IdeaLog
California cracked down on fraudulent Crisis Pregnancy Centers, shouldn’t your jurisdiction?
Posted on January 6, 2016
Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) are facilities that purport to offer women comprehensive and unbiased reproductive health care information and services, but their mission is to say whatever it takes to prevent women from obtaining...
Can we talk about Assault Weapons?
Posted on December 8, 2015
We all know that some guns should be banned or severely restricted. Machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, silencers, grenades, and many other types of extremely dangerous weapons were essentially banned by the commonsense National Firearms...
A Populist Platform for 2016
Posted on November 24, 2015
Want a policy platform to suggest to a lawmaker, candidate or advocacy organization? Here is a one-page statement that reflects American values and includes economic policies that are all wildly popular: A Populist Platform...
Our goal is not to change beliefs, it is to change behavior:
Posted on November 11, 2015
In almost every jurisdiction, in order to win political battles, we must persuade at least some non-aligned or “swing” voters. We call them “persuadable voters.” These Americans aren’t like you and me. They don’t...
Did Arne Duncan Just Surrender on Standardized Testing?
Posted on October 26, 2015
Days ago, the U.S. Department of Education announced a dramatic policy shift on standardized testing of public school students. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, echoed by President Obama, admitted that a Council of the Great...
What Can We Do About Guns?
Posted on October 4, 2015
In response to the massacre at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, President Obama said: This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We...
Pope Francis Suggests a Progressive Freedom of Religion
Posted on September 27, 2015
Last Saturday, Pope Francis delivered a homily at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Billed as an address on religious freedom, conservatives hoped and expected the Pope to praise their hard-line opposition to abortion, contraception and...
What, if anything, is causing violent crime to increase?
Posted on September 16, 2015
Recently, the New York Times published a front page story headlined “Murder Rates Rising Sharply in Many U.S. Cities.” Much of the media have run similar reports, including USA Today, Reuters and Time. First...
Common Core “results” aren’t actually test scores
Posted on September 1, 2015
A few states have now released results from the Common Core standardized tests administered to students last spring. The Associated Press recently published a story about it, and over the next couple of months...
Time to kill the death penalty
Posted on August 19, 2015
In February 2015, Pennsylvania issued a moratorium on executions. In May, Nebraska became the 19th state, and the seventh state since 2007, to abolish the death penalty. And weeks ago, the Connecticut Supreme Court...