Articles

A house divided cannot stand, and at today’s prices, it can’t be afforded either. That is especially true in California, where the dream of homeownership has failed to materialize for individuals of all backgrounds. Home prices are undeniably prohibitive for many Golden State residents; California has the second-highest median home pric ...

The civil rights movement once emphasized our common humanity — what we all share rather than what divides us. Sadly, the modern progressive movement has lost this guiding star and now seems captivated by shallow differences that overshadow what we share. This trend does not promise genuine equality. It only heightens the growing sense that R ...

Title IX refers to a specific provision of the federal Education Amendments Act of 1972. The provision, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, states simply: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any … ...

Every year, government agents descend on people’s homes threatening them with huge fines if they do not divulge intimate details about their lives. The American Community Survey (ACS) is sent to about 3.5 million randomly selected Americans every year. It demands personal information such as how many beds, cars and phones the household has. I ...

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of our quarterly magazine, Sword&Scales. On days when Mark Shirley serves lunch at his food truck, Ole Time Smokehouse, he wakes up at 3:30 a.m. By the time most people in Farmville, North Carolina, are just getting out of bed, Mark’s barbeque has already been cooking … ...

In 2015 the University of California enacted a seemingly innocuous policy which said, “faculty achievement that promote equal opportunity and diversity should be given due recognition in the academic personnel process.” But this modest mandate for recognizing contributions to diversity has grown into a leviathan that imposes a loyalty o ...

We all know small business owners whose livelihoods were disrupted, if not destroyed, by the pandemic. Ami Hill, owner of Muse Gallery OBX, a brick-and-mortar art gallery featuring local artists and artisans, was not spared. However, she was also not deterred. Successful entrepreneurs have a way of forging a path where none is obvious. Ami … ...

The Revolutionary War is filled with stories of heroes who risked everything to secure a future where an individual’s right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness was safeguarded against the threat of tyrants.   Our history books tell of the bravery of patriots like Paul Revere and Sam Adams, but there is a … ...

The pandemic was hard on all small businesses in North Carolina, but perhaps most of all on “private bars”—an antiquated classification of bars in North Carolina from the prohibition era. An establishment is considered a private bar if it makes 75% or more of its profit from alcohol sales. When Rob and Crystal Waldron reached … ...