Articles 1997
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A Need for the Dreaded Gatekeeper
Forbes ASAP, June 01, 1997
Regular readers of this magazine have surely concluded that the secret to understanding information technology lies in learning laws named after guys whose last names begin with M. So to the laws of Moore and Metcalfe, I would add a third and more fundamental one: Marvell's law.
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No Class
Bill Clinton's education-as-entitlement programs.
Reason, May 1997
It's not surprising that Bill Clinton has decided to become the education president. Southern governors always emphasize education, hoping to drag their states up a few economic notches and prove they're on the side of civilization; hence, the South has produced such secretaries of education as former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and former South Carolina Gov. Dick Riley. Clinton follows in this tradition, hailing from a state in which a mere 13.4 percent of the population had college degrees or better as of 1990 (an even worse showing than Mississippi). He knows education is important because he grew up in and later governed a place where it was relatively rare
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Their Own Worst Enemies
Forbes ASAP, April 06, 1997
Should cyberspace be free to evolve its own institutions and ideas because it is new and different from everything that has gone before? Or should it be free because, in fact, cyberspace is very much like the rest of human culture?
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Laissez Fear
Left and right agree: the market is their enemy.
Reason, April 1997
The backlash has begun. Political itellectuals of all sorts are lining up to bash libertarians in general and markets in particular.
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Reefer Madness
Why the Clinton administration is terrified by medical marijuana.
Reason, March 1997
When California and Arizona voters gave substantial majorities to the proposition that sick people ought to be allowed to use marijuana (and, in Arizona, other illegal drugs) if it might ease their suffering, the reaction in Washington was predictable: utter horror. Propositions 215 and 200 struck not only at the heart of drug war propaganda but also at the most sensitive assumptions underlying the regulatory state. (See "Prescription: Drugs," February 1996.)
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The Future: Caught in a Cross Fire
Forbes ASAP, February 23, 1997
That great arbiter of left and right, CNN's Crossfire, began 1995 with a show that quickly became less a debate than a meeting of the minds. The entire format broke down, as Pat Buchanan, the host on the right, and Jeremy Rifkin, the guest on the left, discovered they were political soul mates. The subject was the future--and neither Rifkin nor Buchanan had much positive to say about it. Both were deeply pessimistic, upset about changes in the world of work, and eager to find government policies to restore the good old days. Both spoke resentfully of the "knowledge sector" and groused about new technologies.
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Priced to Move
The CPI can't keep up with a dynamic economy.
Reason, February 1997
Styling aside, would you rather have a brand-new 1972 car or the equivalent 1997 model? A new house circa 25 years ago or one built today? The medical care of 1972 or 1997? The restaurants? Winter fruits and vegetables? Disposable diapers, shampoo, TV sets, diet soda, panty hose, sneakers, bathroom cleansers, alarm clocks, contact lenses, or stereo systems?
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Beyond Boredom
No, Haley, the "battle of ideas" isn't over.
Reason, January 1997
It was boring, and now it's over. The 1996 presidential election was boring because it was about so little: It would be won, we all knew, by a man wedded to a fix-it approach to governing--to the notion that for every problem, however minor or complex, a solution is only a bill away. That man would also be commander-in- chief, but would offer little advance clue as to what his commands would be. Neither Bill Clinton nor Bob Dole suggested a grand strategy; ad hoc intervention would remain the rule of post-Cold War foreign policy