Nation Of Whiners - Part 1
Are we in a Mental Recession?
By Brandon Bosworth, GRIH Policy Analyst

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline." Former senator Phil Gramm said the above words not too long ago, referring the general sense of gloom (dare we say "malaise"?) concerning the U.S. economy. He went on to say we were only in a "mental recession," not a real one. It cost him his place in John McCain's campaign, and probably doomed his chances at a position in a McCain White House.

Was he wrong in his assessment? Not really. Andrew Ferguson noted in a recent Weekly Standard, Gramm was in the right: "A recession is two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, and the economy didn't contract last quarter." So Gramm was just telling the truth, at least about the recession part. But are we "a nation of whiners"? Well, sort of. For a nation so successful, with such a high standard of living, Americans do tend to complain an awful lot.

Let's take the supposedly catastrophically high gasoline costs that are forcing people to curb their driving, buy reasonably sized cars, and perhaps even walk places. Prices are apparently so bad, some religious folks are even holding prayer vigils at gas stations, praying for relief at the pump, like Dark Ages peasants prayed for relief from the Plague. (No self-flagellation has been reported... yet.) True, prices per gallon are higher than they used to be, but we often forget just how cheap gas is in the U.S. We're paying about $4 per liter right now on average nationwide, and obviously more here in Hawaii. How about the rest of the world? The rest of the English-speaking world--the U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand--are paying (in U.S. dollars) about $8.60, $5, $5.75, and $6.13, respectively. Our Pacific neighbors, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, are paying $6, $7.30, and $4.60. Some continental Europeans are paying even more, just look at Germany ($9) or Belgium ($9.40). Norwegians pay a whopping $10.30, yet somehow Norway still manages to top the United Nations ranking of most livable countries. And if mass poverty, rampant crime, and the memory of a bloody civil war aren't enough to dissuade you from moving to Sierra Leone, perhaps paying over $18 for a liter of gas will.

Granted, some nations pay less at the pump. Most of these countries are in the Middle East, though if you relocated to Hugo Chavez's socialist utopia of Venezuela, you would only be paying 11 cents or so for gas. Of course, living under the Chavez regime, you would have plenty of other things to worry about besides fuel costs. While we are paying more for gas, at least we aren't having to wait in line at the gas station as we did during the fuel crisis of the '70s. Back then, waiting hours to fuel up wasn't uncommon, and stations often limited the amount of gas sold to a customer. Economist Donald J. Boudreaux of George Mason University examined just how pricey it could be to buy gas in the Carter Years. The results are intriguing:

"The average price of a gallon of gasoline in 1979 was (in 1979 dollars) 90 cents. So if a worker in 1979, earning that year's average hourly wage of $6.19, spent one hour waiting in line to buy five gallons of gasoline - a standard maximum amount that filling stations would sell to customers during periods of shortage - he would have spent, waiting in queues, $1.24 worth of his time for every gallon he bought. The total cost per gallon to him would have been $2.14 ($0.90 in cash expense plus $1.24 in time expense). $2.14 in 1979 was worth about $6.36 of today's dollars -- a cost per gallon much higher than the roughly $4 that we Americans now pay (without having to queue up for the privilege of filling our tanks)." Boudreaux goes on to mention that a one hour wait was rather conservative estimate, and notes he and his father once waited 12 hours to buy five gallons of gasoline.

Another economist, Mark J. Perry of the University of Michigan, looked at gas prices from a slightly different angle. He compared the retail prices of gasoline over the years to average per-capita amounts of disposable income. His conclusions may surprise you:

"The retail price of gas was only about 20 cents a gallon from 1929 to 1946, but annual per-capita disposable income in the 1930s was only about about $400-500 (about $6,000 in today's dollars), so that a 1,000 gallons of gas cost as much as almost 49 percent of per-capita disposable income in 1933, and averaged more than 38 percent from 1929-1939.... To reach those levels today, gas would have to sell for between $14 and $17 per gallon!"

