granted in the free world, the principles of free markets, human liberty and limited government are taking hold across the world by people who have never known them. Renewing these values should be a cause for all Kentuckians.

Bypassing school choice a wrong turn for Kentucky
Administrators who direct failing schools fear the educational liberty conveyed by the No Child Left Behind law, which simply gives parents the option of providing their children with better schools and brighter futures.

Cutting spending and living to tell about it
When faced with tough fiscal choices, governors of both parties have increased their popularity by cutting spending instead of raising taxes. Gov. Fletcher should press forward and join this elite crowd.

This policy stinks!
A new Daviess County waste disposal ordinance neglects the financial interests of its citizens while defending its past mistakes. It should instead investigate free market options that seek long term solutions not short term band aids.

Choice: The right thing for public schools, too
Subtle though powerful influences are working overtime in Kentucky’s education system to hinder parents from exercising their liberty to choose the education that’s best for their children…even between public schools.

Attempted takeover 'all wet'
Ongoing efforts to condemn its privately-owned water supplier doom Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government to the inevitable crash of socialism: Inefficiencies followed by economic failure.

Assessing CATS: Questions that must be answered so that No Child is Left Behind in Kentucky
The increases in higher CATS test scores seem more like illusory artifacts of less rigorous testing rather than results from real improvements in learning.

Can the free market cure Medicaid's ills?
Applying free market approaches to the skyrocketing costs of Medicaid present a new forum for rethinking Kentucky’s commitment to financing this important public service.

Show me the...education!
No more money for education until taxpayers get more education for their money!

If only we will...
History clearly demonstrates that human liberty and prosperity are not permanent foundations of any civilization. Are we at a crossroads?

Economic Development...the good, the bad and the ugly
Restructuring the Cabinet for Economic Development should be ‘low-hanging fruit’ in Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s mission to trim wasteful spending in Frankfort.

Echoes from the political graveyard
Kentucky does not have a revenue shortfall. The state collected $6.5 billion in general fund revenues last year. The problem, instead, is an addiction to overspending.

On Graduation Rates
Testimony to the Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education of the Kentucky General Assembly

To Gov.-elect Fletcher: Lead school choice initiative for Kentucky
Despite huge increases in funding during the past decade, Kentucky’s graduation rates continue to decline and test scores remain stagnant. Gov.-elect Ernie Fletcher should seize the opportunity to lead an initiative giving parents across the Commonwealth more choices with which to educate their children.

Meal tax proposal 'super sizes' tax burden
From the trash heap emerges another attempt by ‘tourocrats’ to impose a meals tax on the backs of Kentucky families. Giving local elected officials another way to levy more taxes is enough to cause freedom-loving Kentuckians to lose their appetites. Give Mom a break!

The rest of the 'CATS' story.
Recent improvements in statewide test results infer a level of achieved competence that appears not to be so deserving. Whether students go on to teach physics, sell shoes or play basketball, they deserve the very best education Kentucky can provide to them. We’re not there yet.

Vouchers provide incentives for failing schools, freedom for parents
Kentucky is one of four remaining states not offering parents whose children attend failing schools with competitive alternatives. Vouchers offer a reasonable and tested solution. What are we waiting for?

Kentucky: Closed to new business, open to new taxes
Kentucky's high tax business environment deters true economic development and causes potential manufacturering prospects to locate elsewhere. How much longer can Kentucky reap its conomic harvest without sowing a fresh crop of low-tax seed corn?

Stephen Moore to speak in Louisville on February 4
Gov. Fletcher is staking Kentucky's future on "Tax Modernization." Who will benefit and who will suffer? Mr. Moore will address the economics behind the ideas that will make this program successful...or not.

A fresh approach to Kentucky's most pressing problems
Kentuckians face an avalanche of entangling new laws and suffocating taxes from a state government addicted to regulating and spending. On issues large and small, the Bluegrass Institute will always side with liberty in the face of encroaching government.

Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy for Kentucky
The "Seven Principles" are the basis for which state-based free-market think tanks approach public policy. They include founding ideas from our forefathers and basic precepts from economics. If they were better understood and followed by our policymakers, we'd be much freer, more productive and happier Kentuckians!