About

The Mission of the Jefferson Policy Journal
Capital, labor, information and technology are more mobile than at any time in human history.  The role-of-government in our business and personal lives is being debated more vigorously than in many years.

And as Virginia focuses on building toward a national and international competitive market, it faces some serious challenges. Our system of state and local government evolved hundreds of years ago to serve the needs of an agricultural society. Our institutions were updated to meet the demands of the industrial era, but they have not yet fully adapted to the requirements of our fast-moving, digital technology in a globally competitive economy. And much of our public discourse is still dominated by partisan rhetoric, honed in the past, where we see worn out arguments between Republicans and Democrats and liberals and conservatives where, almost by design, we avoid the problems of structural flaws in the system.

It’s time for Virginians to enter an era of a new discourse. We must examine how to transform our state, our communities and our institutions of governance to reflect the new realities. We must set new goals and higher standards. We must subject the actions and utterances of our political, civic and business leaders to a critical eye. The Jefferson Policy Journal provides a forum where this discourse can take place.

The Jefferson Policy Journal is published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy (www.thomasjeffersoninst.org), Virginia’s premier, independent public policy foundation that seeks reasonable alternatives to state and local government policies and programs.

Editorial Policy
The Jefferson Policy Journal is an electronic magazine, an e-zine, that reviews all articles submitted to it for publication. Once selected and before something appears in our publication you can be assured that concerns have been clarified, deletions or additions have been suggested as necessary; and factual, typographical and grammatical errors have been caught (we hope).

We are also concerned about readability. We want to ensure that the articles published here are understandable to a broad audience. Subsequently, if an article is overly technical we may suggest word changes; if parts are unclear we will take our best stab at it and then ask the author to clarify with more succinct language.

Most importantly, however, we will not publish something unless it has been approved by its author. We will send the article back with suggested changes highlighted so it is easy to tell what has been altered. If there are disagreements on our edits we will work with the author understanding that it is the author’s final decision.

Christian Braunlich, Editor of the Jefferson Policy Journal and President of the Thomas Jefferson Institute, has final say on all selected articles. Opinions expressed belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Jefferson Policy Journal or the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy or its Board of Directors.  Comments posted on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Jefferson Policy Journal or the Thomas Jefferson Institute. Comments are moderated and subject to deletion at the discretion of the Jefferson Policy Journal’s staff – to avoid potential libel, abusive or inappropriate language or general boorishness.  The authors, and not the Jefferson Policy Journal, are ultimately responsible for the accuracy of what they write.