American Voice 2004 was a project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance launched during the presidential election campaign of 2004. Strong communities depend on an active and involved population. And that calls for easy access to credible and pertinent information. American Voice 2004 strove to provide such information on national policy and national issues. Ask Dr. … Read More
Back during the 2004 election ILSR’s Vice President, David Morris, took policy questions from our audience and provided detailed answers across a wide range of topics. Many issues will still be relevant today so we’ve put up the archive here. THESE ARCHIVED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ARE FROM 2004! Don’t states have the right to regulate banks? … Read More
The Obamas are proving singularly inept at choosing appropriate venues to highlight their initiatives. In June 2011 Michelle invited giant retailers, including Walmart to the White House to launch her effort to persuade the country’s largest retailers to move into inner city “food deserts.” She later visited a Walmart in Springfield, Illinois to applaud its corporate … Read More
When television cameras zoomed in on Kansas Governor Sam Brownback in the middle of the Kansas-Wichita State NCAA basketball game a thunderous chorus of boos broke out. Viewers gained a rare glimpse of the politics behind March Madness. The announcers pointedly ignored the boos. Viewers might have been better served if the announcers had offered some … Read More
Let’s begin with the bad news. The U.S. Post Office, the oldest, most respected and ubiquitous of all public institutions is fast disappearing. In recent years management has shuttered half the nation’s mail processing plants and put 10 percent of all local post offices up for sale. A third of all post offices, most of them … Read More
On February 26th the Federal Communications Commission issued two decisions. One concerned net neutrality, the other municipal broadband. The first garnered by far the most attention, as it should. Net neutrality affects everyone and locks down a fundamental principle for Internet access. But as another presidential campaign looms the FCC decision on municipally owned broadband may … Read More
Who decides? Conservative Republicans in Texas are split on the issue. Darren Hodges, a Tea Party councilman in the West Texas city of Fort Stockton, fiercely defends his town’s recent decision to ban plastic bags. City officials have a “God-given right” to make that decision he tells the New York Times. James Quintero of the conservative … Read More
Since its passage in 2009, ferocious opposition to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) had proven a devastatingly effective electoral strategy for Republicans. In 2010, they gained a net 63 seats and control of the House of Representatives. They gained control of 11 additional state governments, bringing their total to 25. When the ACA went into effect virtually … Read More
In 1995, David Morris spoke at the Riverside Church about localism and globalism. In his 15-minute speech David maintains that globalization and gigantism and absentee ownership were not inevitable but the result of public policies. We make the rules, and the rules make us. And the rules we’ve made, especially over the last 50 years, have enabled and encouraged an economic and political system where those who make the rules are separated from those who feel the impact of those rules. … Read More
