Washington

California lawsuit seeks to end practice of forced union dues

05/09/2013
by Paul Kersey In Illinois and many other states, government workers are often forced to pay union dues in order to hold on to their jobs. But a lawsuit filed on behalf of teachers in California may bring this practice to an end. Union officials use forced dues to fund massive political and lobbying drives...

Rubio is thirsty for school choice

02/20/2013
Though most of the attention Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has received since he delivered the Republican response to the president’s State of the Union speech has been about his bad timing when taking a drink of water, many of the ideas he presented should have piqued viewers’ interest. This excerpt was music to my ears: “We need...

Illinois’’ high-tax environment causes historical out-migration

By Brian Costin
01/09/2013
The Illinois Policy Institute has long warned that Illinois’ high-tax environment hurts the state’s economy. Prior to the 2011 income tax hike, we sounded the alarm that higher taxes would cause people and businesses to leave the state.

Obama’s likely to continue focusing on big government solutions for education

11/08/2012
Unlike four years ago, a vote for the re-election of President Barack Obama was not about change. It was about maintaining the status quo. This is no truer than in the issue of education, where Obama will continue to use the federal government’s purse strings to incentivize states to pursue his top-down agenda. The two...