by Benjamin Lepak | May 27, 2020 | Legal, Research
An Argument that Oklahoma’s Mayors Acted Unlawfully During COVID -19 Author Benjamin Lepak Abstract Ben Lepak lays out a legal argument for why the mayors of Oklahoma’s three largest cities acted unlawfully, exceeding their legal authority under state...
by Mike Davis | May 25, 2020 | Blog
Memorial Day commemorates those who died in military service to our country. These people died not for a chunk of land, for the natural resources available on that chunk of land, nor for any such simple material possession. They died for an idea, a way of life, as...
by Byron Schlomach | May 20, 2020 | Blog
Life or death circumstances can bring out the best in people or the worst in people. They definitely expose the hypocrisy in people. The COVID-19 crisis has done this in spades. And we have an example playing out in Oklahoma right now with a bill that has gone to...
by Mike Davis | May 18, 2020 | Blog
1889 has been quite critical of pandemic modeling that government officials have relied on for their Covid-19 response. We have also criticized shutdown orders in light of flaws in the models. But let’s assume for a moment that the worst predictions really would have...
by Byron Schlomach | May 13, 2020 | Blog
Several months ago, 1889 Institute published Education Reforms to Make a Difference in which six fundamental institutional reforms to public education in Oklahoma were suggested. Now we publish More Education Reforms to Make a Difference, which suggests six more...
by Byron Schlomach | May 13, 2020 | Research
More Education Reforms to Make a Difference Author Byron Schlomach Abstract Byron Schlomach argues for institutional reforms in education, including appointment of Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, passing a meaningful anti-strike law and...
by Spencer Cadavero | May 11, 2020 | Blog
Alongside the coronavirus, another pandemic is gripping our country, one that we will feel the consequences of long after we reach herd immunity. I dub this pandemic COVID-1984, and I fear it will rot the roots of the Tree of Liberty. The consequence will be a...
by Benjamin Lepak | May 6, 2020 | Blog
Once again, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has usurped the Legislature’s constitutional authority. This time, it has legislated new election rules, behind closed doors, on a compressed timetable, and without public input. All with an election looming in which the new...
by Byron Schlomach | May 4, 2020 | Blog
Oklahoma is opening up in stages at last, thank goodness. While we have thought, from the beginning, that shutdowns have been a bad idea, what’s done is done. Now is the time to start recovering, and the faster we get fully re-opened (with prudent precautions for the...
by Byron Schlomach | Apr 29, 2020 | Blog
After more than a month of COVID-19 house arrest, Oklahoma is reopening. However, the government-created economic disaster that shutdown orders have caused will be studied by epidemiologists, economists, and other social scientists for decades to come. In the...
