Author: David Harsanyi

Jonathan Alter at The Daily Beast has an idea that will infuse the president’s “economic patriotism” rhetoric with some bite: Compel companies to take “loyalty oaths” to prove their patriotism. You may find this suggestion a little creepy, maybe even a little fascistic; but Alter says that “it’s time for red-blooded Americans to take matters […]

Let’s concede for a moment that most of us don’t believe the United States should be taking sides in conflicts abroad. Even so, most Americans would probably agree that at a minimum, our diplomatic efforts should not cause unnecessary harm. Which brings me to Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent misadventure in the Middle East. […]

A teacher in South Dakota with a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of experience earns $33,600 per year, which is less than the average auto repair worker. This grievance against salary injustice is nothing new, of course, but this particular example comes to us from a new national study by the Center for American Progress, […]

So Barack Obama is again using one of the most contemptible phrases in American politics — “economic patriotism.” There are many credible reasons to despise this rhetorical construct. Patriotism, after all, is the attachment to one’s homeland, a nationalistic devotion to one’s country and the values that make it great. If a person not only […]

It’s simply mystifying that so many Americans look to candidates who pretend to be just like them. We’re the worst. In the rare instance I am moved to vote, the least I expect is for a candidate to be far more successful than I am. This last hurdle is not particularly challenging, mind you. Which […]

A new Gallup poll finds that fewer Americans are satisfied with the freedom in their lives compared with seven years ago — dropping 12 percentage points, from 91 percent in 2006 to 79 percent in 2013. During that same time, the percentage of Americans dissatisfied with the freedoms available in their lives more than doubled, […]

On Tuesday night, former Rep. Bob Beauprez beat a slate of Republicans, including, most notably, former presidential candidate Tom Tancredo. Mitt Romney and other hated/beloved GOP establishment types had endorsed Beauprez, who was clearly the most electable candidate available to face John Hickenlooper. More importantly, the state GOP did not want Tancredo’s tedious one-note campaign […]

Even in the most catastrophic year for congressional incumbents, 90 percent of them will win re-election — and most of them will do so rather easily. Many of them, in fact, won’t even have to run a campaign. This fact might be somewhat obscured lately, what with all the talk of the impending populist insurrection. […]

Let’s just say that the Iraq army isn’t exactly anchoring a democratic awakening in the Middle East. Earlier this week, Iraq’s armed forces in Mosul — trained and supplied by the United States to secure the well-being of its people and institutions — reportedly dropped their guns, shed their uniforms and surrendered to black-flag-waving Sunni […]

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission has ordered a suburban Denver baker named Jack Phillips to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, finding that his religious objections do not supersede the state’s anti-discrimination statutes. Because if the Constitution should be subordinate to anything, it’s the local thought police, hurt feelings and nuptial pastries. Raju Jaram, one […]

Some of you may believe partisanship is a healthy organic reflection of genuine disagreement in the nation, but for the well-known political scientist Norm Ornstein, there is nothing more devastating than inaction. Nothing. So years after lamenting the existence of partisanship, he’s come up with another way to deal with our dawdling government: term limiting […]

For those of you who haven’t heard, Chipotle Mexican Grill, which for years allowed local laws to dictate policy for the restaurant chain regarding open or concealed weapons, has decided to “ask” customers not to bring firearms into its restaurants after some zealous gun owners paraded around with “military-style assault rifles” at a Chipotle in […]

On Sunday, Marco Rubio informed Jonathan Karl on ABC’s “This Week” that he is ready to be president. “I think a president has to have a clear vision of where the country needs to go and clear ideas about how to get it there,” he went on. “And I think we’re very blessed in our […]

The bloodcurdling National Climate Assessment is here, and it portends catastrophe; floods, clouds and other assorted weather events are imminent! But, says the report, “there is still time to act to limit the amount of climate change and the extent of damaging impacts.” Have you noticed that we’re always at the cusp of a cataclysm […]

