Government Red Tape
Many cities, counties, and states wrap small businesses up in red tape that goes far beyond protecting public health and safety. For example, when theater owners in Tucson painted a large mural on the side of their building to advertise an upcoming show, the city cracked down, citing the theater for not following the proper permitting steps, including making a formal presentation before the Sign Code Advisory Committee. Goldwater helps cities see the long-term advantage in minimal, consistent regulation – and isn’t afraid to step in when they overstep their constitutional authority.
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Passengers in the Same Cab: Free Speech and Economic Liberty
Posted on September 13, 2012 | Type: Blog | Author: Nick DraniasLast week the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in the Goldwater Institute’s favor that the First Amendment protected a tattoo business from being shut down by the City of Mesa, Arizona. The Court held that tattooing is a form of protected communication, just like painting or writing. Just as booksellers and art dealers are protected by the First Amendment, so too are tattoo businesses. The decision illustrates that there is often no real distinction between economic liberty and free speech.
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Mesa loses - again
Posted on September 11, 2012 | Type: In the NewsFor at least 43 years, personal adornment has been deemed constitutionally protected free speech. It goes back to when the U.S. Supreme Court concluded you could wear a black armband to school to protest the Vietnam War and the principal couldn't stop you.
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Licensing Hurts
Posted on September 11, 2012 | Type: Blog | Author: Byron SchlomachAfter Hurricane Isaac blew through Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal temporarily suspended licensing rules to allow EMTs to travel from other states and care for Louisianans. Similarly, after hurricanes ravaged Florida in 2004, then-Gov. Jeb Bush sought to ease licensing rules for roofers.
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Out Of Touch President Obama Fiddles While Tombstone, AZ Burns
Posted on August 13, 2012 | Type: In the NewsWelcome to the Wild West, 2012 style. The Feds to Tombstone: “If you want to fix your water line, better lawyer up and talk to President Obama.”
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Obama-care's IPAB flawed
Posted on July 27, 2012 | Type: In the News | Author: Tom PattersonMany Americans wonder how Obama-care can possibly work. How can the government insure 32 million additional people and provide everybody with all the health care they need without raising the deficit or spending gobs of new money? The answer, in the minds of its creators, is IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board. You may not have heard much about IPAB yet - one of 150 new boards and commissions in Obama-care - because it was buried deep in the 2,000-page bill and hardly debated. But you will. You've never seen anything like it either, unless you count Soviet-style central planning committees.
