IN THIS ISSUE:

Conquest Headlines Seminar Series .... 1

Book Seeks End of Death Taxes ........... 1

Independent Institute in the News ....... 4

Lawyers, Tobacco, Guns and Money ... 5

Debunking “New” Urban Planning ..... 5

New Funding Opportunities ................. 7

Scholarship Applications Double ......... 8

TheNEWSLETTER OFTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE

VOLUME X, NUMBER 2

INDEPENDENT

(continued on page 3)

(continued on page 3)

New Book SeeksEnd of Death Taxes

Conquest HeadlinesSeminar Series

Renowned historian and author Robert Conquest

addresses the Independent Policy Forum.

T he 20th century witnessed state-sponsoredcarnage on an unprecedented scale. What

made this era so vulnerable to Hitler, Stalin,Mao, Pol Pot and other bloody tyrants? Howcan future atrocities be prevented?

On January 19, historian Robert Conquest,(senior research fellow, Hoover Institution; au-thor of Reflections on a Ravaged Century, Har-vest of Sorrow, and The Great Terror) noted thatthis road to genocide was paved by rogue ide-ologies that elevated the State over individualrights and the institutions of civil society.

Spread by society’s intellectual elites, these“isms” shared a belief in creating a Utopia onearth – immediately and at any cost. Lying, re-writing history, even rationalizing mass murder

Over the twentieth century, non-profit foun-dations have grown tremendously, and

have changed their orientation substantially.Early in the century, large foundations, createdby the wealth of entrepreneurs such as JohnRockefeller, Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie,directed their resources toward projects that

could show tangible benefits, such as curingdiseases, building libraries, and endowing edu-cational institutions.

Although foundations still devote consid-erable resources to these causes, increasinglythey are funding programs to change govern-ment policy. The history of foundations raisesnumerous policy questions that The Indepen-dent Institute’s new book, WRITING OFFIDEAS: Taxation, Foundations, and Philan-thropy in America, examines in detail:

• Foundations are treated highly preferen-

Randall G. Holcombe

T H E I N D E P E N D E N T I N S T I T U T E

WRITINGOFF IDEASTaxation,Foundations, andPhilanthropy in America

BOARD OF ADVISORSSTEPHEN E. AMBROSE

Professor of History, University of New OrleansMARTIN C. ANDERSON

Senior Fellow, Hoover InstitutionHERMAN BELZ

Professor of History, University of MarylandTHOMAS BORCHERDING

Professor of Economics, Claremont Graduate SchoolBOUDEWIJN BOUCKAERT

Professor of Law, University of GhentJAMES M. BUCHANAN

Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, George Mason UniversityALLAN C. CARLSON

President, Howard CenterROBERT W. CRANDALL

Senior Fellow, Brookings InstitutionRICHARD A. EPSTEIN

Professor of Law, University of ChicagoA. ERNEST FITZGERALD

Author, The High Priests of Waste and The PentagonistsB. DELWORTH GARDNER

Professor of Economics, Brigham Young UniversityGEORGE GILDER

Senior Fellow, Discovery InstituteNATHAN GLAZER

Professor of Education and Sociology, Harvard UniversityWILLIAM M. H. HAMMETT

Former President, Manhattan InstituteRONALD HAMOWY

Professor of History, University of Alberta, CanadaSTEVE H. HANKE

Professor of Economics, Johns Hopkins UniversityRONALD MAX HARTWELL

Emeritus Professor of History, Oxford UniversityH. ROBERT HELLER

President, International Payments InstituteLAWRENCE A. KUDLOW

Chief Economist, Schroder & Company, Inc.JOHN R. MacARTHUR

Publisher, Harper’s MagazineDEIRDRE N. McCLOSKEY

University Professor of the Human Sciences, University of Illinois at ChicagoJ. HUSTON McCULLOCH

Professor of Economics, Ohio State UniversityFORREST McDONALD

Professor of History, University of AlabamaTHOMAS GALE MOORE

Senior Fellow, Hoover InstitutionCHARLES MURRAY

Bradley Fellow, American Enterprise InstituteWILLIAM A. NISKANEN

Chairman, Cato InstituteMICHAEL NOVAK

Senior Fellow, American Enterprise InstituteJUNE E. O’NEILL

Director, Center for the Study of Business and Government, Baruch CollegeCHARLES E. PHELPS