Similar conclusions were reached by Investor's Business Daily. By looking at mean disposable incomes, they figured "if we adjust gasoline prices in 1949 — 27 cents a gallon — for inflation, it works out to $1.90 per gallon in today's terms. And if we adjust for changes in mean disposable income, we find that gasoline prices would have to be $6.68 per gallon before they took the same bite out of our wallets."

So while gasoline prices are indeed higher in the U.S. than they have been in recent memory, we are still paying less at the pump than most other industrialized nations, and, depending on how you look at it, we're paying less than we did a generation or two ago. The citizens of all those countries with high fuel prices seem to be doing alright, and have managed to avoid a gas-related apocalypse. Americans in the past managed to do fine, too. Can't we?

-GIR-

Brandon Bosworth is a Policy Analyst with GRIH and a freelance writer living in Hawaii. Look for Part 2 of 'Nation Of Whiners' in an upcoming edition of GIR.

GRASSROOT PERSPECTIVE

Report From the Front: Schoolland Spreads Liberty Education Overseas
By Tom McAuliffe, GRIH Director of Communications

Grassroot Institute of Hawaii Board of Scholars member Ken Schoolland, Associate Professor of Economics and Political Science at Hawaii Pacific University, is on a world tour visiting various countries teaching at Liberty Camps, which GRIH and its members help to sponsor. He recently checked in with GIR.

"We're now in Baku, Azerbaijan, where we recently made presentations to the Liberal Youth at a meeting hosted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF)," said Schoolland. "In Europe and Asia, the term ‘liberal’ still refers to a classical liberal or libertarian free market school of thought that's eagerly being embraced by the youth abroad. The FNF has even expressed an interest in publishing an Azeri edition of my book, 'The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey' (JG)," he said. “Earlier in the month we taught at the Liberty Conference in the Baltics with liberal youth from Lithuania and Belarus, sponsored by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and other organizations." In addition, Schoolland made a presentation on free market education to a combined meeting of the Estonian Free Society Institute and the Liberal Youth Club of Tallinn. They are preparing to publish an Estonian edition of JG.

“My wife (Li) and daughter (Kenli) were also teachers at the Language of Liberty Camp in Bakuriani, Georgia, in the Caucasus Mountains of the former Soviet Union," Schoolland explained. "Forty students and staff from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and the Ukraine were sponsored by the New Economic School of Georgia and other organizations for a week of speaking English in the context of the literature and ideas of liberty. We used the Georgian and English editions of JG to prompt discussions and debates about free markets and civil liberties. It's similar to the camp that GRIH Board Member Jeff Crawford joined us at in Slovakia this summer and that Kenli will be teaching at this September in Poland. As you can see from the pictures, everyone had a lot of fun from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian Sea," he asserted. "It would be good to have something like this in our Hawaii someday!"

Schoolland relates to the challenges writers and activists have in other countries. "I thought GIR readers might be interested in the tough times journalists have here in Eastern Europe and Central Asia," he said. "We met with an independent reporter who told us some ghastly stories of what can happen to those who openly criticize the governments over here. The number of arrests and harassment doubled in the past year and the number of critical news stories has plummeted. Journalists and opposition groups are offered a carrot (high pay to work for a government newspaper or affiliated organizations) and the stick (i.e. beatings and stabbings, arrests for trumped up charges) immediately after their stories appear," Schoolland explained. He went on to say that the same inducements are presented to publishers. “From what I hear of the hostility of Mayor Mufi to his critics in Hawaii, I hope we aren’t going down that path."

Prof. Schooland (rear left flashing the Shaka sign) and his follow teachers and students at a 'Language of Liberty Camp in Trakai, Lithuania, Eastern Europe recently. Click here to see a larger version of the photo.

Teaching students liberty is both rewarding and hazardous. “My friends in Baku have hinted that this email might even be monitored and that maybe we should include a greeting in the message to the folks from the Ministry for State Security who are surely monitoring outside communications!" he continued. “As with China, societies here are generally free spirited just so long as one doesn't threaten the power structure. But the people here remain very bold." The wife of Schoolland's host is the lawyer who was the first to succeed against the Azeri government on a case in the International Court of Human Rights-a fascinating story according to Schoolland.

