Contributors

|

Stuart Anderson doesn't usually find his subversive reading material at his kids' elementary school, but that's where he discovered Lois Lowry's The Giver. That book–a dark futuristic novel about population control–introduced him to a growing body of libertarian-themed children's literature, a topic he explores in "The Books That Rock the Cradle" (page 52). The executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, Anderson has written for many publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. A father of two, Anderson says the kid-lit genre allows for the kind of stark storytelling that rarely makes the jump to the adult section.

Daniel McGraw never considered his Fort Worth neighborhood "blighted," so he was more than a little surprised when the local government started offering businesses complex tax advantages to spur "revitalization." When he started asking questions, the former U.S. News and World Report editor found that Fort Worth–and upscale communities across the country–are increasingly luring businesses with expensive tax incentives. In "Giving Away the Store to Get a Store" (page 34), he shows how ordinary taxpayers end up footing the bill.

Hard at work on a book about the growth of presidential power, Gene Healy couldn't resist a TiVo-enabled peek at Geena Davis' executive ambitions on ABC's Commander in Chief, which he reviews on page 68. What he found did not diverge much from the state worship he's come to expect from pop culture portraits of the presidency. "Presidents are portrayed either as Harrison Ford types who are not only great presidents but can kick your ass, or as a complete joke," explains Healy. "I prefer the latter." Healy is a former lawyer who "toiled under various Harriet Miers types" before coming to the Cato Institute, where he is now a senior editor. He's made more than a few appearances on the small screen himself, including spots on Jim Lehrer's NewsHour, ABC News, and Hardball.