Professor of Political Science and Economics, University of RochesterPAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

President, Institute of Political EconomyNATHAN ROSENBERG

Professor of Economics, Stanford UniversitySIMON ROTTENBERG

Professor of Economics, University of MassachusettsPASCAL SALIN

Professor of Economics, University of Paris, FranceARTHUR SELDON

Founder-Director, Institute of Economic Affairs, LondonWILLIAM F. SHUGHART II

Professor of Economics, University of MississippiJOEL H. SPRING

Professor of Education, State University of New York, Old WestburyRICHARD L. STROUP

Professor of Economics, Montana State UniversityTHOMAS S. SZASZ

Professor of Psychiatry, State University of New York, SyracuseROBERT D. TOLLISON

Professor of Economics, University of MississippiARNOLD S. TREBACH

Professor of Criminal Justice, American UniversityWILLIAM TUCKER

Author, The Excluded AmericansGORDON TULLOCK

Professor of Law and Economics, George Mason UniversityRICHARD E. WAGNER

Center for the Study of Public Choice, George Mason UniversitySIR ALAN WALTERS

Vice Chairman, AIG Trading CorporationCAROLYN L. WEAVER

Resident Scholar, American Enterprise InstitutePAUL WEAVER

Author, The News and the Culture of LyingWALTER E. WILLIAMS

Professor of Economics, George Mason University

2 The INDEPENDENT

EXECUTIVE STAFFDAVID J. THEROUX, Founder and President

MARY L. G. THEROUX, Vice PresidentALEXANDER TABARROK, Ph.D., Vice President and Research Director

BRUCE L. BENSON, Ph.D., Senior FellowROBERT HIGGS, Ph.D., Senior Fellow

RICHARD K. VEDDER, Ph.D., Senior FellowK. A. BARNES, Controller

LOWELL L. BRITSON, Sales and Marketing DirectorCARL P. CLOSE, Academic Affairs Director

J. ROBERT LATHAM, Public Affairs DirectorMICHELLE FERNANDEZ MOORE, Development Director

THE INDEPENDENT (ISSN 1047-7969): newsletter of The IndependentInstitute, a non-profit, scholarly, public-policy research and educationalorganization. Copyright © 2000, The Independent Institute, 100 SwanWay, Oakland CA 94621-1428 • 510-632-1366 • Fax 510-568-6040Email info@independent.org • Website: http://www.independent.org.

President’s Letter:

BOARD OF DIRECTORSJOHAN F. BLOKKER, President, Luxcom, Inc.

ROBERT L. ERWIN, Chairman, Large Scale Biology CorporationJAMES D. FAIR, III, Chairman, Algonquin Petroleum Corp.

JOHN S. FAY, President, Piney Woods CorporationELLEN HILL, former Chair, Hill Rockford Company

PETER A. HOWLEY, Chief Executive Officer, IPWireless, Inc.BRUCE JACOBS, President, Grede Foundries, Inc.

WILLARD A. SPEAKMAN, III, President, Speakman CompanyDAVID J. THEROUX, President, The Independent Institute

MARY L. G. THEROUX, former Chairman, Garvey International

Ideas Do IndeedHave Consequences

Cornered by recent news revelations,Oracle Corporation finally admitted its spon-sorship of an astounding, covert campaign thatattempted to smear the program of The Inde-pendent Institute. Instead of being willing todebate the issues openly and honestly, the $400billion-dollar company felt it needed to useback-alley tactics, subterfuge, and disinforma-tion in order to distract public attention fromthe powerful and influential results of the Insti-tute’s 12-year research and publications programon competition and antitrust in high-technologymarkets, including our book, Winners, Losers& Microsoft. In other words, this incrediblecampaign stemmed from Oracle’s great fear thatthe ideas stemming from our program were aserious threat to its ambitions in Washington touse government power for its own purposes.

In its lead editorial, The Wall Street Jour-nal condemned Oracle’s behavior as “slimy,”rightly characterized the claim that the Insti-tute was a “front group” for Microsoft as“laughable,” and praised the Institute, stat-ing, “They win support precisely becausethey aren’t for sale. . . [they] operate in adifferent ethical universe than Oracle.”

This episode reconfirms that public-policy debate is fundamentally determined bythe battle of ideas and those who either ig-nore this fact or try to silence honest inquiryand debate will pay the consequences.

