Archives: Ken Ivory / Articles

Archives: Ken Ivory / Articles

  • America’s National Debt: A Rendezvous with Reality? image

    America’s National Debt: A Rendezvous with Reality?

    Did you realize that the federal government now overspends more than $6 million each and every minute? Every single day, Washington digs the national debt hole nearly $9 billion…

  • Live by the King, Die by the King! image

    Live by the King, Die by the King!

    The saying, “Live by the sword, die by the sword” comes from Matthew 26:52, in the New Testament. When a mob descended upon Jesus to take him to be tried…

  • Preserving the Union by Acting More Like Us image

    Preserving the Union by Acting More Like Us

    While working in Japan years ago, I read a book by Atlantic Monthly writer James Fallows. In the late 1980s, most pundits advanced that the cure for American economic and…

  • A Republic Worth Keeping image

    A Republic Worth Keeping

    “America is over: Let’s just split into different countries,” was the headline of a recent Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece. The author continued: “No one in our country…

  • Low Trust Cultures Pay a High Tax image

    Low Trust Cultures Pay a High Tax

    “The most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.” This is how four-time British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, described the United States…

  • Federalism: How to Change the World without All the Noise image

    Federalism: How to Change the World without All the Noise

    It was an unforgettable image from protests following the horrifying death of George Floyd. A young man was struck by a car after jumping on its hood. The female…

  • This Is Federalism image

    This Is Federalism

    “This is a Football.” “This is a football.” Holding a pigskin in his hand, legendary coach Vince Lombardi started training camp with his world champion Green Bay Packers…

  • The World Turned Upside-down … Again image

    The World Turned Upside-down … Again

    On October 25, 1774, the First Continental Congress started a movement that would ultimately turn the world upside down. With a simple, respectful petition to King George III, the as…

  • Is Congress Valid? image

    Is Congress Valid?

    “Is Congress valid?” This was the question one of my bright, young American Federalism students at Utah Valley University asked last week, immediately steering the focus of the class…

  • Re-Painting Constitutional Lines on the Field… image

    Re-Painting Constitutional Lines on the Field…

    On July 17, the Heritage Foundation hosted a most timely conference entitled “Federalism: Giving Power Back to The States.” As chair of the ALEC Center to Restore the Balance…

  • Washington: Are They Drunk, or Just Stoned? image

    Washington: Are They Drunk, or Just Stoned?

    Could marijuana be the gateway drug to federalism? This was the title of an article that ran in the Denver Post in January of 2018. In the wake of…

  • Federalism Is a Tug of War and States Need to Pull image

    Federalism Is a Tug of War and States Need to Pull

    Did you have a nickname growing up? I did. And I hated it! I detested this nickname so much that I hesitate even sharing it with you. However, if you’ll…

  • Has Federalism Become Like Sandcastles on the Beach…? image

    Has Federalism Become Like Sandcastles on the Beach…?

    Spring has sprung. It will soon give way to summer. I went to law school in San Diego. Summer meant one thing – hanging out at the beach!  Blue skies,…

  • Federalism – It’s Like Riding a Bike image

    Federalism – It’s Like Riding a Bike

    In the Fall of 2016, at the height of the Trump-Clinton presidential campaign, my wife Becky and I took an anniversary trip to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Pagosa Springs is home…

  • All Systems Are NOT Go …  Restoring the Governing Balance of Federalism image

    All Systems Are NOT Go … Restoring the Governing Balance of Federalism

    Shortly after boarding my return flight from the ALEC Annual Meeting in New Orleans last year, the pilot announced over the intercom that they were having some mechanical difficulties. He…

  • Federalism: “When We Destroy It, We Place Liberty at Peril” image

    Federalism: “When We Destroy It, We Place Liberty at Peril”

    To the Framers of the Constitution, the structure of our governing system was a matter of life or death, liberty or constraint, property or subjugation. They knew that “as government…