Agree or disagree with his priorities and methods, Governor Ed Rendell was unmatched in his enthusiasm and capacity for doing big deals to achieve as much of his agenda as he could. He would lay out ambitious spending and program plans, and then say to critics and opponents, just tell me what you want […]
The Edward H. Arnold Institute for Policy Studies
Tom Ridge: Authentic Leader, Patriot, And Hero
The tributes to the late congressman and civil rights pioneer John Lewis provided a marvelous civic education about a shining example of activism on principle, at least for those still open to being educated. One does not have to be of a particular political party or philosophy to admire the character and conscience Lewis displayed […]
A Letter to America: When is a Treaty Not a Treaty? – Explaining the UK-EU Brexit Stand Off
When is a Treaty Not a Treaty? – Explaining the UK- EU Brexit Stand Off The EU said from the very outset in its negotiations with the UK, everything is agreed when it is all agreed, the EU has not agreed the post Brexit Trade Deal with the UK and it is in that context […]
Four Months of Unprecedented Government Malfeasance
The following is adapted from a lecture delivered on June 18, 2020, for a Hillsdale College online symposium, “The Coronavirus and Public Policy.” Over the last four months, Americans have lived through what is arguably the most consequential period of government malfeasance in U.S. history. Public officials’ overreaction to the novel coronavirus put American […]
Is Sudden Top-Down Reform For State Universities A Misdirected Play?
A hard health care lesson of the coronavirus pandemic is how pre-existing conditions greatly increase the risk of infection. The defects in health care coverage, access, and delivery, compounded by the economic deficiencies that contributed to the health care divide, are magnified into malignancies during the pandemic. This is a matter of political complication, […]
Is College A Good Deal? It’s Hard To Really Know
Students deserve more from our higher education system. This spring, COVID-19 upended almost every aspect of our lives. Our normal routines became anything but, and we began to adjust to a new reality of working and, for our nation’s students, schooling from home. As schools grapple with what “back to school” means this year, students […]
Community And School Libraries Connect Our Past And Future
We tend to think about lessons from the coronavirus pandemic in terms of health care provision and capacity, vaccine research, and the jarring collision of science and politics as difficult choices are made. Looking beyond health care, we see stark reminders of the price paid for failure to value and invest in community institutions that […]
Time To Cull The Herd And Redraw School District Lines
“We are all in this together” had a regrettably short shelf-life as a modern national anthem. In an era when politics is driven by dark impulses of division far more than the illuminating virtues of unity, a mere cameo appearance by the spirit of collective action is not surprising. But it surely is disappointing and […]
Visionary Public Plan For State Parks Emerges; Can Bake Sales And Car Washes Pay For It?
Every state disagreement over issue priority, policy direction, and funding level has been compounded greatly by the monumental uncertainties of coronavirus. Months of restrictions on institutions, businesses, and workers have punched a gigantic hole in the state budget, reported as upwards of $3 billion for the just completed fiscal year. Advocates who for years have […]
So Many To Thank. . . Don’t Forget Local Government
Pennsylvania Local Government Week is April 6-10, and we can think of no better time to recognize our townships, which are on the front lines of making sure life goes on as smoothly and safely as possible in their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the COVID-19 emergency continues throughout the nation and the […]