The United States was founded by a bunch of radicals promoting equality.

It was a progressive, revolutionary, ultimately earth-shattering notion, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” This assertion, central to American Ideals and prominent in the Declaration of Independence, draws attention to the extent to which the American Founders were concerned with equality – the basic moral equality necessary for democratic governance. Since those first, radical, anti-Rome, anti-Crown, anti-hereditary nobility intellectuals (oh, yes, they were serious intellectuals) got together to assert the essential dignity of each and every property-holding man, the history of the United States has continued to be one of increasing equality.

United States Democracy – this experiment in honoring the dignity of each individual – has always been an ongoing, radical, progressive project.

At each turn, those Americans who believe in equality and common human dignity have met resistance from those who believe it is better to maintain stability, preserve traditional values, and honor the traditions that precede us. That was as true at the time of the revolution as it was during the Women’s Rights and Civil Rights movements. Permitting equal access to education for girls was a radical move – a step forward for human equality. When Rick Santorum speaks proudly of his mother’s story, he’s calling attention to a key moment in US History that saw further expansion of equality. 

This expansion of equality did not come without the state. Government was centrally involved as the institutionalized moral expression of a progressive populace advocating for change. The state provided equal access to public schools. Citizens campaigned for and saw the passage of the 19^th Amendment, to ensure women’s voting rights, in 1920.

When Bill Gates, one of our most successful business leaders, visits Saudi Arabia and suggests they cannot fully develop until they become seriously involved with women’s liberation, he’s making a statement about the progressive, rights-oriented values that are central to the American Experiment. He’s drawing attention to the extent to which conservative, often theocratic states undermine equality, undermine their economic potential, and ultimately – most important – fail to offer opportunities for each individual to reach his or her full human potential.   

Citizens reasonably disagree over how best to promote equality. That sort of implementation uncertainty does not concern me. Reasonable minds may disagree on means. What does concern me is the rhetoric that does not value our common historical trajectory that promotes the dignity and rights of each individual. Our disagreements these days are many, but several relate to whether our increasingly unequal economic system actually offers the kind of opportunities our narratives celebrate.

We want to be the land of opportunity. That’s a statement about equality too. Everyone should have a good, reasonable shot. Strong data, from a diverse set of sources and researchers, indicates wealth is far more important for educational experiences and opportunities for class mobility in American than it has been since at least before the Second World War (See articles in The Atlantic, citing CIA data; extensively researched and cited in Slate; or in a New York Times article that cites the data and the concern with this issue on the right). This is a problem worth addressing, and it should be addressed in light of the long-standing, historic, radical, progressive, continuous, and quintessentially American commitment to equality.

The US Government I Want, in One Picture

Dear Representatives: 

I still believe in a better America. I recognize our success have come through cooperation and collaboration. I feel our possibility and potential are too often drowned out in contemporary debate. So here's the America I stand for, in just a few lines, as part of my Open Letter that includes pragmatic policy examples demonstrating how this America is possible and restating why it's important (#1, #2). 

All of these desires are economically viable and numerous examples exist to back up that assertion. I'll continue to add those examples. Until then, back to work that pays the bills.

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If you agree with the sentiments expressed above and in the overview, please re-tweet, re-post, or email the content to others. If you disagree or have thoughts to add, please add those thoughts below in the comments section. If you'd like to be notified of future posts, simply put your email address in the box on the right. 


Most importantly, if you agree and would like to share this content with your representatives, please do so! You can confirm your representatives' identities and contact information at Project Vote Smart. Thanks for reading. And, regular readers - I realize I'm a bit behind on responding to a couple good points or questions. I'll return to that following this project. Thanks for your patience. 

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Here's the text on the flag above with links to more explanation and resources: 

I want a government that values people more than profit.

I want a government that shows vision and leadership for a better future.

I want a government that protects the environment. 

I want a government strong enough to regulate business and ensure that capitalism is society's servant rather than its master. 

I want a government that will ensure all citizens have access to good education, health care, and strong work opportunities. 

I want representatives who understand nuance, democratic debate, and the valuable role government has played in US History.

Open Letter to My Representatives, Part 2: More and More Disposable Goods from Faraway Places is not American Excellence

It's long past time that our government leaders stopped telling us that working longer and longer hours for more and more disposable goods made in far away places is going to make us happy, improve our society, or build a better country. This is recognized on the right (Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher), on the left (Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff Book and excellent short film) and by social commentators variously claimed by the left and right (Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom, & Community). 

