Important Issues Facing US today
Friday Interview: The Valuable Role of Subsidiarity
By CJ Staff
September 3rd-RALEIGH — In the wake of federal stimulus packages, bailouts, and massive overhauls of the nation’s health care and financial sectors, the concept of “limited government” might appear out of date. Still, the American system of government is designed to adhere to constitutionally defined limits. Key to the success of that system is a concept known as subsidiarity. Christopher Wolfe, co-director of the Thomas International Center and professor emeritus of political science at Marquette University, recently discussed subsidiarity with the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. He also spoke with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio. Not So High-Speed Rail in North Carolina and Raleigh
A plan that’s generating controversy in old Raleigh neighborhoods represents the latest case of government’s “Robin Hood in reverse” policies. State agencies told to trim budgets
RALEIGH — Universities, community colleges and state agencies got word Thursday that with a huge budget shortfall looming next year, it’s time to cut - again. The state’s top budget officer sent a memo to a wide swath of state officials Thursday ordering up plans for next year’s budget, which is expected to have a $3.3 billion hole in it. The stark news: Agencies must write plans on how they would cut 5 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent on a permanent basis. N.C. appears ready to require ACT exam
RALEIGH — The state is poised to make sweeping changes in the way it evaluates students and high schools by requiring students to take the ACT, a national college entrance exam. Under the plan that the State Board of Education has been refining for months, most 11th-graders will be required to take the exam. Students will also take pre-tests leading to the ACT in eighth grade and in 10th grade. N.C. faces $3B hole
RALEIGH
A looming $3 billion hole in the state budget could mean that temporary tax increases put in place last year won't be so temporary after all.
State legislators haven't said yet whether they will extend the taxes as they try to balance a budget without the benefit of federal stimulus money that is set to run out next year. But it's a political strategy that has worked in the past. How to balance the budget -- with spending cuts, taxes or both -- is sure to be a major issue in the coming election season
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2010/aug/23/nc-faces-3b-hole/news-ncpolitics/ Even Part-Time Lawmakers Collecting Above Average Pay
North Carolina's top-paid legislator in 2009 earned 48 percent more than the average state government employee earned in the same year, and 54 percent more than the average private sector employee. The top-paid legislator was Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, D-Dare, who collected $86,211.48. The top-paid legislators also hold the highest offices in the state General Assembly. Among the 25 legislators collecting the highest compensation in 2009, the vast majority were Democrats; only six were Republicans.
http://www.nccivitas.org/media/publication-archive/press-releases/even-part-time-lawmakers-collecting-above-average-pay Tell the Right from the Left
If you seek to distinguish the political Right from the political Left in America, there’s no shortage of ways to do it. | 
