Cato Institute

“At a basic level, a wall or fence can never stop illegal immigration because a wall or fence cannot apprehend anyone” (Bier, Cato Institute). As Bier stated, a border wall in theory won’t necessarily stop illegal immigration as once thought. As previously stated in this paper, just because there is a wall that doesn’t mean that these illegal immigrants hailing from the southwest border…

America's Social Security system is in serious trouble. Payroll tax rates have been increased over the past 40 years. Social Security has become an increasingly bad deal for American workers who must pay record high taxes to a system that provides only meager levels of income for their retirement years. The current social security system is no longer a feasible approach to providing social security. Mandatory private pension systems not only offer an alternative to the failing system we are…

associated with being a more liberal justice. Justice Samuel Alito was nominated by George W. Bush in 2006. He is considered to be another justice that has very conservative views but it is said he has a “libertarian streak” according to the Cato Institute. Sonia Sotomayor is the first justice with Hispanic heritage to sit on the Supreme Court. She was nominated by Barack Obama in 2009 and is a liberal…

When we hear about legalizing all drugs most people will automatically think about the bad things that would happen, but there is evidence that there are benefits to legalizing all drugs. According to many sources the legalization of all drugs would bring many benefits to the community. Legalization of all drugs would lower crime, provide more money for the state and reduce the amount of prisoners in jails. First when people think about drugs they think that they are the reason for crime and to…

As the world begins to globalize, there are many nations that are concerned about safety threats from rival nations and terrorist activity. Having military alliances with other countries gives all involved parties a sense of security, because legitimate threats to a country’s well-being are less likely to occur if there are protective reinforcements. One example of such an alliance is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which consists of twenty-eight countries from Europe and…

would be very compelling article for the readers of The Shorthorn and would recommend publication because of Balko’s expertise, the compelling nature of the issue, and good sources of information used in the text. Balko is a policy analyst for the CATO Institute a public policy organization located in Washington D.C. I believe this story would be interesting to…

Can the Government Fix Everything? Government control has had a place among America’s debatable topics, and the new focus is obesity. In Radley Balko’s essay “What You Eat Is Your Business”, which was published May 23, 2004 on the Cato Institute website, he discusses that topic in regards to restrictions and laws placed on the food industry. Some people are all for the government placing more regulations on food and requiring more detailed labeling on packaged foods, but others say the…

Medicinal marijuana isn’t considered a drug when it is used in its natural state. Marijuana has many medicinal uses. First of all, Delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) is the chemical in marijuana that is helpful. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says, “THC increases appetite and reduces nausea . . . may also decrease pain, inflammation, and muscle control problems” (NIH). Marijuana could help underweight people gain weight by giving them an appetite, or people that having eating disorders,…

served at a bad time as claimed by Kendrick A. Clements, a historian formerly at the University of South Carolina. Clements praises the Wilson administration for its foreign policies and helping America emerge as a world power. Jim Powell of the Cato Institute, on the other hand has a different opinion. According to Powell, Wilson is the worst president in American history. He says, in his need to join the League of Nations, Wilson refused to see that the members of the League would only…

“Fat Taxes” is the colloquial phrase for government imposed taxes on certain foods and/or drinks considered to cause obesity and decrease overall public health. The purpose of these taxes are to help to urge consumers to buy healthy food items and sway them from the unhealthy choices, they also are intended to be a boost to government tax revenues. However, these fat taxes have been shown to not improve public health or boost government tax revenue effectively, they have also been shown to fail…