Constitutional Rights
Government can be freedom’s best friend when it protects citizens’ constitutional rights. Here’s how the Goldwater Institute is ensuring your rights are protected.
There has been a lot of talk in the news about Nancy Reagan's comments about Newt Gingrich at our 1995 Goldwater Institute Dinner. Below we present the entire video so you can hear the full speeches of Mrs. Reagan, Speaker Gingrich, and Sen. Barry Goldwater.
15:30 - Sen. Barry Goldwater's remarks
19:30 - Nancy Reagan's remarks
23:30 - Rep. John Shadegg's remarks
27:30 - Speaker Newt Gingrich's remarks
As we approach Arizona’s Centennial, KJZZ-FM's Here and Now pays tribute to local legends who have helped shape the state’s identity. State Senate president Steve Pierce, Arizona Republic columnist Bob Robb, and Nick Dranias of the Goldwater institute help us remember Barry Goldwater.
Listen to the podcast here.
Applications for the Foundation for Economic Education's Summer Seminars are now open! The Freedom University series in Atlanta, GA, is designed to introduce college students to Austrian economics, history, and current events. The Advanced Austrian seminar will take place at FEE's headquarters in Irvington, NY, and two high school seminars will be held in Salt Lake City, UT. This year we’ll also put on a new seminar for FEE alumni, Communicating Liberty, in Atlanta.
In response to an unprecedented expansion of federal power, citizens have held hundreds of "tea party" rallies around the country, and various states are considering "sovereignty resolutions" invoking the Constitution's Ninth and Tenth Amendments. For example, Michigan's proposal urges "the federal government to halt its practice of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States."
George Mason University’s Mercatus Center recently ranked the states according to economic and personal freedom. Once again, Arizona ranks in the middle of the pack with California dragging up the rear. Arizona ranks 22nd best in overall freedom; California ranks 48th. But before we congratulate ourselves for being better than California, let’s ask ourselves if we can afford to stay in the middle.
Six years ago, a fractured Supreme Court upheld affirmative action with the forward-looking observation that all "race-conscious" policies must "have a termination point." Given the recent presidential election, it is only fair to ask: Are we there yet?
Promises of reduced spending swept dozens of self-proclaimed conservatives into power during the 2010 congressional elections. What did they do? They gave President Obama the power to lift the federal debt limit, twice failed to move a Balanced Budget Amendment proposal out of the House and promised spending cuts that look increasingly illusory.
On November 14, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review of the 26-state lawsuit against the President’s healthcare law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Court granted 5 ½ hours for oral argument, including two hours of argument on the individual mandate and 1 ½ hours on severability, which addresses whether, in the event the mandate is found unconstitutional, the entire Act must be stricken as well.
On November 10, 2011, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker keynoted the Goldwater Institute Annual Dinner.
When the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower, they set up a society in which no one could own property and everyone shared equally, no matter how much work they did. The result was misery and hunger. But when the governor allowed each man to plant and raise crops for his own household, something amazing happened.