Written by M. Harrison | 02 January 2008

Rebuttal: National Review Editorial
A seminal moment in PI history, as the venerable National Review warrants a rebuttal

NRO Editorial

A major effort was launched in Congress last week to pass an amnesty for the ten-million-plus illegal aliens and a guestworker program to admit thousands more "temporary" workers.

The bipartisan nature of the bill -- its lead sponsors are senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy, and it is backed by labor and business lobbyists -- is offered as proof of its reasonableness and political potency. But the immigration issue is such that having Kennedy and McCain on the same side is not at all unexpected, and is certainly no argument in favor of this misguided piece of legislation.

Written by M. Harrison | 01 January 2008

Rebuttal: Naomi Klein
Solving the problem of African poverty by promoting its cause

Klein's Article

Gordon Brown has a new idea about how to "make poverty history" in time for the G-8 summit in Scotland. With Washington so far refusing to double its aid to Africa by 2015, the British Chancellor is appealing to the "richer oil-producing states" of the Middle East to fill the funding gap. "Oil wealth urged to save Africa," reads the headline in London's Observer.

Here is a better idea: Instead of Saudi Arabia's oil wealth being used to "save Africa," how about if Africa's oil wealth was used to save Africa--along with its gas, diamond, gold, platinum, chromium, ferroalloy and coal wealth?

That's a wonderful idea that would require deregulation, property rights, and a state commitment to free-market principles, all of which are skillfully eluded by your meandering reasoning. More distinctions will follow.

Written by M. Harrison | 01 January 2008

Is there a reason for Americans to be patriotic anymore?
The case for true patriotism on America's most patriotic day
Matt Harrison and Justin Hartfield

Is there a reason for Americans to be patriotic anymore? It's a question worth examining.

Certainly, the old excuses that we're taught in elementary school of why "America rules!" are gone. Freest country in the world, you say? Hardly. America's Sarbanes-Oxley act, for one example, is so statist that Europeans, who are used to every conceivable regulatory strong-arm of business, think it's too stifling even for them. Hong Kong and Singapore have freer overall economies, by objective measure, and countries in Europe and elsewhere are freer in certain, specific ways. America outlaws far more nonviolent, personally-questionable activities and expressions, and also incarcerates the highest percentage of its people in the developed world. All this without even mentioning the Patriot Act!

Written by Editorial | 01 January 2008

The Case For English As America's Official Language

Inglés, Por Favor
PI Editorial

An issue not openly discussed, yet subtly lurking beneath perennial American political debates such as immigration, education and voting rights, is whether English should be made the official language of the United States. Becoming the official language would simply mean that English would be the exclusive language recognized by the government in all communications with its people, and vice versa. This organization believes that America would substantially benefit from making English America's official language, for the following reasons.