What does government have to do with this? Two things: moral leadership and smart policies. Rightly or wrongly, our leaders have profound power to influence our sense of appropriate national behavior, whether that's by telling us to shop more after 9/11 or grow vegetables in our backyards during WWII. Someone in our government ought to have the courage to stand up and say what those left and right commentators linked above are saying: we should be more deliberate about how we live our lives and ensure our values better reflect family, friends, and community - rather than worshiping the pursuit of profit and stuff as the ultimate endgame and organizing ideal.

We know that happiness has stronger correlation with social interaction and economic security than it does with higher incomes and longer commutes (For a wonderful portrayal of this, see Buettner's Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest). Thanks to civic efforts in Albert Lea, Minnesota, we also know that these kinds of insights can be put into action through citizen and community choices to have more sidewalk space and connect education with contemporary health concerns. That's just the tip of the iceberg in respect to how government policy can affect our everyday experience of how much social interaction we're likely to have, whether we're sure the foods we're consuming are healthy, and what we believe the appropriate balance of saving, investment, work, and family is.

It's not that government should tell us exactly what to do. It is that government makes choices about what kind of incentives we all face and what sort of behaviors the policy environment encourages. This is illustrated all too well with the massive increase in American debt beginning with banking and finance industry deregulation in the 1980s. When banks and credit card companies are permitted to charge higher and higher interest, they become more and more unscrupulous in their efforts to encourage people to spend more than they have. When the government continuously says 'buy, buy, buy,' eases interests rates, and de-regulates multiple forms of lending, it should be no surprise that consumers buy buy buy - and sometimes, wrongly, unfortunately, and with some fault of their own too, they buy buy buy well beyond their means.

Government creates environments where behaviors are more or less likely. Leaders should encourage people to become their best selves. Our government has done a rotten job of encouraging people to live within their means, consider questions of value and meaning for themselves and their communities, and continue to chart a path toward a better future.

I believe in a better America.

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If you agree with the sentiments expressed above and in the overview, please re-tweet, re-post, or email the content to others. If you disagree or have thoughts to add, please add those thoughts below in the comments section. If you'd like to be notified of future posts, simply put your email address in the box on the right. 


Most importantly, if you agree and would like to share this content with your representatives, please do so! You can confirm your representatives' identities and contact information at Project Vote Smart. Thanks for reading. And, regular readers - I realize I'm a bit behind on responding to a couple good points or questions. I'll return to that following this project. Thanks for your patience. 

Open Letter to My Representatives, Part 1: Basic Needs, Children, Human Dignity

Dear Representative:

We can’t have a democracy when citizens are so frustrated that they give up on politics. We can have a democracy when we agree to work together, when we set down civil rules of engagement, follow them fairly, and agree to work in good faith toward a common vision. I’m writing this letter to you in that good faith – because I feel that my values and the values I share with many friends and family members are often drowned out in the yelling, editorializing, and grandstanding that pass for debate today. I still believe in the possibility and potential of the United States of America, and until further notice these are the values I find most important in our democratic experiment. Yesterday, I provided an overview of the three values below, along with several additional commitments. 

I want to be clear: I’m not just complaining here – and I’m definitely not dreaming up hopelessly utopian possibilities. I’ll share what I believe, and also back up my ideas with strong data. Many of my values are expressed in today’s politics as contradictory or mutually exclusive. For example, I believe in business; I believe in capitalism; I believe in universal health care; I believe in protecting the environment. These are absolutely not contradictory positions, and I’ll explain why.  

I believe in the power of ensuring everyone has access to food, shelter, and basic health care.

These inputs - food, shelter, basic health care - affirm fundamental human dignity and provide a person with the foundation necessary to work and to work well. There are strong economic reasons for supporting each person's access to these basics. Better health care leads to better productivity on the job. The National Poverty Center estimates children raised in dire poverty cost the nation more than $500 billion in foregone earnings, poor health, and other challenges.

These children, who are born full of potential yet who in the study I link to above are connected to severe economic costs for our nation, most frequently live with parents who work hard and try to do well by them. But our current low minimum wages, high costs of health care, and high costs of childcare do not leave parents in a situation that allows them to look after their children well, which brings me to my next point.    

