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2024 | Winter Issue

Elixir

How often does the government promise snake-oil solutions to real problems—only to disappoint people by making problems worse instead of better?

In The Wizard of Oz, the Wizard is a conman who claims to be all-knowing and -powerful, with the ability to solve everyone’s problems. Even as he was writing 125 years ago, Frank Baum understood the allure of the charlatan, pulling levers we can’t see and making promises he’ll never keep.

— Steven D. Anderson, president and CEO of Pacific Legal Foundation

what’s inside

No Place Like Home: Selling ‘Inclusionary Housing’ in a California Town

David J. Deerson

“Is there a reason none of your email addresses got the letter I sent yesterday?” Jessica Pilling calmly asked the members of the Healdsburg Planning Commission as she stood in front of them at the podium.   It was a Tuesday evening in February 2024. All the Pillings had come to the planning meeting: Jessica, her […]

Don’t Say the Word ‘Tornado’

Nicole W.C. Yeatman

The circus was packing up when the dark clouds appeared.   The Gollmar Brothers—cousins to the Ringlings—had just performed in New Richmond, Wisconsin, a tiny town where, in 1899, “the appearance of billowing white tops on a meadow near the edge of town signaled as well-established a holiday as Christmas or the Fourth of July,” one […]

Meet Colorado’s Wicked Witch of the West

Brittany Hunter

Taralyn Romero's property dispute with her Colorado town earned her the title “The Wicked Witch of The West.” 

The Government’s Magic Trick for Gifted Programs and Schools 

Glenn E. Roper

New York City has been cutting programs for gifted and talented students and changing admissions at specialized high schools.

Higher Wages for Everyone! 

Michael Poon

Freelance is one of those delightful words that wears its history on its sleeve: It was first used to describe medieval knights who weren’t bound exclusively to one feudal lord but were available for hire. In Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 novel Ivanhoe, a lord says, “I offered Richard the service of my Free Lances… thanks […]
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Presumed Guilty

Stories of liberty and justice

Sword&Scales is a quarterly magazine with in-depth stories about liberty, equality, and justice. Published by Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm with a winning record at the Supreme Court, Sword&Scales features narratives from history, courtroom showdowns, and the real experiences of people fighting for their rights.

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