Editing Reason Foundation (section)

==Policy areas==

===Privatization===
Reason Foundation co-founder Robert Poole "is credited as the first person to use the term '[[privatization]]' to refer to the contracting-out of public services and is the author of the first-ever book on municipal privatization, ''Cutting Back City Hall'', published by Universe Books in 1980."<!-- syntax UGH ! --><ref name="poole"/> The book was very influential, notably, by providing the intellectual support for [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s privatization efforts in the United Kingdom.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Thatcher wrote in the foundation's ''Annual Privatization Report 2006'', "State control is fundamentally bad because it denies people the power to choose and the opportunity to bear responsibility for their own actions. Conversely, privatisation shrinks the power of the state and free enterprise enlarges the power of the people."<ref>Margaret Thatcher, "Rebuilding An Enterprise Society Through Privatisation", ''Annual Privatization Report 2006'', p. 7 (http://reason.org/files/d767317fa4806296191436e95f68082a.pdf).</ref>

The Reason Foundation supports the privatization of (or public-private partnerships for) almost all government functions. Leonard Gilroy, Reason Foundation's director of government reform, describes privatization as "a strategy to lower the costs of government and achieve higher performance and better outcomes for tax dollars spent."<ref name="TenPrinciplesOfPriv">Leonard Gilroy and Adrian Moore, [http://reason.org/news/show/ten-principles-of-privatization "Ten Principles of Privatization"]</ref> Gilroy also notes that "If badly executed, privatization like any other policy can fail. Taxpayers are no better off, and may be worse off, if a service is moved from a government agency to an incompetent or inefficient private business."<ref name="TenPrinciplesOfPriv"/>

===Transportation===
In 2005, Reason was engaged in several transportation policy endeavors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Egan |first=Timothy |title=Paying on the Highway to Get Out of First Gear |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/us/paying-on-the-highway-to-get-out-of-first-gear.html |website=The New York Times}}</ref> Poole served as the director of transportation policy. According to the ''New York Times'', "[f]or 17 years, Mr. Poole has been the chief theorist for private solutions to gridlock. His ideas are now embraced by officials from Sacramento to Washington."<ref>{{cite news|last=Egan|first=Timothy|title=Paying on the Highway to Get Out of First Gear|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/us/paying-on-the-highway-to-get-out-of-first-gear.html|access-date=14 September 2016|work=New York Times|date=April 28, 2005|archive-date=25 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925012130/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/us/paying-on-the-highway-to-get-out-of-first-gear.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Education===
Reason Foundation advocates for education reform through expanded [[school choice]] initiatives. Reason's director of education and child welfare, Lisa Snell, authored a study in 2009 entitled ''Weighted Student Formula Yearbook 2009'', which examined school districts using student-based "backpack funding."<ref>Lisa Snell, [http://reason.org/news/show/weighted-student-formula-yearb Weighted Student Formula Yearbook 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925012037/https://reason.org/policy-study/weighted-student-formula-yearb/ |date=2024-09-25 }}</ref> Snell is also: "an advisory board member to the National Quality Improvement Center for the [[United States Children's Bureau|Children's Bureau]]; on the charter school accreditation team for the [[American Academy for Liberal Education]]; and serves as a board member for the [[California Virtual Academy]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://reason.org/experts/show/lisa-snell|title=Reason Foundation|work=Reason Foundation Expert}}</ref>

===Municipal broadband===
In 2006, Reason Foundation issued a report criticizing a [[municipal Wi-Fi]] project [[iProvo]] in [[Provo, Utah]] as financially unstable and ineffective at lowering Internet costs or raising broadband use.<ref>{{cite web|title=Spinning its Wheels|url=http://reason.org/news/show/127662.html|publisher=Reason Foundation|last=Titch|first=Steven |date=1 December 2006}}</ref> iProvo proponents responded vigorously with a white paper rebutting Reason's conclusions.<ref name="desertnews">Tad Walch, ''Deseret News'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20070110235141/http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0%2C1249%2C650218722%2C00.html "Provo lashes iProvo critics"]</ref>