I believe that all parents should have time to raise their children, spend time with their loved ones, and see their children flourish as they grow into adults.

I'm not looking for miracles, what I am looking for is smart policy interventions and moral leadership. In terms of policy I'm talking about social programs that support adults' ability to find work that pays well enough to allow them to still have some time with their children. Related policy interventions, for example, include:

• affordable educational programs that allow adults to re-train as the economy shifts, so they can secure well-remunerated work; 
• once again, health care, so that adults actually can switch sectors or take entrepreneurial risks as the economy shifts; 
• increases in the minimum wage, which has consistently lost real value since the late 1970s. 

I know there are numerous critics of the minimum wage, who suggest that increases in the minimum are bad for the economy. If that were definitively true, however, we would see the worst state economies in the United States in Washington and Oregon, which have the first and second highest minimums in the US. We do not, of course, see that. Furthermore, our collective reluctance to invest seriously in worker re-training programs coupled with avoidance of good remuneration for American workers willing to develop new skills has led to a situation in which over 25 percent of US imports come from nations with higher wages and living standards than our own (See Schwartz, The Future of Democratic Equality, p117, working there primarily with data from Eamonn Fingleton, "Unsustainable," in The American Prospect).

If the plain facts of Washington and Oregon's economies don't clarify the value of the minimum wage; if getting more than 25 percent of our imports from nations with higher wages and living standards doesn't demonstrate the importance of good training programs and health care to promote mobility across sectors; and if the data on the economic value of health care and getting children out of poverty is not persuasive for you, then I default to what really drives my beliefs mentioned above: I believe in fundamental human dignity and equal moral worth.  

That is, I agree with the sentiment expressed variously by Churchill, Truman, Pope John Paul II, and many others but seemingly originating in Matthew 25:41-46. A society will be judged by how it treats its members who are facing the greatest challenges. Are we helping those who are hungry, thirsty, in need of shelter, imprisoned, or sick? Supporting every individual's right to flourish through education and meeting basic needs happens to make boatloads of economic sense, but fortunately for us - and more importantly - it is also the right thing to do.

For today, this is all I have time to share. Like many Americans, I juggle a few work and family commitments, but we all have civic commitments too - and I'm trying to meet mine. I'll continue this letter this week. For now, when you vote, when you face lobbyists, when you write laws, please remember that not all of us are in the room. And many, many, many Americans do strongly support  efforts to meet basic needs, move wages high enough to allow parents to support and spend time with children, and make other policy choices that reflect a thorough commitment to common human dignity.

Thank you for your time. In the days that come I'll expand on the value of moral leadership; why our principles of democratic government are better than China's; the value of business, capitalism, government, and nuance; environmental protections, and the valuable experiment in appreciating diversity that is the United States. Again, thanks for taking the time to hear my perspective. If you have any response, I'd love to read and/or share it.

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If you agree with the sentiments expressed above and in the overview, please re-tweet, re-post, or email the content to others. If you disagree or have thoughts to add, please add those thoughts below in the comments section. If you'd like to be notified of future posts, simply put your email address in the box on the right. Most importantly, if you agree and would like to share this content with your representatives, please do so! You can confirm your representatives' identities and contact information at Project Vote Smart. Thanks for reading. And, regular readers - I realize I'm a bit behind on responding to a couple good points or questions. I'll return to that following this project. Thanks for your patience. 

Open Letter to My Representatives: Overview, Building a Better America

Dear Representatives: 

I still believe in the possibility and potential of the United States of America. These are the values I find most important in our democratic experiment.

I believe in ensuring everyone has access to work, education, food, shelter, and basic health care.

I believe that all parents should have time to raise their children, spend time with their loved ones, and see their children flourish as they grow into adults.

I believe in fundamental human dignity and equal moral worth. 

I believe in our principles of government – because in principle each individual is to have a voice.

I believe our leaders ought to provide vision and moral leadership. 

I believe in business and capitalism - and I believe they should be leveraged to serve society's broader interests.

I believe in protecting the environment. 

I believe in the importance, legitimacy, and profound value in a professionalized armed forces – and I believe we should use them far less frequently.

I believe in acceptance, diversity, learning from others, and humility.

I believe in government.

I believe in progressive taxation. The more I play, the more I pay.

I believe we sink or swim together.

I believe in nuance.

I believe you can do better. I believe we can all do better.