"Just as gripping was the account my students told of their recent arrest for a simple patriotic demonstration. The Liberal Youth are very courageous. On the birthday of the first President of the Independent Azerbaijan Republic, they placed flowers at his birthplace memorial and gave interviews to the invited media." A democratic Azerbaijan once had a very short period of independence from Russia in 1918 that lasted only two years before they were again occupied by the Communists of the Soviet Union. Soviet domination ended with the collapse of the USSR in 1992, but authoritative control is still entrenched. “The police tried to stop the students but they resisted. The police intended to arrest just a couple of the leaders, but some thirty students showed solidarity and insisted that they should all be arrested. The arresting officer personally told one of them they were patriots, but that no demonstrations were allowed," he said. “Such an arrest for a student still risks the loss of their academic standing and even their whole career, but these students weren’t deterred. They even made a party of it, ordering take out pizza and offering it to the police at the station. I was astounded at the bravado these students showed, and pleased at the restraint of the current regime. I hope that our youth in Hawaii will exhibit an equal measure of courage when faced with threats to their freedom.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ken and we look forward to having him back home in Hawaii soon before the school year starts this fall.

For info on the Friedrich Naumann Foundation please visit http://www.fnf.org. For info on Professor Schooland's books please visit http://www.jonathangullible.com.

- GIR-

FRESH PERSPECTIVE
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii created the Fresh Perspective column exclusively to publish the work of high school and college students. In addition to work appearing on GRIH’s website, their work is also submitted to Hawaii Reporter. Submissions are welcome from any interested young adult, and we will publish work that is clearly written and grammatically sound. For earlier Fresh Perspectives please click here. Contact tom@grassrootinstitute.org for more info.

My Milton Friedman
By Matthew Tanoue
(Homeschool student Matthew Tanoue delivered this speech at GRIH's annual Milton Friedman Birthday Luncheon recently.)

He once wrote, “If you put the Federal Government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there will be a shortage of sand.” A brilliant economist, Milton Friedman will forever be remembered as one of the greatest of 20th century American thinkers and a staunch public advocate for limited government and its profound benefits for society. Today marks what would have been his 96th birthday!

For this reason, I am honored to stand here today to share a little about Milton Friedman, who he was, and what he stood for; and about how the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is working to pass along conservative ideas and principles like his to the next generation of Americans, and to high school students like myself.

You see, earlier this year, I became much more educated in conservative values when the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii sponsored my attendance at a Young America’s Foundation' conference in California. Hosted at the 'Reagan Ranch Center' in Santa Barbara, I joined 70 like-minded high school students from across the country as we were treated to a unique experience. For 48 hours, we were immersed in the best of modern conservative thought.

Speaker after speaker, led by President Reagan’s son Michael Reagan, challenged us to understand and embrace the conservative values that have upheld our freedom as Americans: the foundational importance of a limited government, support for free trade, the priority of maintaining a strong military, and the promotion of family values. It was an experience of which Milton Friedman would have been proud as I both grew in my understanding of key current issues as well as in my conviction to speak out and better defend my views in the public arena.

For this extraordinary opportunity which I received, I want to thank my debate coach and member of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Mrs. Lora Burbage, for nominating me and Mr. Dick Rowland, founder of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and all its members for their support.

Milton Friedman was born on July 31st of 1912. His was a life filled with countless numbers of achievements and honors, among which was the Nobel Prize for Economic Science. He is known for developing and promoting public policies that support family values. Not only was his influence widespread during his very active public life, but his legacy continues to impact the thinking of people and policies of our generation.

Friedman wrote extensively on public policy and the relationship between individual freedoms and the role of government. Friedman argued that the best way to ensure our freedom was to minimize government’s role in the free market. He understood how our freedoms are jeopardized each time the government gets too involved in the economy.

