The year in domestic policy

What do airport security, the pension crisis, universal preschool, and Kelo have in common? Check out "Ten headlines from 2005 to remember… and why" from the policy team at Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason magazine and Reason Online.

Comments

[panurge]

A victory to list under "privitization": Junichiro Koizumi's successful "snap" election in Japan, which allowed him to gain enough votes in parliment to push through his plan to privatize the government-owned beheamoth Japan Post. Not merely a place to drop off your mail, Japan Post had grown into a massive industry encompassing things from the post office to communications to insurance.

I know we'd rather hear about a similar victory at home, but I think this was one of the better things to happen in 2005. Isn't it strange that a political party that seems to be so strongly in touch with the values of privitization would be called the Liberal Democratic Party?

[thoreau]

Japan Post privatization is indeed a great event.

Isn't it strange that a political party that seems to be so strongly in touch with the values of privitization would be called the Liberal Democratic Party?

Not so strange. The word Liberal has an older meaning that fits well with privatization.

Of course, we have our own ironic party name here at home: The party that calls itself Republican now believes that the President has inherent powers to spy on citizens and detain them without trial. Seems more Imperial than Republican.