The Institute’s entire program of non-poli-ticized scholarship and education embodiesan unwavering commitment to seeking truthin all aspects of government policy. Particu-larly timely have been recent IndependentPolicy Forums with Robert Conquest (page1) and other distinguished scholars and policyexperts, our new books, Writing Off Ideas(page 1) and Fire & Smoke (page 5), ourquarterly journal, The Independent Review(page 5), and much more.

Ideas do indeed have consequences.

The INDEPENDENT 3

New Book Seeks End of Death Taxes: Writing Off Ideas(continued from page 1)

“Foundations play a large but unexa-mined role in our culture. Do they operatein the public interest? Are they account-able? Do they further the goals of theirfounders? I know of no better way topursue these fascinating questions than toread Writing Off Ideas.”

—TYLER COWEN, General Director,Mercatus Center, George Mason Univ.

“Writing Off Ideas is a scholarly, thought-provoking, and eloquently-written book.”

—THOMAS J. DiLORENZOProfessor of EconomicsLoyola College in Maryland

“This thoroughly-written book provides avaluable historical perspective on how taxlaws have shaped foundations in America.”

—STEVEN N. HILTONPresident, Conrad Hilton Foundation

“Writing Off Ideas is especially timely,arriving at the outset of what will soon beknown as ‘The Philanthropic Decade.’”

—NEAL B. FREEMAN, Chairman,Foundation Management Institute

(clockwise from top left) Peter Huber, Michael deAlessi, Thomas Graff, and Sally Fairfax addressIndependent Policy Forum on the environment.

(continued on page 6)

Independent Policy Forums: Tyranny • Environment • Sports Coliseums • Civil War(continued from page 1)

(continued on page 7)

became the norm for zealots and fellow-travel-ers who subordinated truth, justice, even theirself-identity, for their party, sect or cause.

While in the West, these ideologies now lieeither discredited, or in some cases, merely dor-mant, the mindset which propagates them is verymuch alive, Conquest said. How then can westave off future assaults on civilization?

According to Conquest, military might isnot the remedy for thwarting home-grown to-talitarianism; instead, an intellectual defense isneeded. A liberal education is essential, and his-tory should comprise the core of a solid cur-riculum. For a republic founded on the principleof self-government, the “eternal vigilance” ad-vised by Jefferson requires educating the youngabout mankind’s triumphs and defeats—and ofthe historic opportunities that freedom brings.

Conquest’s talk was repeatedly broadcaston “History on Book TV” on C-SPAN2.

• SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT: Gov-ernment, Friend or Foe? (February 2): Envi-ronmental protection has been a top public con-cern for 30 years. Unfortunately, the history of

government environmental regulation and re-source management shows that good intentionsdo not guarantee good results. Could privateconservation and market-based incentives suc-ceed where bureaucratic policies have failed?

tially by the tax system. Is this justified?

• Who monitors foundations and to whomare they accountable?

• Should foundations live forever?

• Is greater government oversight of foun-dations warranted or would such proposalsbe injurious to the public welfare?

In analyzing America’s non-profit founda-tions, WRITING OFF IDEAS arrives at manyprovocative conclusions:

• Virtually all large foundations were estab-lished with the fortunes of people who hadaccumulated substantial wealth in the marketeconomy. When the donors died, the foun-dations did not always adhere to the donors’intentions when spending foundation funds.

• Often, the mandates of foundations are sobroad as to allow those in charge to designtheir own agenda, independent of the inten-tions of the donors.

• Academic research goes through a peerreview process before it is published, mak-ing scholars accountable to a broader schol-arly community for their ideas. Those writ-ing for a popular audience are accountable tothe marketplace to sell their products. Chari-

Comments on Writing Off Ideas:

4 The INDEPENDENT

The Independent Institute in the News• Hot Talk, Cold Science author S. Fred

Singer discussed global warming on thePBS Frontline/NOVA program. “What’s Upwith the Weather?” (4/18), and in the leadparagraph of his Earth Day column for TheWashington Times, quoted academic affairsdirector Carl Close (4/22). WorldNetDailycolumnist Geoff Metcalf posted his inter-view with Singer (5/7) after interviewinghim earlier on KSFO AM (4/17). Singeralso organized a congressional seminar,“What’s Wrong with U.N. Climate Sci-ence?” (5/30), and was quoted in an article,“Global Warming May Be Beneficial,” inUSA Today’s monthly magazine (June).