In 2008, Reason issued a follow-up report entitled, ''iProvo Revisited: Another Year and Still Struggling''. According to Reason, the predictions in its first report had proven true: "iProvo's total losses are likely to exceed $10 million by the end of this fiscal year – and that figure doesn't include the $39.5 million borrowed to launch the project, most of which still needs to be paid back."<ref>Reason Foundation Press Release: "iProvo Losses at $8 Million and Counting" http://www.reason.org/news/iprovo_municipal_wifi_broadband_update_041608.shtml {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421003903/http://reason.org/news/iprovo_municipal_wifi_broadband_update_041608.shtml |date=2008-04-21 }}</ref> Reason called for the city to "cut its losses" and sell the network to a private company. Shortly after the 2008 report was issued, the mayor of Provo, [[Lewis Billings]], who had been highly critical of the Reason reports, announced that iProvo would in fact be sold to a private enterprise, Broadweave, for $40 million.<ref>''Deseret News''. "iProvo, Broadweave Nearly Close Deal" [https://web.archive.org/web/20080701163248/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700239528,00.html]</ref>

===Climate change===
In 2005, ''Reason'' magazine's science writer [[Ronald Bailey]] wrote a column declaring that climate change is both real and anthropogenic. He wrote, "Anyone still holding onto the idea that there is no global warming ought to hang it up. All data sets – satellite, surface, and balloon – have been pointing to rising global temperatures."<ref>{{cite web|title=We're All Global Warmers Now|url=http://reason.com/archives/2005/08/11/were-all-global-warmers-now|publisher=reason.com|last=Bailey|first=Ronald|author-link=Ronald Bailey|date=11 August 2005|access-date=6 April 2014|archive-date=25 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925012550/https://reason.com/2005/08/11/were-all-global-warmers-now/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2006, Bailey wrote an article entitled "Confessions of an Alleged [[ExxonMobil climate change controversy|ExxonMobil]] Whore: Actually no one paid me to be wrong about global warming. Or anything else."<ref>{{cite web|title=Confessions of an Alleged ExxonMobil Whore|url=http://reason.com/archives/2006/09/22/confessions-of-an-alleged-exxo|publisher=reason.com|last=Bailey|first=Ronald|author-link=Ronald Bailey|date=22 September 2006|access-date=6 April 2014|archive-date=25 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925012550/https://reason.com/2006/09/22/confessions-of-an-alleged-exxo/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the article Bailey explains how increasing public rebuff changed his mind on climate change.

According to [[DeSmog]], ''Reason'' is [[climate change denial|skeptical]] of the negative impact of climate change.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.desmog.com/reason-foundation/|title=Reason Foundation|publisher=DeSmog|accessdate=September 2, 2024}}</ref>

===War in Iraq===
The Reason Foundation was critical of the cost of the war in Iraq. ''Reason'' magazine's May 2008 cover story, "Trillion Dollar War",<ref>"Trillion Dollar War" by Veronique de Rugy in ''Reason'' magazine http://www.reason.com/news/show/125438.html</ref> discussed what it viewed as the dubious ways in which the war in Iraq and Afghanistan have been funded by Congress, the [[military–industrial complex]], and the Bush administration.

===Health care===
On August 25, 2010, ReasonTV published a video entitled, "Wheat, Weed and Obamacare: How the [[Commerce Clause]] Made Congress All-Powerful", as part of an effort to question the constitutionality of the [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act]] (PPACA), also known as Obamacare.<ref name=broccoli/> The video has been credited with popularizing the argument in conservative circles that PPACA's individual mandate to buy health insurance is constitutionally equivalent to requiring consumers to buy particular types of fruits or vegetables.<ref name=broccoli/> This argument was ultimately articulated by [[Justice Antonin Scalia]], who suggested during oral argument of the [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Cases|PPACA cases]] that if Congress has the power to require Americans to buy health insurance, then "Therefore, you can make people buy broccoli."<ref name=broccoli/>