This list results from me sitting down Sunday morning to accomplish something I've wanted to do for years: write a standing letter to my government representatives, so that they know the values that matter to me (and so many of my friends and neighbors) - values that are often lost in the yelling and diatribes that pass for debate in the United States. Six hours later, I found myself still writing.

One of the challenges with our current political standstill seems to be that we want everything delivered in tidy, concise, neat packages. Yet our country, our communities, and the globalized world we live in are complex, complicated, and continuously evolving places. We have values that are sometimes contradictory, even if they are ultimately compatible. It takes time to explain and to understand, but we don't typically allow for that.

I have stated the values I want to share, but I'm also going to embrace this complexity - and deliver the letter in phases. I'll expand on each of these values commitments in the days that follow (#1, #2, #3), and use hard data and clear examples to demonstrate how these commitments are not Utopian thinking, but clearly pragmatic and possible. Thanks for reading and please let me know if there are things you'd like to add! We'll discuss it. This IS going to my representatives!

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If you agree with the sentiments expressed above, please re-tweet, re-post, or email the content to others. If you disagree or have thoughts to add, please add those thoughts below in the comments section. If you'd like to be notified of future posts, simply put your email address in the box on the right. Most importantly, if you agree and would like to share this content with your representatives, please do so!

You can confirm your representatives' identities and contact information at Project Vote Smart. Thanks for reading. And, regular readers - I realize I'm a bit behind on responding to a couple good points or questions. I'll return to that following this project. Thanks for your patience.

Happy Thanksgiving, America!

Conservative, liberal, occupier, tea partier – it’s time to take a break and be thankful. I wrote the editorial below two years ago from Bolivia, before our politics reached their current impasse. I believe the main thesis still holds. That is, despite the historical inaccuracies and current political debates, Thanksgiving’s function of getting us to pause and consider the things for which we should be thankful – is extremely important. I’m thankful for my family, my friends, my health, and the rights that came along with the place I was born. Here’s the original Post-Gazette editorial, reprinted in its entirety. 

If you agree with the sentiments below, please forward and re-post. If you have additional sentiments you'd like to add, please do so in the comments section below. Thanks for reading and commenting.   

American blessings: Thank you for democracy, diversity, safe water and pancakes

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia -- A friend from Singapore once told me that if he ever got the chance to visit the United States he wanted to have an American breakfast at a truck stop at 4 a.m. He managed to gather into one wish unique aspects of American life -- waffles for breakfast, work around the clock (where else are there so many 24-hour truck stops and diners?) and wide-open spaces.
As I celebrate Thanksgiving this year with a group of American students and their host families in Bolivia, I'm taking a moment to consider what we all should be thankful for in the United States of America.

Water

The vast majority of Americans can drink tap water in their homes. This is a daily miracle. Nearly one billion people around the world (that's more than three times the U.S. population) do not have access to safe water. And most people who do have safe water do not have it flowing into their homes.

Public education

The effort to provide high-quality public education is nearly as old as the country, although not everyone has benefited equally from a system that remains subject to continuous debate. And it should provoke argument -- education can make or break a country. Still, the message is clear: Countries that invest in their people flourish economically and are more likely to support democracy and respect individual freedoms.

Work ethic

People work hard just about everywhere. My first impression of Africa was that everyone was moving crops, hauling water, selling, buying or otherwise exerting themselves. But our culture values work to the point that we've produced an entire genre of self-help literature aimed at curing workaholism. Hard work yields dividends; see "Contemporary China."

Democracy

Our system of government protects individual rights, checks government power and encourages fair play. James Madison addressed the issue in "The Federalist Papers": "If men were angels, no government would be necessary ..." We've enabled human freedoms to the fullest extent possible while acknowledging human limitations. I see too much corruption in my work around the world. It's helpful to remember that good behavior is built with institutional effort over time. We need reminders of this from time to time, too, as money does infect our politics and abuses regularly crop up in the private sector. See "Financial Crisis."

Open spaces

Stop reading. Go west. Breathe in Dwight D. Eisenhower's unique achievement -- the American interstate system. Zip past fields of sunflowers in Kansas. Grab a six-pack and hang out with rural Nebraska kids as they float up and down on the backs of oil pumpjacks, drinking and talking about eight-man-football as the sun drops below the plains. Then, somewhere in the soaring Rockies, throw a tent and sleeping bags into the back of a pickup and drive a full day over dirt roads deep into one of our national forests to camp.

