The free market is often touted as the best, most efficient way to allocate resources and is treated as if free markets were "natural." This brief article will discuss and elaborate on the crucial ingredient of "PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY" and its necessity if free markets are to perform their role of efficient resource allocation. The first three "R's" stand for EDUCATION (Reading, Writing, Arithmetic), but the fourth "R" (Personal Responsibility) is even more significant in that it under-girds the application of education. If personal responsibility is not taught and reinforced along with other educational tools, all economic systems, including those that emphasize "free markets" will under-perform and ultimately self-destruct. (more…)

The good thing about this year's election campaign is that it's over. At this point, you probably just want to forget about politics, write off all politicians as untrustworthy, and say the system is hopelessly corrupt. (more…)

Few things irritate me more than to hear someone misuse Scripture for personal or political gain. Bill Clinton, during one of his State of the Union Addresses, said [quote] "As Scripture says, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived what we can do together." (more…)

A couple of misconceptions need to be cleared up regarding our founding documents. (more…)

It's easy in a political campaign to focus only on the issues of the moment. But to be a statesman - one who is worthy of being lauded by future generations - requires guarding the foundation of freedom we inherited from those before us. (more…)

Jackson, Mississippi – A Jackson-based think tank today called on candidates and public officials to “put principle above politics and partisanship.”

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy (MCPP) has published a booklet titled Governing by Principle: A Framework for Governing. The 45-page “primer” lays out ten principles the Center believes public officials—and the public in general—should be guided by in evaluating public policy. The primer is being sent to all candidates for legislative, regional, and statewide office and to several thousand supporters of the Center throughout the state. (more…)

You might have heard me talk about our organization's Governing by Principle campaign, which coincides with this year's election campaign for legislative and statewide offices. We have identified ten principles we believe are essential for setting and evaluating state-level public policy. (more…)

I've just returned from Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was there that Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and more than fifty others pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor not simply to a new nation, but to the principles on which that nation would stand. (more…)

If you've ever thought about running for the Mississippi legislature, now is the time to decide. March 1 is the filing deadline to run in the August primary and the November general election. (more…)