Heritage Commentary

•  Jessica Zuckerman explains the need for immigration reform regarding the “Green Card Lottery” in The Washington Times.
•  Jim Talent provides a status report on fiscal cliff negotiations in National Review Online.
•   Mike Gonzalez refutes criticism of the choice to have Senator Jim DeMint become the new president of The Heritage Foundation in The Washington Post.

Heritage Cited in Others’ Commentary

•  Lindsey Burke criticizes new core curriculum standards in National Review Online.

Heritage Cited in the News

•  Dani Doane describes the partisanship of the 112th Congress in The Boston Globe.
• Dean Cheng discusses China’s reaction to North Korea’s missile program in Bloomberg.

Michigan’s enactment of right-to-work legislation this week is a major win for the conservative movement. Predictably, the established labor unions are lashing out at the laws and calling them unfair “right-to-freeload” measures.

But as Heritage Foundation labor expert James Sherk writes in the Detroit News, the unions have it wrong. Unions are free to negotiate only on behalf of their members, so workers who don’t join their colleagues in a union aren’t necessarily “freeloading”: Continue Reading »

Heritage historian Lee Edwards. Photo: Chas Geer

Heritage Foundation historian Lee Edwards delivered the following remarks last week to Heritage trustees.

From the very beginning, Heritage has been a different kind of think tank.

To begin with, we are a conservative think tank with fixed First Principles based on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Other research organizations in this town, such as Brookings and the American Enterprise Institute, choose not to admit their philosophical leanings, but Heritage does not apologize for its commitment to basic conservative ideas–limited government, free enterprise, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.

After we finalized our mission statement, based on these five ideas, we were challenged by Rich DeVos to craft a “bold but practical” vision statement. It took us a while but we kept at it because we realized we were shaping the future of Heritage. We wound up with just 17 words: ”The Heritage Foundation is committed to building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish.” And, I am pleased to report, Rich DeVos loved it.

As a conservative think tank, we seek to empower the conservative movement. A strong Heritage and a weak movement do not serve either institution.

We are in fact the lead institution of the conservative movement—leading by what we say and what we do. Continue Reading »

Heritage Commentary

• Lindsey Burke criticizes the teachers’ union strike in Michigan on FoxNews.com.
• Peter Brookes describes Al Qaeda’s new base in Mali in The New York Post.

Heritage Cited in Others’ Commentary

•  Ed Feulner argues that higher taxes hurt small businesses on Forbes.com.
• James Sherk’s rejects the idea that unions’ decline are linked to politics on CNN.com.

Heritage Cited in the News

•  Bruce Klingner discusses North Korea’s nuclear development on CNN.com.
• Time’s “Swampland” article mentions Heritage’s study on right to work laws.

Heritage Foundation scholar Ernest Istook hosted several leading political commentators and Heritage experts on his program this week:

• Dr. William Lane Craig contrasted American Humanist Association’s new website kidswithoutgod.com and the Gallop Poll that says 69% of Americans described themselves as religious.
• Lee Habeeb, co-creator of the Laura Ingraham Show, discussed story telling in politics.
• Rose S Tennent discussed her new book Thanking Our Soldiers
  

Other guests included notable Heritage voices Amy Payne, who discussed The Foundry, and James Sherk, who talked about the Right to Work bill in Michigan.

Be sure to tune in 9:00 a.m. to noon Eastern Monday through Friday. Find out more about the show, browse show archives, and listen live on istook.com