Besides advocating free trade, Milton Friedman also stood against any governmental interference with the rights of the family. He proposed improving the public education system by adopting free market principles. In particular, Friedman supported the voucher system for public schools, so parents would be free from any government restrictions to place their children in the school of their choice. That way, schools would compete to attract parents and students. With the incentive that competition introduces, each school would continually focus on improving the quality of the service it provides in order to draw in customers.

This morning, as we gather on the occasion of his 96th birthday, my hope is that Milton Friedman’s life and legacy will inspire us all to better understand what we believe, why we believe it, and to be able, like Friedman, to speak out effectively in the public square to promote liberty and justice for the benefit of all.

So Happy Birthday, Milton Friedman! And thank you all for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts with you.

-GIR-

Matthew Tanoue is a homeschool student from Oahu, Hawaii.

LIBERTY NEWS

Defending the American Dream
In July, Grassroot President Jamie Story and Communications Director Tom McAuliffe attended the 2008 Defending the Dream Summit in Austin, Texas. Sponsored by Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the two day symposium featured noteworthy speakers including Barry Goldwater Jr., CNN's Robert Novak, Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips, Americans For Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, and the Wall Street Journal's John Fund and Steve Moore, among many others. Look for upcoming 'Grassroot Insight' audio interviews with these and other VIP's to be posted on the GRIH website in the coming weeks.

The two day event also featured numerous seminars covering a wide variety of topics from climate change to fundraising, but focused primarily on fully utilizing the internet and new media technologies. Grassroot President Jamie Story moderated a panel discussion on education reform. An exhibits room with booths from various organizations including The Heritage Foundation, The Sam Adams Alliance, The Texas Public Policy Foundation and others was also a highlight. AFP is holding their annual convention in Washington DC on Oct. 10-11. For more information please visit: http://defendingthedream.org.

-GIR-

Founder Found at NCSL
As we went to press last time President Emeritus and GRIH Founder Dick Rowland had just returned from attending the National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) 34th Annual Legislative Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 22-26. Over 6,000 legislators, legislative staffers, business representatives, government officials, union members, foundation representatives and others interested in public policy gathered in the 'Big Easy' to discuss the issues affecting states across our country.

"This year's NCSL Legislative Summit, and other events like it, provide us with wonderful networking and learning opportunities," said Rowland. "We need to talk with others interested in smaller more accountable government and find out what other similar organizations might be doing in their states." GRIH also gave out studies and policy papers via the State Policy Network (SPN) booth. "There was something for everyone," he said.

With 180 policy sessions over four days, the convention covered a wide variety of subjects including taxation, education reform, legislative oversight, health care, legislative redistricting, public corrections and more. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger were among the featured speakers.

For more information on the National Conference of State Legislatures please visit http://www.ncsl.org.

-GIR-

Birthday Party
GRIH hosted a sold out luncheon in honor of American Nobel Prize-winning Economist Milton Friedman's birthday recently. Many Hawaii legislators and public officials attended, including: Speaker of the House Calvin Say, Sen. Sam Slom, Rep. Gene Ward, Rep. Barbara Marumoto, Sen. Chun Oakland, Sen. Will Espero, Oahu Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle, Former U.S. Congressman Ed Case, Rep. Faye Hanohano, Sen. Norman Sakamoto, and Mayor Candidate Panos Prevedouros, among others. Additionally, a delegation from Maui including former Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa attended.

The annual event, held on July 31st, took place at The Pacific Club in Honolulu and was co-sponsored by The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, Research Institute for Hawaii, USA, The Milton & Rose Friedman Foundation and generous personal donations from Bill and Sandra Burgess, Dale Evans, James Growney, Cliff Slater and Gloria Yau. Over 50 events were held around the United States to honor Freidman on what would have been his 96th birthday.

Kicking off the event, Grassroot President Jamie Story gave a brief talk on the status of Friedman's education vision followed by homeschool student Matthew Tanoue, whose speech—“Friedman's Influence on a High School Student”—was also well received. Keynote Speaker and Commissioner Gail Heriot, a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights and a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego gave a wonderful address entitled “Milton Friedman: The Man Who Chose Freedom.” Professor Heriot also helps operate the popular blog, “The Right Coast—Thoughts from San Diego on Law, Politics, and Culture.”

