No quick fix will correct a failing American system of government. But Philip Howard, founder of the group Common Good, hopes people will Try Common Sense. That’s the title of his latest book on government reform. Mitch Kokai and John Locke Foundation President and CEO Kory Swanson chat with Howard about his book’s key themes.

North Carolina continues to serve as a model for state-level tax reform. That’s the assessment from Grover Norquist, president of Washington, D.C.-based Americans for Tax Reform. Norquist explains how North Carolina succeeded with tax reform while other states failed. He also stresses the importance of linking tax rate cuts to limits on government spending growth. Hosts Mitch Kokai and Kory Swanson respond to Norquist’s expert analysis.

Illinois state government worker Mark Janus earned national recognition when he took his fight against forced public-sector unionization to the U.S. Supreme Court. He won his case, Janus v. AFSCME, in 2018. Now he continues to work to help other government workers benefit from the ruling. Janus discusses his work with HeadLocke’s Mitch Kokai and Kory Swanson.

N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin shocked political observers when he announced his plans to resign from the state’s highest court at the end of February. Martin’s departure could lead to a further shift in the court’s partisan makeup. Since 2016, a 4-3 Republican majority has shifted toward a 5-2 Democratic majority. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper could boost his party’s advantage to 6-1. Host Kory Swanson, John Locke Foundation president and CEO, and senior political analyst Mitch Kokai discuss the implications of Martin’s decision.

N.C. legislators return to Raleigh on Jan. 30 to start the heavy lifting of the traditional “long” legislative session. There’s one major difference from the past three assemblies: Republicans no longer hold veto-proof supermajorities in either the state House or Senate. New HeadLocke host Kory Swanson, the John Locke Foundation’s president and CEO, previews the legislative session with JLF Senior Vice President Becki Gray.

In 2013, the N.C. General Assembly enacted election reform legislation that included a photo voter ID requirement, but the law did not survive the federal courts. In response, the Republican-led state legislature included a voter ID amendment to the N.C. Constitution on the November 2018 ballot. About 55 percent of voters voted to approve the amendment, and a month later, the General Assembly passed legislation that outlined rules and regulations associated with the requirement. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat and voter ID opponent, will likely veto the bill. Many suspect that a lawsuit challenging the legislation is imminent. The John Locke Foundation’s Senior Political Analyst, Mitch Kokai, joins Terry to discuss the history of voter ID legislation in North Carolina, the content of the recently passed bill, the likely outcome of the lawsuit, and its implications for the 2020 elections.

Recently, a Washington Post fact-checker concluded that President Trump deserves minimal credit for the nation’s robust economic growth because “Trump is still working off the base Obama built.” Unsurprisingly, former president Barack Obama claims that his economic policies, which included tax increases, business and financial regulations, and new government programs, primed America’s economic engine. John Locke Foundation Senior Economist and Resident Scholar Roy Cordato disagrees. Dr. Cordato argues that Obama’s tax, spending, and regulatory policies acted like a “wet blanket” covering the U.S. economy. Over the past two years, President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress lifted that blanket through tax cuts and deregulation.  These and other factors increased economic freedom and opened up new investment and entrepreneurial activities forestalled by Obama-era policies.

While issues like immigration, gun control, and foreign policy were on the minds of voters in the 2018 midterm elections, health care was one of their top concerns. According to a national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 75 percent of registered voters reported that health care was a “very important” issue in this year’s election. Polls by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Gallup, NBC News, and many others agree: Voters are concerned about the cost and quality of health care. Obamacare, Medicaid, and other federal health insurance programs limit the size and scope of free-market alternatives and state-based initiatives. Even so, association health plans, retail clinics, urgent care clinics, telemedicine, and direct primary care practices address the widespread desire for convenient, low-cost, and high-quality insurance options and delivery of care. To explain how these alternatives work, Terry invited the John Locke Foundation’s health care policy analyst Jordan Roberts to the show.

The 2018 midterm elections are (mostly) in the books. North Carolinians went to the polls in near-record numbers to elect members of the General Assembly, congressional delegation, and the courts.  Six constitutional amendments also appeared on the ballot. All told, 3.7 million people – around 52 of registered voters – cast ballots during the early voting period or on election day. Was there a “blue wave” in North Carolina? Did voters “nix all six” constitutional amendments? John Locke Foundation Senior Political Analyst Mitch Kokai joins Terry to examine election outcomes and consider their implications for the 2019 legislative session and beyond.

In 2012, Republican lawmakers in the N.C. General Assembly addressed stagnant performance on state and federal reading tests by passing legislation that would create the Read to Achieve program. The goal of the program was to provide funding for additional literacy instruction for students at risk of not reading at grade level by third grade, a key marker for student achievement in later grades. Researchers at N.C. State University recently published an evaluation of the Read to Achieve program. It concluded that the $150 million in state Read to Achieve funds allocated to districts over the last five years did not appear to improve statewide reading achievement for students directly or indirectly exposed to the program. Researchers speculated that faulty implementation was to blame. John Locke Foundation Senior Political Analyst Mitch Kokai joins Terry, who confronted Read to Achieve personally and professionally, to dive into the North Carolina’s failure to improve reading instruction in the early grades.