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1 week ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
I wrote my first book — about what’s now called corporate ESG (for environmental, social and governance criteria) — in 1996. After six subsequent works of serious nonfiction, I redirected my authorial energies in 2020 toward writing historical-fantasy novels set in early America. Patriot soldiers battle flying demons. Daniel Boone hunts fire-spitting salamanders. Shadowy mages ensorcell Washington politicians into committing […]
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2 weeks ago | 
lincolntimesnews.com | John Hood
RALEIGH — Our state’s official seal presents North Carolina as a series of dualities. In the background of the circular emblem are green-topped mountains to the west and crystal-blue water to the east. In the foreground, two female figures in classical garb symbolize Liberty (clutching a constitution in one hand and the traditional “liberty cap” in the other) and Plenty (holding stalks of grain in one hand and an overflowing cornucopia in the other). Printed below and above the scene are two dates.
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2 weeks ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
Our state’s official seal presents North Carolina as a series of dualities. In the background of the circular emblem are green-topped mountains to the west and crystal-blue water to the east. In the foreground, two female figures in classical garb symbolize Liberty (clutching a constitution in one hand and the traditional “liberty cap” in the other) and Plenty (holding stalks […]
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3 weeks ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
You’ve heard it as often as I have: “we don’t make things here anymore.” It reflects the widespread belief that domestic manufacturing and other goods-producing industries have cratered since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the mid-1990s and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001. It’s a myth. The output of American manufacturing is […]
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3 weeks ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
Recessions hurt. North Carolina’s headline unemployment rate hit 11.2% during the peak of the Great Recession in 2010. During the COVID-era Great Suppression of 2020, it briefly hit a mindboggling 14.2%. During such times, we pretty much all know someone who’s out of a job, even if we’re not. And for every 10 people deemed “unemployed” by the official definition […]
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1 month ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
It was 250 years ago this week that the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to organize America’s rebellion against the British crown. War had broken out a few weeks earlier at Lexington and Concord. But there was as yet no national government, no formal American army or relations with foreign countries and no clear explanation of what the rebellious colonists sought to accomplish.
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1 month ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
On April 2, President Donald Trump announced one of the largest tax hikes in modern times. Pointing to a long list of “reciprocal tariffs” — in reality, new taxes based entirely on differences between imports and exports, irrespective of cause — he proclaimed it “Liberation Day” for the American economy. A week later, having managed to “liberate” trillions of dollars in wealth from panicked investors, Trump made another announcement: most of the new taxes would be paused for 90 days.
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1 month ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
When conservatives advocate lower taxes and less regulation, their critics often retort that we’re just advancing the interest of business. That’s either a misunderstanding or a purposeful mischaracterization. I have nothing against the business sector — some of my best friends are business executives, to paraphrase the old rationalization — but what I and my colleagues are actually defending is free enterprise.
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1 month ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
North Carolina’s motto is a Latin phrase: Esse quam videri. Popularized by the ancient Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero, who likely first read the Greek version from Plato and Aeschylus, the phrase means “to be rather than to seem.”The General Assembly adopted it as our official state motto in 1893. Ever since then, North Carolinians have disputed whether we’ve ever really lived up to it, that we have truly been rather than just seemed. Guess what?
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1 month ago | 
restorationnewsmedia.com | Corey Friedman |John Hood
For more than a decade, the North Carolina General Assembly has pursued a prudent and successful strategy of making our state one of the best places in the country to live, work and invest. I call the strategy prudent because it reflects conservative governance at its best, with a focus on reducing the cost of living and creating jobs (through tax and regulatory reform) while also improving the return on public investment in services such as transportation and education.
