NCPA Commentaries by Pete du Pont

Governor Pete du Pont is a Board Member of the National Center for Policy Analysis. He writes a regular column for OpinionJournal.com, the online news service of The Wall Street Journal.

Pete du Pont has served as Governor of Delaware, U.S. Congressman (R-DE), and former candidate for President of the United States (1988). Gov. du Pont formerly hosted a nationally-syndicated radio commentary and appeared on several editions of the PBS Firing Line debates with William F. Buckley, Jr.

  • Mar 13, 2003

    Steel Tariffs' Unhappy Anniversary

    Section 201 of the Trade Act of the 1974 allows the president to impose tariffs and quotas when imports of a product threaten to injure the competing U.S. industry.
  • Feb 28, 2003

    States Can Avert Medicaid Cost Crisis

    Medicaid costs rose 13 percent last year and by an average of 9 percent a year since 1997. Further, states now spend approximately $30 billion more on Medicaid than they do on Medicare each year -- $280 billion versus $250 billion. That's almost $1,000 for every man, woman and child in the country - or $4,000 for a family of four.


  • Feb 20, 2003

    Simplifying Savings

    Congress has created a variety of accounts to encourage saving in general and for specific purposes - including retirement, education, health care and house down payments. President Bush has proposed consolidating and simplifying some of these accounts to make it easy for any employer to create a retirement savings plan and for all workers to establish savings accounts.
  • Feb 14, 2003

    12 Left Feet

    Oregon is one of America's more liberal states. It has voted Democratic in every presidential election since Ronald Reagan and has not elected a Republican governor in 20 years. But in a Jan. 28 referendum the people of Oregon voted 54% to 46% to cut state spending by $310 million rather than raise income taxes by 0.5% to balance the budget.
  • Feb 12, 2003

    Evidence Is Building For Social Security Reform

    Life is really getting difficult for opponents of Social Security personal retirement accounts. Evidence continues to build that personal accounts - if properly implemented - will have none of the dire effects that opponents claim.
  • Jan 28, 2003

    States Ask Uncle Sam to Spare a Dime

    According to a report published this fall by the National Governor's Association, faced with declining revenue states have had to slash spending, leading to lost jobs and fewer government services. They argue that most states have exhausted budget cuts and must now receive help.
  • Jan 23, 2003

    State of the Union: Redefining Domestic Policy by Addressing Market Challenges

    Today's challenges are tied together by a single word - markets. Whether it's the need to stimulate the private capital markets to get the economy moving again, or it's creating and expanding markets to save our troubled elderly entitlement programs and health care system, focusing on markets is the key to a brighter future.
  • Jan 10, 2003

    Following the Reagan Rule

    The Economic Club of Chicago may seem a strange place to unite Americans, but that is what President Bush did there on Tuesday with the jobs-and-growth program he proposed. Economic growth is a common priority that draws Americans together, for we all need the jobs it creates, the resources it provides employers to invest in new machines and technologies, and the larger investment returns that keep everything from our local charities to our kids' schools and the market economy prospering.
  • Dec 26, 2002

    2002 in Review

    George W. Bush gets credit for a very good year as president. His vision has been clear; his commitment to fight terrorism has not wavered; and his redefinition of America's foreign policy doctrines will change the way the world thinks about international aggression. The Cheney-Rumsfeld-Powell-Rice team has helped Mr. Bush in just two years in office join a small group of outstanding foreign-policy leaders--Churchill, Reagan and Thatcher--in leading the world to a better understanding of what it means to be free, and how freedom must be defended.
  • Dec 18, 2002

    The Shot Unheard Round the World

    No doubt the White House had big plans for the week of Dec. 9. President Bush would reveal the members of his new economic team, announce his smallpox vaccination plans and refocus Americans and global allies on Hans "See No Evil" Blix on ongoing weapons inspections. That was all before Trent Lott opened his mouth.