On September 30, 2005, MCPP President Forest Thigpen delivered a keynote speech at the State Policy Network (SPN) Annual Meeting. SPN is the professional service organization for America's state-based free-market think tanks. MCPP is a member of SPN. This speech describes Mississippians' response to Hurricane Katrina and offers hope for rebuilding the Coast the right way.
School district consolidation is a hot topic among some budget-conscious leaders in Jackson, and Bolivar County is the most-often-used poster child in those discussions. With six districts within its borders, Bolivar County has more districts than any other county in the state.
Marriage in Mississippi: One Man / One Woman?
We have sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.
This decades-old observation from George Orwell can certainly be applied to the current debate over the definition of marriage.
To hear the arguments of those who seek to redefine marriage, you would think that marriage has, for all recorded history, been recognized as any collection of people who love each other, and that the current effort to amend the Constitution is a recent creation of the "religious right" who seek to impose their morality on everyone else. (more…)
Successful government reformers have discovered the necessity of determining what we call "core governing principles." Core principles are determined by a person's or a party's understanding of the primary role of government. Defining core principles is the crucial first step toward responsible governing because delivering services efficiently and effectively is irrelevant unless government knows what it is supposed to deliver and why. (more…)