Heritage member James M. Knott, Sr. started a small business—and had to face down regulators.

No one knows better than James Knott, Sr. the dangers and frustrations overzealous regulatory agencies impose on small business owners. In fact, among the issues that concern him most is our “lack of control over bureaucrats.”

And no wonder: Knott, a Heritage Foundation member since 1999, has faced challenges from both OSHA and the EPA at Riverdale Mills Corporation, where he serves as president. However, having “experienced attempted brutality by bureaucrats” has only strengthened his conservative beliefs.

Knott represents many Americans who have worked hard as entrepreneurs. Ever since his honorable discharge in 1956 from the United States Army as a first lieutenant, he has been self-employed. Riverdale Mills provides products used for lobster traps, erosion control, poultry farm flooring and security fencing.

But in 1997, bureaucrats in Washington butted in. Continue Reading »

Where did Ronald Reagan’s character come from? The short answer, according to author Peter Hannaford, is rural Illinois.

Hannaford spoke last week at The Heritage Foundation in the final event of Heritage’s series celebrating the centennial of the fortieth President’s birth.

Drawing on his new book, Reagan’s Roots: The People and Places that Shaped His Character, Hannaford pointed out that Reagan’s great-grandparents settled in rural Illinois. With the exception of a few months in Chicago, Reagan grew up in these small Midwestern towns–the places where his character was shaped.

Watch a video of Hannaford’s speech at The Heritage Foundation »

His parents, Jack and Nelle Reagan, inculcated in their son the values of hard work and thrift, Hannaford said. And with his father’s good humor and his mother’s religious beliefs, Reagan grew up in a home “totally free of envy and prejudice,” added Hannaford, a former Reagan adviser.  Continue Reading »

Kim Holmes

Is America an exceptional nation?

Absolutely, Heritage Foundation vice president Kim Holmes said this week in a lecture to the Federalist Society’s Rhode Island chapters.

What sets America apart from the rest of the world–what makes her exceptional–is her dedication to three things, according to Holmes: classic liberal tradition, political democracy, and economic freedom.

America, he said, is a “city on a hill” and has “a special role to play in safeguarding freedom in the world.” Continue Reading »