“Ideas that matter,
since 1965.”

Edition
Vol. 49, No. 1

In this edition

On Feb. 22, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appeared before a Joint Session of Congress and laid out his vision to build America’s interstate highway system. Sixty years later, the system that Eisenhower built stands in a state of disrepair. And the Highway Trust Fund that was intended to pay for new construction is instead […]

By Ripon Society

The Impact of Global Youth Populations on U.S. Foreign Policy

In the world’s least developed countries, where the number of people ages 15 to 29 years old is growing at the most rapid rate, the unmet needs of young people are producing negative impacts beyond the borders of their countries. As Washington grapples with issues ranging from trade barriers, homeland security and the threat posed […]

By Ripon Society

The Ripon Forum: The First 50 Years

The first edition of THE RIPON FORUM was published 50 years ago this past January. To mark the occasion, we thought it would be a good time to look back over the last half-century at some of the individuals and ideas that have been featured in our pages. It’s an impressive list.

By Ripon Society

THE BRIDGEBUILDER

Shortly after he was named Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in November 2012, Bill Shuster called his Democratic counterpart on the Committee with a simple request: “Let’s have dinner.” The purpose of the call – and the dinner – was to build a relationship between the two leaders, while setting a tone […]

By Ripon Society

Restoring Trust in the Highway Trust Fund

We can all relate to sitting in traffic. The frustration, the gridlock – it all seems reminiscent of Washington politics. In this new Congress, however, there is hope for movement and progress when it comes to updating our nation’s roads and highways.

By Ripon Society

It’s Worse than You Think

America’s transportation infrastructure is falling apart, and we as a nation are falling behind. Yet somehow, with every possible indicator pointing toward the need for increased investment in our crumbling roads, bridges and transit systems, policymakers at all levels of government have been sitting on the sidelines.

By Ripon Society

Saving the Highway Trust Fund: Is a mileage-based user fee the answer?

The Highway Trust Fund is falling apart. Congress has bailed it out with over $70 billion since 2008 because spending is consistently exceeding revenues. Looking forward, spending plans are 30 percent higher than expected revenues for the highway account and are 50 percent higher for the mass transit account.

By Ripon Society

The Mileage-Based User Fee: At what cost?

Rarely is a problem best solved by adding layers of complexity to an existing process, particularly a budgetary process. Such is the proposal to supplement or replace the fuel tax with a mileage-based user fee to pull the Federal Highway Trust Fund back from the teetering edge of insolvency.

By Ripon Society

A New Generation of Transportation Service Delivery

A new generation of highway and transit delivery is arriving, and private infrastructure developers are playing an expanding role. Private companies have designed and constructed highways and transit systems for decades. The new infrastructure developers do much more, including operating and maintaining facilities, and providing financing. Their profits depend on meeting contractual standards of quality […]

By Ripon Society

Reform Required

The country changes quickly. Congress moves slowly. This presents a classic policy problem where we find ourselves spending federal tax dollars ineffectively because of a policy that has become outdated and in need of reform. In the case of federal transportation spending, the country changed long ago and the reform is overdue.

By Ripon Society

Ripon Profile of Renee Ellmers

The Representative from North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District discusses the toughest and most rewarding parts of her job, and her priorities over the next two years. “As Republicans,” she states, “I’d like to see us be more proactive and results-oriented – similar to how nurses operate in their day-to-day.”

By Ripon Society

The Ripon Forum: The First 50 Years

“In publishing this magazine, The Ripon Society seeks to provide a forum for fresh ideas, well-researched proposals, and for a spirit of criticism, innovation, and independent thinking within the Republican Party.” — ON OUR MASTHEAD SINCE 1965

The first edition of THE RIPON FORUM was published 50 years ago this past January. To mark the occasion, we thought it would be a good time to look back over the last half-century at some of the individuals and ideas that have been featured in our pages.

Nixon campaigning in Detroit - circa 1968It’s an impressive list. In May 1968, Richard Nixon wrote an essay for the FORUM in which he talked about the importance of job creation and called for the establishment of an online job bank 30 years before Monster.com. “I propose that we use existing computer technology to match the unemployed with available jobs,” the then-Presidential candidate presciently wrote.

Thirty-two years later, one of Nixon’s successors in the Oval Office gave an interview to the FORUM in which he foresaw one of the main global security challenges facing the U.S. today. “Third World radicalism remains a serious problem,” President George H.W. Bush said in September 1990. “The Middle East promises to be a region of turmoil in the coming decade. The West needs to defend its interests and values against aggression; it needs to stand by its friends in the region who are resisting such forces.”

Presidents aren’t the only leaders who have been featured in our pages over the years. The FORUM has also featured leaders from other fields as well. In October 1985, for example, the FORUM published an interview with legendary energy executive T. Boone Pickens in which he not only shared his secrets for success in business, but explained why he believed that government should be run like a business, too. “Taxpayers are like stockholders,” the oilman told our journal. “Both are entitled to a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. For a dollar spent, taxpayers ought to receive a dollar back in value.”

In addition to business leaders, the FORUM has also featured leaders from the world of news and entertainment. In our December 2007 edition, journalist Dan Rather lamented the state of the news media and how round-the-clock coverage has distorted America’s political process. “The non-stop news cycle creates its own dynamic,” the controversial former CBS anchor wrote, “one that amplifies the effects of cheap news and news done on the cheap. The quick and easy ‘stories’ not only serve as a sorry substitute for more substantial news; they also, through the repetition and elaboration of the 24-hour news media machine, lend our political debates and campaigns an atmosphere of superficiality and lowest-common-denominator characterizations more befitting a schoolyard than the democratic deliberations of the world’s sole economic and military superpower.”

chuck-norris-600Besides Dan Rather discussing what is wrong with today’s modern media, the December 2007 edition of the FORUM also featured Chuck Norris writing about why he is a member of the GOP. “There are several reasons why I am Republican,” the Hollywood action star wrote. “First and foremost, I believe it is people — not government — that are granted power by God to make a difference in the world. As such, we should seek in society to maximize the role of people and minimize the role of government. As the Declaration of Independence declares, ‘governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed.’ Or as our Constitution begins, ‘We the people of the United States…’”

A partial list of the individuals and ideas that have been featured in THE RIPON FORUM since 1965 can be found on the website of The Ripon Society. Later this spring, the entire 50-year history of the FORUM will be digitized and made available online as well. There is a lot of history in those pages – history not only of the Republican Party, but also of America during some very turbulent times.

We look forward to making this content available to our readers, and encourage you to bookmark www.riponsociety.org and enjoy the archives of THE RIPON FORUM when they are posted online.

Lou Zickar is the Editor of THE RIPON FORUM

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