CEI Today: Libertarian government, Julian L. Simon Award, and passenger rail problems

Today in the News

LIBERTARIAN GOVERNMENT

What Would Libertarian Government Look Like? CEI Offers Some Steps to Find Out

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote in a recent column that if true small-government, libertarian policies are the best way to organize society, then why doesn’t a single country on Earth embrace this framework.

At the Competitive Enterprise Institute, we say, “Let’s give it a try.” How about, as we survey a country in which the IRS is targeting right-of-center groups, the National Security Agency is monitoring our phone calls and the government is tapping phone lines of reporters, we stop and consider a few steps to reduce the size, cost and scope of government?

CEI lays out a few such steps in Avoiding the Regulatory Cliff: A Bipartisan Agenda to Restore Limited Government and Revive America’s Economy.

 

JULIAN L. SIMON MEMORIAL AWARD

Scholar Awarded Julian L. Simon Memorial Award for Moral, Historical Defense of Freedom

CEI is pleased to announce that Deirdre McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the recipient of CEI’s prestigious Julian L. Simon Memorial Award. McCloskey’s groundbreaking scholarly work has focused on historical analysis of the factors that led to advancement in human achievement and prosperity.

The award will be presented at CEI's annual gala dinner, June 20, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Previous award recipients include Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal, President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic and "Skeptical Environmentalist" Bjørn Lomborg.

 

OVER-REGULATED RAIL – MARC SCRIBNER

WRVA: How to Boost Rail in the US

If passenger trains are ever to attract ridership and become a viable part of the country’s transportation mix again, it is vital that operators have access to the best practices and the best, most cost effective trains available. Yet presently, American passenger railways are forbidden from purchasing trains in the most cost-effective manner possible. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has strict crash safety regulations for passenger railcars which trains in Europe—where passenger rail is well established and remarkably safe—do not have to meet.