• Columns by Money and the Nation Stateauthor and advisory board member SteveHanke discussed the dollarization ofEcuador’s currency in Forbes and the WallStreet Journal (3/31, 5/8).

• Research director Alex Tabarrok’s op-edon K-12 scholarships appeared in the Oak-land Tribune and Alameda (CA) Times-Star(4/12). Public affairs director Rob Lathamwas quoted on the Independent ScholarshipFund (ISF) in The Contra Costa Times, Val-ley Times, West County Times (4/3) and SanFrancisco Chronicle (4/9). Urban affairswriter Lee Hubbard’s column mentioningthe ISF ran in such newspapers as the Ma-con (GA) Courier (6/7), Atlanta DailyWorld, Charlotte (NC) Post, Pensacola (FL)Voice, and Westside (FL) Gazette (6/8).

• Research fellow Charlotte Twight testifiedbefore Congress on H.R. 220, the “Freedomand Privacy Restoration Act,” on (5/18) andan excerpt from her Independent Reviewarticle, “Watching You,” appeared in theSpring edition of The Free Speaker, a pub-lication for high school student debaters.Jeffrey Hummel’s article on Martin VanBuren in The Independent Review was thebasis for a column by the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vin Suprynowicz (3/26).

• The Independent Institute book, Winners,Losers & Microsoft, was favorably re-viewed in the Courier-Journal (KY) (4/23),and received kudos from Newsweek colum-nist Robert J. Samuelson (4/17), Reason(April), Financial Times columnist AmityShlaes (5/4), Control magazine (May), RedHerring (June), and Ideas on Liberty (June).Co-author Stan Liebowitz, who appearedon PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (4/3),

was quoted in The Arizona Republic (4/2),Computerworld (4/3), Dallas Morning News(4/4, 6/2, 6/8, 6/9), Fort Worth Star-Telegram(4/5), Wall Street Journal (5/1), Seattle Post-Intelligencer (5/4, 5/17), Sacramento Bee (6/8), Mitchell County (IA) Press-News (5/31),and Sunday Capital (MD) (6/11). Co-authorStephen Margolis was quoted in the Sac-ramento Bee, News and Observer (NC) (4/4), and The Technician (NC) (4/11), and in-terviewed on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” (6/9).Tom Burke, who writes a column on infor-mation systems for Furniture Design &Manufacturing magazine (March), gave“Book of the Month” honors to the book.

• The Institute’s Open Letter on Health CareReform was reprinted in the AAPS News(March) and mentioned in the Malden (MA)Evening News (3/14). Alex Tabarrok’s op-ed opposing drug price controls appeared inthe Patriot-News (PA) (5/31) and ForsythCounty (GA) News (4/26). Tabarrok’s op-edchastising the IMF ran in the Pittsburgh Tri-bune-Review (4/22), and another op-ed onantitrust was published in the Eastside Busi-ness Journal (WA) (5/1), Business First (OH)(5/5), and San Antonio Business Journal (5/12). The East Bay Business Times quotedTabarrok in separate articles on the FederalReserve’s interest rate hike and Gov. GeorgeW. Bush’s proposal to privatize Social Se-curity (5/29). Tabarrok was also quoted byComputer Reseller News (5/15) regardingantitrust, John Elvin of Insight on bountyhunters (6/19), and Lawrence Morahan ofCNSNews.com on drug prices (5/16).

• That Every Man Be Armed author StephenHalbrook argued before the U.S. SupremeCourt that the 30-year prison sentence en-hancements given to four Branch Davidianswho survived the Waco siege should bestruck down. On June 5th, a unanimousCourt struck down the enhanced sentences.

• Articles on antitrust appeared in Ideas onLiberty (June) and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (6/10) by Antitrust and Monopolyauthor D.T. Armentano, who also was in-terviewed on KPDQ FM (6/5).

• Research fellow and author of Fire & SmokeMichael Krauss’s op-ed on governmentlawsuits ran in The Washington Times (6/23).Columnist Bruce Bartlett favorably cited theInstitute’s book, Writing Off Ideas (6/26).•

The INDEPENDENT 5

Lawyers, Tobacco, Guns, and Money

The Independent Review:

T he State of Mississippi’s lawsuit against to-bacco companies in 1994 was quickly emu-

lated by more than a dozen other states and thefederal government. In the past year, many gov-ernment entities have applied the legal prece-dent of the tobacco suits by bringing civil ac-tions against gun manufacturers and distributors.Although courts have dismissed municipal suitsagainst gun makers in Miami, Bridgeport, andCincinnati, several gun manufacturers have de-clared bankruptcy. And other governments, suchas the State of New York, are piling on.

