Where to Go for Conservative Research
Websites and Books on Economics and Constitutional Understanding
Sep 14, 2009
In the United States, the prominent news item of the day is health care reform. Several bills that propose sweeping changes to the nation's health care system have been introduced in congress, but with such legislation comes the debate over what is actually economically effective and constitutionally sound.
What would the framers of the constitution say about a public option or a single payer system? What would the great minds of free market thought have to say? What do current economists like Thomas Sowell and Walter E. Williams think?
The following is a list of websites and books that deal head on with economic and constitutional thought, as well as important historical perspective:
The Heritage Foundation
"The Heritage Foundation is committed to building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish."
The above quote is from the Heritage "Where We Stand" page. Founded in 1973, the Heritage Foundation employs 244 staff and has a working budget of $61 million. The Heritage mindset is unabashed conservatism with no pretense toward displaying "balanced" progressive views; it is a research organization (topics are far-reaching and include economics, foreign policy, education, family and marriage and, the environment), whose paradigm is constitutional constructionism.
Townhall.com
Townhall.com is a conservative news aggregate site that includes cartoons and blogs in its information stew. Highlights include columns by Dr. Thomas Sowell and Dr. Walter E. Williams, two of the more prominent economists in conservative circles. Sowell and Williams are historians as well as economists, giving verisimilitude to their conclusions.
Liberty Fund
Liberty Fund was founded in 1960, by Indianapolis lawyer Pierre Goodrich, to promote understanding in the founding principles of the United States. The Fund has since become a primary source for books on early American history, economics, biographies of the Founders, influences on the Founders ( Cicero, John Locke, the Dutch Enlightenment), and even essays on Liberty and Sovereignty in Shakespeare.
Special care is taken to provide books of high quality at affordable prices.
Basic Economics, by Dr. Thomas Sowell
Dr. Sowell, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, distills the daunting topic of economics down to a single phrase, "Look beyond stage one." In this phrase he wants the reader to clearly understand that the good intentions of politicians (at least their perceived good intentions) has unintended consequences.
Readers will finish this book with the understanding that economics depends upon following each action to its logical conclusion. Economics without critical thinking is merely wishful thinking.
The Heritage Guide to the United States Constitution
Published by the Heritage Foundation, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution is just what one might expect it to be--a clause by clause commentary on the United States Constitution with historical insight from the Framers, history of judicial precedence, and the influence of judicial review.
While constitutional constructionism is clearly the order of the day, proponents of judicial review and precedent are given a fair shake without aquiescing to judicial legislation as proper or constitutionally lawful.
A Patriot's History of the United States, by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen
A response to Schweikart and Allen's perception that American history is a victim of blatant revisionism, to the point that the current crop of historians are turning the nation against itself, A Patriot's History aims to set the record straight in a concise but informative volume. An invaluable desk reference, this 932 page volume should be a required companion to every American history textbook from elementary school through university level and beyond.
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