Good Government
Jonathan Small | May 20, 2016
Free Market Friday: Federal strings
Jonathan Small
The Obama administration’s recent decree – which would, among other things, allow boys into girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms and showers – has generated predictable outrage and pushback. Oklahoma lawmakers are reportedly considering legislation that would protect students’ privacy.
But this federal intrusion comes as no surprise whatsoever. Just as high school students have no right to complain when their parents are paying the bills. As education researcher Greg Forster memorably put it, “with the president implementing his new commode core program, now can we finally admit it’s unrealistic to expect the federal government to keep its hands off schools?”
Washington, D.C., bureaucracies use federal funds to manipulate transportation priorities, pushing things like HOV lanes that some communities may not need or want. They use participation in medical welfare programs to control how doctors’ offices bill their patients, actually preventing certain kinds of discounts for patients. Federal funds in every area come with strings attached.
Jonathan Small
President
Jonathan Small, C.P.A., serves as President and joined the staff in December of 2010. Previously, Jonathan served as a budget analyst for the Oklahoma Office of State Finance, as a fiscal policy analyst and research analyst for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and as director of government affairs for the Oklahoma Insurance Department. Small’s work includes co-authoring “Economics 101” with Dr. Arthur Laffer and Dr. Wayne Winegarden, and his policy expertise has been referenced by The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, National Review, the L.A. Times, The Hill, the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. His weekly column “Free Market Friday” is published by the Journal Record and syndicated in 27 markets. A recipient of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s prestigious Private Sector Member of the Year award, Small is nationally recognized for his work to promote free markets, limited government and innovative public policy reforms. Jonathan holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma and is a Certified Public Accountant.