Diversity

America has created an imperfect but highly accomplished multicultural democracy to an extent unmatched elsewhere and unparalleled in history. This is a beautiful thing. Strong societies are adept at incorporating and adapting ideas from other cultures. America becomes more diverse and therefore more dynamic every single day.

Volunteer military

The United States military is the strongest ever known. One reason is that our service men and women enlist voluntarily. War is horrible, profoundly complicated and, as it should be, often controversial. But never should we fail to honor the men and women who volunteer to keep us safe and serve at the direction of our elected officials.

Pancakes, etc.

For a country so rich in history, we're poor in unique culinary traditions. But sweet, syrup-topped, simple and affordable pancakes and waffles -- these are ours. Burgers made with ground beef, which for some inexplicable reason are hard to recreate elsewhere, are American magic. And, of course, in multicultural America one can find fine foods and culinary traditions from almost any corner of the world, anytime.

Philanthropy

The governments of other developed countries spend a greater portion of their budgets on social welfare at home and abroad. But Americans give from their own pockets in a way that is unmatched elsewhere. Individual involvement has led to the creation of thousands of small and mid-size nonprofit organizations like the one I direct. While smallish organizations cannot address all issues for everyone, they can be responsive to the real lives and concerns of the people they serve.

Ideals

American ideals are tied up with the notion that we always can do better. We continue to build a better society. We work to redress the excesses of past generations. Now, for instance, we seek to make our society more environmentally sustainable. We continue to work toward expanding individual human freedoms in our own country and around the world.

For these things and much more, we Americans should be profoundly thankful. Throughout history, few peoples have had the opportunity to experience long lives. Few peoples have had the opportunity to debate the pros and cons of their would-be leaders in advance of free and fair elections. Few peoples have been able to hop on a motorcycle and cruise across a continent on well-manicured roads, stopping at truck stops at any hour of the day or night to find good food and fast service.

I am thankful to be an American in the world today. We have a lot of problems. We have a lot of disagreements. We create injustices. We mess up and fail.

But on Thanksgiving Day, pause. Be thankful for the broad contours of this American reality. Tomorrow we can get back to work.

Following Occupy Wall Street - Effort to Reduce Influence of Money in Politics

For a few weeks Twitter has been lighting up with messages by and about the hundreds of individuals camping and protesting in New York City as part of Occupy Wall Street. The movement began with a July 2011 suggestion from the anti-consumerism magazine Adbusters. While substantial coverage has suggested the movement lacks a central goal or set of demands, a common theme is the appeal to reduce or if possible eliminate the influence of money in the US Political System. The protesters regularly refer to their concern with growing inequality in the US, and the desire to see policies that share more wealth with the "bottom 99%" of the population.

According to Adbusters, the unifying demand is that President Obama create a presidential commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington. The movement and its organizers have, if you will, been aggressively peaceful. They've deliberately embraced nonviolence and instituted quiet hours at 10 pm to be sure area residents can still get a good night's sleep (or whatever counts for one in NY). After weeks of waiting, the national news is now catching the coverage too. While it seems to me that the movement is clear about their concerns, the national media seem obsessed with developing a narrative suggesting there is no core, common cause. Resources and links follow an Adbusters poster promoting the start date of the occupation:

1. Occupy Wall Street on Wikipedia
2. Coverage on CNN (10/4) 
3. A photo essay in The Atlantic, including the photo below 
4. On Fox News, "More than Just Another Loony Protest from the Left"
5. "Anti-Wall Street Protests Spreading to Cities Large and Small" in the NYT
6. Gripping, Challenging "Other 99%" photo essay - a must view

And that's true, protests have spread to LA, DC, Boston, Memphis, and even McAllen, Texas, among other cities. Even Fox is admitting to some legitimate concerns on the part of the protesters (despite all the vitriol the writer has for "dirty hippies") - maybe that's because it hasn't been too long since Sarah Palin aired a rather similar set of concerns about corporate influence. Maybe that's because completely unrestrained corporate influence and inequity really do undermine US Democracy and opportunities for average, middle-class Americans.

Please share interesting updates on the protesters, their goals, and the coverage. 