In the new Independent Institute mono-graph, FIRE & SMOKE: Government, Law-suits, and the Rule of Law, government “re-coupment” lawsuits are carefully examined andfound to be flagrant abuses of the constitutionalseparation of powers, seriously undermininghundreds of years of common-law adjudication.

Author Michael Krauss (professor of law,George Mason U.) systematically dissects thetobacco and firearm recoupment lawsuits. Heshows how such lawsuits betray every criterionof sound, effective, and just tort law. These law-suits can show no damages, no proximate cau-sation, and no wrongdoing. Similarly, govern-ments have no direct damages to claim againstmanufacturers and cannot legally stand in theplace of individual smokers or their families.Readers will also marvel at Krauss’s analysisof the Multistate Agreement to settle the tobacco

litigation by forty-six state attorneys general.FIRE & SMOKE finds that recoupment

lawsuits are incompatible with civil freedomsand the institutions of a free society. (FIREAND SMOKE, 64 pp., $12.95 postpaid; onlinesee http://www.independent.org/tii/catalog_pr/policy_FireAndSmoke.html.)•

Since the 1920s, city planners have used zon-ing laws to shape the contours of civic life.

Their grip is now tightening under a new move-ment—called “smart growth” or “new urban-ism”—which favors laws to promote high-den-sity living and reverse the flight to the suburbs.

According to economist Randal O’Toole(“Is Urban Planning ‘Creeping Socialism’?”The Independent Review, Spring 2000), smartgrowth is a deeply flawed paradigm. To createa more livable city, it favors minimum-densityrequirements, strict design codes, and limits onautomobiles and parking. But these policies willonly make city life more hectic, O’Toole argues.

Smart-growthers in Portland, Maine, forexample, hope to increase its population by 75percent and add 120 miles of rail transit. Butpopulation growth of this size would overwhelmany reduction in the rate of car usage, causingthree times more traffic congestion and far slow-

Debunking the “New” Urban Planninger travel time. Air quality would worsen too,since stop-and-go traffic burns fuel less cleanly.

Nor does rail transit offer much hope, sinceit usually carries fewer people than one lane offreeway. “Although originally promoted as lessexpensive than highways, rail transit projectsbeing considered by more than sixty U.S. citiestypically cost around $50 million per mile—enough to build 2.5 miles of four-lane freeway.”Unit costs of other new services—sewage, wa-ter, roads, schools—also increase when all re-development costs, including the tearing up ofexisting low-density infrastructure, are included.

“Smart growth is a threat to freedom ofchoice, private property rights, mobility, andlocal governance,” O’Toole concludes. “[It] isclearly an example of creeping social regula-tion, if not creeping socialism.” (For the article,see http://www.independent.org/tii/content/pubs/review/TIR44OToole.html.)•

Independent Policy Report:

FIRE &SMOKE

T H E I N D E P E N D E N T I N S T I T U T E

GOVERNMENT, LAWSUITS AND THE RULE OF LAW

Michael I. Krauss

6 The INDEPENDENT

(left to right) Sports economists Roger Noll and Rodney Fort and Civil War historians Henry Mayer and

Jeffrey Rogers Hummel address Independent Policy Forums.

Independent Policy Forums: Tyranny • Environment • Sports Coliseums • Civil War(continued from page 3)

(continued on page 8)

This question was discussed by PeterHuber (senior fellow, Manhattan Institute),Michael de Alessi (director, Center for PrivateConservation), Thomas Graff (senior attorney,Environmental Defense Fund) and SallyFairfax (professor of natural resources, Univer-sity of California, Berkeley).

Using examples of private fisheries he de-scribed in the book, Earth Report: 2000, deAlessi argued that private ownership creates in-centives to channel people’s ingenuity into pro-tecting resources, while government ownershipdoes not. Oyster beds in Washington State, forexample, are privately owned – and thriving –while those in Maryland are publicly owned and

struggling. “There’s no doubt that many of the world’s

fisheries are in a state of decline,” said de Alessi.“All too often, it’s because government conser-vation programs have failed to understand andtake account of the importance of these institu-tions and the incentives that they create.”

