In Merrie Olde England, so the story goes, there were pipers?lute players?who lived by their music. They would go to fairs or similar venues and perform, secure in the knowledge that they would be paid by one of the many who had enjoyed the pleasure of the dance. This is thought to be the origin of ?to pay the piper,? an adage that reminds us that if no one had come forward to pay the piper, the music would have stopped. This elementary rule of the market seems to have escaped the members of Indiana?s General Assembly.
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Category Archives: Public Policy and Governance
Talking Past Each Other
When he was eight or nine, my middle son asked me one of those questions that make a mother’s head hurt. "I say the sky is blue, and you say the sky is blue. But how do we know we are seeing the same color? What if what I call blue is really what you call orange, and we just both call it blue because that is the color we say the sky is?"
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Who Pays the Piper?
In Merrie Olde England, so the story goes, there were pipers–lute players–who lived by their music. They would go to fairs or similar venues and perform, secure in the knowledge that they would be paid by one of the many who had enjoyed the pleasure of the dance. This is thought to be the origin of "to pay the piper," an adage that reminds us that if no one had come forward to pay the piper, the music would have stopped. This elementary rule of the market seems to have escaped the members of Indiana’s General Assembly.
Continue reading “Who Pays the Piper?”
Charitable Choice and the Faith Based Initiative
Before President Bush’s "faith-based initiative" there was Charitable Choice.
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Studying Charitable Choice
I recently attended a lecture by the eminent sociologist Robert Wuthnow. At the reception preceding the lecture, we were introduced by one of my colleagues, who mentioned that I am just finishing a three-year study of the first Charitable Choice legislation–the precursor to President Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative. Wuthnow responded with a question. "Based upon what you have learned so far, what would you tell President Bush?"
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