The entire event was filmed by the Grassroot Communications Department and will be shown on local cable access TV in the near future with excerpts posted on Grassroot TV.

For more information on Milton Friedman please visit http://www.friedmanfoundation.org. For Prof. Heriot's blog please visit
http://rightcoast.typepad.com/rightcoast/.

-GIR-

Mr. Mayor?
GRIH Board of Scholars member Dr. Panos Prevedouros, also a Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has taken a leave of absence to run for the office of Honolulu Mayor. At the recent opening of his campaign headquarters the candidate outlined his main platform concerns as “the Three Ts: Traffic, Trash and Taxes.”

"I am committed to this community. I love Oahu. I love the people. I simply cannot stand by and see our city put on a track that will lead to disaster,” said Prevedouros. “Our city needs an engineer to fix our infrastructure problems in the right way, for the right amount of money and make progress and plan for the future. I am that guy.”

While the Grassroot Institute does not endorse political candidates, we are proud that one of our Scholars is actively promoting free-market, limited-government policies in Hawaii, and we certainly wish him pomaika'i (good luck)!

To educate yourself about the 'Panos for Progress' campaign, visit: http://www.panosforprogress.com.

-GIR-

GRASSROOT TV
Videos, Comments and More at New YouTube Website

We've loaded up the library at the online TV station including a new video on Nobel Prize winning American Economist Milton Friedman. Excepts from GRIH meetings are coming soon! Please visit 'Grassroot TV' at www.youtube.com/user/GrassrootHawaii.

-GIR-

GRASSROOT EVENTS
Information on the Institute’s upcoming events, research publication dates and speaking engagements are always available and updated via our website.

-GIR-

GRASSROOT INSTITUTE PODCASTS
'Grassroot Insight', hosted by Tom McAuliffe, offers audio interviews with community leaders and special guests

The latest 'Grassroot Insight' podcasts feature Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips and Americans for Prosperity State Director Peggy Venable speaking about the recent 'Defending The American Dream' summit in Austin, Texas and their annual event in Washington, D.C. coming up in October.

Click here to listen to the interview with AFP President Tim Phillips.
Click here to listen to the interview with AFP State Director Peggy Venable.

Please check out our other recent podcasts at http://www.grassrootinstitute.org/podcasts/

-GIR-

GRIH FALL/SPRING INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
We are currently seeking candidates for the internship program. The program provides undergraduate and graduate level students the ability to gain work experience at Hawaii's only free-market think tank. If you know of anyone who might be interested please have them send a cover letter, resume, and a writing sample to: Wendy Fujimoto, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, wendy@grassrootinstitute.org, or call (808) 591-9193.

-GIR-

TRY THE GRASSROOT BLOGS
Join the conversation and express your views!

Dash of Calabash
http://dashofcalabash.grassrootinstitute.org/

The Mystery of Hawaiian History
http://historymystery.grassrootinstitute.org/

Read what others have written and add your own thoughts. See you there!

-GIR-

NEED A GOOD SPEAKER?
From taxation to education and health care to transportation, the Institute’s staff is excited to address your group regarding the important policy issues facing all citizens of Hawaii. Call (808) 591-9193 to check availability and make arrangements, or e-mail us at tom@grassrootinstitute.org.

-GIR-

SUPPORT GOOD PUBLIC POLICY IN HAWAII!
Please help us continue to provide independent research on issues important to Hawaii! The Grassroot Institute operates only through the generous donations of friends and benefactors from around Hawaii and the United States, and even the smallest of donations can be used to accomplish great things for the future of our beloved state.

Will you please consider becoming a supporter today? Donations are tax deductible and it's quick, easy and secure. Click here!

-GIR-

Grassroot Institute is a proud member of the State Policy Network, Townhall.com, Americans for Tax Reform, The Sam Adams Alliance and more.