Peter Huber (author, Hard Green) arguedthat technology – not politics or markets per se– is the answer to environmental problems. Ag-riculture, for example, is where the environmentsees the most human impact. Yet while the U.S.has grown tremendously in the last 100 years,Huber said, the amount of farmland under cul-tivation is the same, thanks to the new fertiliz-ers, pesticides, high-yield grains and land-inten-sive farming techniques (the very practices de-nounced by “soft green” environmentalists).

Similarly, the amount of U.S. forestlandtoday is the same as in 1920, due to private re-forestation. In fact, “we’re sequestering so muchcarbon in this growing forest, that it is more thanoff-setting, as best as anybody can measure, ournet carbon emissions,” said Huber.

Thomas Graff argued that both private in-centives and government have important rolesto play, even if the latter is limited to calling onthe courts as the last resort.

Sally Fairfax noted that conservation wasalmost exclusively the province of privategroups from the 1850s to 1900. When govern-ment got into forest management, it imported aGerman bureaucratic approach entirely inappro-priate for a large country rich in forests.

“As a person with a degree in forestry, Iwould never defend the National Park Serviceanywhere,” Fairfax said.

• PRO TEAM SPORTS: Are Politics andCorruption Winning? (March 7): Americanslove pro baseball, basketball, football andhockey, but has their passion allowed them tobe squeezed in a vice grip? Many sports fansrecognize that pro teams and stadiums are costly,

but they also believe that they are good invest-ments, providing the community with morejobs, sales revenues and tax receipts.

Unfortunately, this belief is usually un-founded, according to sports economists RogerNoll (Stanford U., co-editor of Sports, Jobs &Taxes) and Rodney Fort (Washington State U.,co-author of Hard Ball). “There has yet to be astadium built in the last 20 years for which thatis true,” said Noll. “The act of creating the sportsfacility doesn’t cause [people] to have more in-come to spend, it merely redistributes wealth.”Since stadiums are patronized mostly by localsports fans, money that fans spend on tickets,hotdogs, and parking is money that would havebeen spent on other local entertainment, suchas movie tickets and restaurant meals.

Pro leagues, Fort argued, also act againstthe interests of the local community by helpingteams exert political power. Two-thirds of theprice of a ticket, for example, goes to team own-ers and players, but few athletes or owners livein the home city. Yet mayors cave in to the de-mands of leagues and team owners for ever-in-creasing shares of rising ticket prices, out of fearthat teams will move elsewhere and they willlose re-election for “losing” the team.

The INDEPENDENT 7

New Book Seeks End of Death Taxes: Writing Off Ideas(continued from page 3)

For latest publications, events:www.independent.org

To Order Anytime:1-800-927-8733

Because of the generous support of our members, The Independent Institute has been ac-claimed as the world-renowned research and educational organization that leads the in-

tellectual battle to reduce the burdens of government. To continue producing top-qualityanalysis and educational programs that will redirect public debate, we are currently develop-ing new programs that will be instrumental in promoting the ideals of a free society:

• Center for Crime Reduction and Individual Responsibility: The new Center willexpand the Institute’s comprehensive public-policy research and educational programon effective “citizen-based” solutions to reduce and prevent crime. Producing at leastone book and three in-depth Independent Policy Reports annually, each study willassemble detailed analysis, and present concrete policy recommendations.

• Website Redesign: A complete redesign of the Institute’s website will provide visi-tors with quicker access to our research, publications, events and news.

• Student Program in Educational Excellence: This program comprises three excel-lent youth programs—the Independent Scholarship Fund, Summer Seminars in Po-litical Economy and Student Intern Program. These programs provide youth—fromkindergarten through college—with the essential resources and tools to become effec-tive and influential leaders in the 21st century.

Your financial support of these new and expanded programs will help us seize real oppor-tunities to effectively educate and influence youth and mainstream opinion audiences, whilemaking landmark changes in the public-policy debate.

For further information or to make a tax-deductible contribution toward one or more ofthese programs, please contact Ms. Michelle Moore, development director at The Indepen-dent Institute: Phone 510-632-1366 x111; Email MMoore@independent.org.•

New Funding Opportunities atThe Independent Institute

table organizations are accountable to theirdonors for a continuing flow of funds. Butfoundations have a steady flow of funds fromtheir endowments, so are unaccountable forthe ideas they promote.