After The Daily Beast released excerpts of his warning world leaders that Israel would devolve into an “apartheid” state if it failed to agree to a peace deal, Secretary of State John Kerry walked back his comments. “If I could rewind the tape,” he explained, “I would have chosen a different word to describe my […]

As I write this, Thomas Piketty’s book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” is No. 1 on Amazon.com. It’s been deemed an “important book” by a bunch of smart people. Why not? It validates many of the preconceived notions progressives have about capitalism: Inequality is growing. Mobility is shrinking. Meritocracy is dead. We all live in […]

The notion that conservatives not only oppose liberal health care reforms but are vigorously working to deny Americans access is a popular one on the left. If you don’t support Obamacare, you are basically endorsing murder. A recent contemptible piece in New Republic, which argues that Democrats should — without any evidence, if necessary — […]

Here’s another reason government should never own a business. In February 2010, the Obama administration’s transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, told America, without a shred of evidence, that Toyota automobiles were dangerous to drive. LaHood offered the remarks in front of the House subcommittee that was investigating reports of unintended-acceleration crashes. “My advice is, if anybody […]

In a recent piece in Politico titled “Why Are Asian Americans Democrats?”, professors Alexander Kuo, Neil Malhotra and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, make the contention that “microaggressions” and social exclusion has pushes the entire Asian-American community to vote for the Democratic Party. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, microaggressions, according to Fordham University, “are common verbal, […]

I’ll let the experts churn out opinions on what should be done about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But it does appear that many of them refuse to accept a number of truths about the world. Take these, for instance: 1) Most people do not shares our values. 2) Most people don’t even understand our values. […]

According to the many experts, Republicans are expected to hold the House and could even take the Senate. This seems to be a perplexing turn of events for many in the media. “Poll: Democrats’ advantage on key issues is not translating to a midterm-election edge,” reads the headline of a Washington Post piece by Dan […]

These days, to even suggest the possibility that a fiscally conservative economic outlook is compatible with faith is a matter of hypocrisy. “I am afraid that (Rep. Paul) Ryan’s budget reflects the values of his favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ,” the Rev. Thomas Reese of Georgetown University told The […]

Since its inception, the Obama administration has engaged in the deceptive routine of claiming that “economists” or “every economist” or a “consensus” among economists is in lock-step agreement over whatever policy prescription the White House happens to be peddling at the moment. It began with the stimulus, when President Barack Obama misleadingly asserted that “economists […]

Another Obamacare fiasco? Guess what. We’ll rationalize that disaster into something awesome: tout de suite. You can’t keep your insurance if you like it? Consider yourself lucky. Obamacare disincentivizes work. Be grateful! The Affordable Care Act will cost three times as much as initial estimates? Spending creates jobs. The exchanges have been a disaster? Stop rooting […]

Obamacare will reduce American workforce participation by the equivalent of 2 million full-time jobs in 2017, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office. Work hours would be reduced by the equivalent of 2.5 million jobs in 2024, a tripling of the previous estimates. If you believe this report — and I’m not […]

Some Democrats seem to think that the very fact “inequality” even exists should be enough to lure the entire nation to the progressive cause. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, in a recent piece imploring President Barack Obama to put emphasis on social justice in his State of the Union speech, argued as much, writing […]

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, left-wing activist Steve Rosenthal sounds a lot like other wishful thinkers arriving at a comfortable partisan conclusion. America, he writes, is only a few years from a full-blown progressive electorate. “A close examination of U.S. attitudes in the past decade-plus,” Rosenthal contends, “reveals that the United States is steadily […]

Preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is the stated goal of the Obama administration, P5+1 nations and Israel. How the United States can best reach this goal while avoiding war seems to me to be a rather vital debate. So it’s a real shame we’re not having it. So far, 59 senators, 16 Democrats, are […]

For more than 20 years, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has been measuring how voters feel about Congress. And “perhaps unsurprisingly,” writes Ezra Klein, “a majority of Americans — a new record — thinks the current Congress is one of the worst ever.” Klein, like many other liberal pundits, has written numerous pieces about how […]