|  Charles
Sykes is a radio talk show host, author, and columnist who straddles
the line between libertarian and conservative.
A host on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sykes not only calls himself
a libertarian but also has a long history of writing about government
failures and abuses. At the same time, he is a research fellow at the
conservative Hoover Institution, and takes a more traditionally conservative
position on foreign policy.
Sykes is perhaps best known as the author of Dumbing Down Our Kids:
Why American Children Feel Good about Themselves, but Can't Read, Write,
or Add (1995). The book was praised by Kirkus Review as
a "scathing critique" of government-run schools and self-esteem-centered
"feel-good learning." Sykes's proposed remedies include abolishing
the federal Department of Education.
Sykes is also the author of The End of Privacy: Personal Rights
in the Surveillance Society (1999) and A Nation of Victims:
The Decline of the American Character (1992).
As a talk show host and writer, Sykes doesn't pull any punches. Here
are his opinions...
* On privacy: "Historically, the greatest threat to personal privacy
has been the state. It still is. Jealous of its own secrets, the government
covets ours." -- Hoover Digest (September 2000)
* On Republicans: "The Republicans are supposed to be the party
of smaller government and lower spending [but] at the federal level
spending has exploded in the last two years." -- CNI Newspapers
(December 23, 2003)
* On government: "[The Department of Health and Human Services]
has created a $125 million federal program 'to persuade children nine
through 13 to become physically active.' Isn't that what your mom used
to do for free? Now it's a federal program." -- The Madison
Isthmus (July 17, 2003)
In addition to hosting his radio show -- the highest-rated daily program
in the state -- Sykes writes a weekly column for the CNI Newspapers
chain and hosts Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes on TMJ TV
in Milwaukee. He is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research
Institute, and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street
Journal, and USA Today. Previously, Sykes was a reporter
for the Milwaukee Journal, the editor-in-chief of Milwaukee
Magazine, and a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
In 2000, Sykes won the Annual Liberty Award, which honors the individual
who has done the most to promote the cause of liberty, from the Libertarian
Party of Wisconsin.
-- Bill
Winter
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Quotable
"[The
Department of Health and Human Services] has created a $125 million
federal program 'to persuade children nine through 13 to become physically
active.' A $125 million program in which the federal government tells
kids to put down the Nintendo, get off the couch, and go outside and
play! Isn't that what your mom used to do for free? Now it's a federal
program. The assumption here is that, unless the federal government
tells us to do these things, we simply won't be able to figure it out
on our own." -- Charles Sykes in The Madison Isthmus (July
17, 2003)
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