• The Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford foun-dations continue to influence public policylong after the death of their founders. Will-iam Gates’ foundation could conceivably in-fluence public policy for hundreds of years.

• Foundation-financed ideas play a majorrole in debates over public-policy issues, andhave had a large influence on foreign policy,education, race relations, welfare, and evenpolitical issues such as voter registration andsupport of political parties and candidates.

• Over most of the twentieth century,foundation support for ideas has been biasedtowards the “liberal” end of the spectrum, al-though there has been less bias since the 1970s.

• Government oversight of foundations isundertaken almost entirely through tax law.In the late 1960s, Congress raised significant

questions about foundation operations andmodified tax law in response. At the begin-ning of the twenty-first century, current lawmay be adequate, but continued vigilance isneeded to prevent abuses from reappearing.

• Eliminating the estate tax would be oneof the best ways to put foundations on an equalstanding with other forms of giving.

• Government control of foundations, asoccurs in Great Britain, would homogenizefoundations, make them a mere extension ofthe public sector and reduce the support forinnovative ideas. Such oversight would becounterproductive and is unwarranted.

Authored by Randall G. Holcombe (Pro-fessor of Economics, Florida State University),WRITING OFF IDEAS is a timely and relevantbook on how tax policy serves to greatly distortthe valued legacy of generous individuals.(WRITING OFF IDEAS, 277 pages, availablefor $24.95 postpaid; for further informationonline, see http://www.independent.org/tii/con-tent/briefs/BriefWritingOffIdeas.html.)•

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8 The INDEPENDENT

Independent Policy Forums(continued from page 6)

T he Independent Institute has announced the award of 165scholarships from the Independent Scholarship Fund (ISF)

for the 2000-2001 school year. The scholarships for children fromlow-income homes will be applied toward tuition at San Fran-cisco East Bay private and parochial schools of their choice.

The number of applicants for ISF scholarships more thandoubled from the previous year—from nearly 400 to 900 applica-tions. The number of ISF scholarship recipients also increasedfrom 107 in the 1999-2000 school year to 165 for the 2000-2001school year—an increase of more than fifty percent.

“Increased awareness of the program and a strong demandfor quality educational opportunities has fueled the enormous in-crease in applications,” said Katherine Shearer, Director of theIndependent Scholarship Fund.

Last year, ISF scholarship recipients attended 45 different private and parochial schoolsin the East Bay. The number of schools involved in the ISF this year is expected to increase.ISF contributors include the Lowell Berry Foundation, James M. Bonavia Family CharitableTrust, James M. Bryan Family Fund, Clorox Company Foundation, Jerry Cohen Foundation,George Hoag Family Foundation, Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation, Joseph R. McMickingFoundation, Sidney Stern Memorial Trust, and Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation.

For further information or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact:Ms. Katherine Shearer, Director, Independent Scholarship Fund

The Independent Institute • Phone 510-632-1366 x120 • Fax 510-568-6040Email to scholarship@independent.org • http://www.independent.org/tii/students/isf.html

INDEPENDENT SCHOLARSHIP FUND

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• THE CIVIL WAR: Liberty and Ameri-can Leviathan (November 17): HistoriansHenry E. Mayer and Jeffrey Rogers Hummelprovided trenchant insights about some of thecrucial issues and actors of the Civil War. HenryMayer (author, All on Fire) recounted a fasci-nating biography of abolitionist William LloydGarrison, a man whose thought and actions weregreatly influential in the period leading up tothe Civil War.

Jeffrey Hummel (author, EmancipatingSlaves, Enslaving Free Men) argued that theCivil War represents the “simultaneous culmi-nation and repudiation of the principles of theAmerican Revolution.” Although slavery wasabolished for the black population, Hummel saidthe vast Civil War-induced expansion of thepower and scope of the federal government es-tablished a new sort of slavery through conscrip-tion, taxation, regulation, and the trampling ofcivil liberties and constitutional rights.(For all Independent Policy Forums, transcriptsare available for purchase at $5.00, audio tapes$18.95, and video tapes $27.95 per copy post-paid; also view the text or listen in RealAudioby going to: http://www.independent.org, andclicking on “Events.”)•

Scholarship Applications Double