Student-Generated Film: Right to be an American

Many have commented on immigration policy, few have viewed it through the lens of the children involved. This brief documentary, completed by a former student's sister, does just that. The 12-minute take is part of Project VoiceScape, a PBS initiative to hear and raise the voices of teen filmmakers around the US. If you like the film, please vote for it!

What is a Social Justice Song? - Dylan's Hard Rain?

Justly complaining? Proposing? Moving others to action? Raging? What makes something a social justice song? As I move (ever so slowly) to pulling together the songs I've posted here and the tracks that others have nominated, the question becomes more important. One day, we'll vote. First, any additional songs suggestions or arguments for what makes an excellent social justice song are very much appreciated!

The Emerging Global Elite, Protests, Riots, Martinis, Taxes, and American Patriotism

Middle class riots all over the place, from Athens to Israel and with The Tea Party anti-establishment ascendant over here on the Atlantic's West Side. The people are running a muck with rage. Thomas Friedman explains it away with the suggestion that,

• "Across the world, a lot of middle- and lower-middle-class people now feel that the “future” is out of their grasp, and they are letting their leaders know it." The future is increasingly out of reach, as once safe national middle class communities drop farther and farther behind 
• "The Rise of the New Global Elite,"  a phenomenon Chrystia Freeland traced expertly in a January Atlantic Monthly article. The new growing, global elite is characterized by unprecedented wealth and decreasing connections to country and nation, which is very well illustrated by the rising costs of living high on the hog in Brazil, 
• where martinis are topping $35 and apartments are hitting $10,000 a month in the most coveted parts of Rio, this in large part because those with extraordinary wealth are free to flee and relocate wherever they wish, which makes one wonder why a fat cat as cool and plump as the old Oracle of Omaha would ever be so bold as to propose
• Higher taxes on himself and his friends. He must be some kind of patriot or something, caring for education and health care and basic infrastructure for his fellow countrymen and women.   
• If Americans wish to compete, to excel, to continue to do well and lead across sectors and disciplines, or even simply to remain respectable and not lose ground, we need to get serious about taxes. The global elite leaves. Our schools are here. Our middle class is here. There's no free lunch. To win, play the game. To play the game, educate the next generation. 
• That's just to get started. I have to go to work tomorrow. 

Imagine You Love Revenues. Imagine You're Pennsylvania.

Imagine that everything in economic and global history over the past several  decades and centuries suggests demand will continue to rise for a certain kind of product. That product is energy.  You don't need to imagine. In fact global dynamics revolve around this product. Corporations and countries will do and pay whatever is necessary to get access to this product. There's precedent. You know that because you know a little history.

Imagine you have one of the largest deposits of one type of that  product on the record. That deposit is the Marcellus Shale Natural Gas field. You still don't need to imagine. Imagine you know who your competitors are; you know who else has the product and you know that they're charging companies 6% and more to take the product away. Once again, you need not imagine. Your competitors are West Virginia, which taxes gas extraction at about 6%, as well as other states like Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming, which tax at a higher percentage still. You know these are states with conservative constituencies and strong natural resource extraction economies.

You know that you, Pennsylvania, despite sitting on one of the largest natural gas fields the world is aware of and being adjacent to one of the largest buying markets (the great cities of the US Northeast)  for energy in the  world,  choose not to tax extraction. Because you know that other states do tax extraction and still have strong extraction economies, because you  know that  global  demand for energy will only continue to rise, because you know that you're in a comparatively strong position because your gas field is both bigger than and closer to the Northeast  than other gas fields, you must only conclude that you actually do not like revenue for the state as a whole.

You are only left with the conclusion that your governor is more concerned with his individual campaign contributions from natural gas companies than he is with leading the state out of tough economic times through application of smart public policy that is a no-brainer in conservative states like Texas,  Oklahoma, and Wyoming.

You, Pennsylvania,  because you do love revenues, good public policy, and educating a globally competitive citizenry through strong K-12 and higher education systems, must resolve to find better leadership. For the good of the state,  for  the good of the country,  for anyone who values a smart, well-educated populace and sound, pro-business public policy that has been  tested and successful elsewhere.    


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If you'd like more resources on this topic, check:

• Post-Gazette Columnist Brian O'Neill 
• Pennsylvania State Representative Greg Vitali (D - Delaware County,  Member, House Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy)
• The State of TX's Discussion of their Natural Gas Tax Rate (7.5%)