United We Distrust

President Obama recently spoke of the “simmering distrust” between many police departments and minority communities. The president is correct in his assessment, but dramatically understates the problem. Rather than being just a feature of the minority communities in our nation, distrust of law enforcement is widespread. Whether it’s the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, regulators […]

 

Giving As Thanks

I love the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as much as anyone. It’s great to have family visit and take some time to talk and visit and just be together. There’s the added bonus that comes from a warm glow of nostalgia lingering from long-ago Thanksgiving dinners at Nana and Grampa’s. Hopefully, Laura and I are creating […]

 


Republican Gains Deep and Wide

Little noticed by the Washington press corps is the extent of the Republican State legislative gains in Election 2014. A quick trip to the enormously informative Ballotpedia.org website provides the numbers that the DC reporters overlooked. And those numbers reflect a GOP victory with stunning depth and breadth. It was far more than a favorable […]

 

Election 2014 in Context

Political pundits often miss the forest for the trees, and it’s amazing how things look when you pause for a moment to look at the broader context of the 2014 midterm elections. The short-term discussion among political junkies is all about whether Republicans can win control of the Senate and just how many seats they […]

 

Americans Love Community, Hate Politics

To understand the lack of enthusiasm most Americans feel about the midterm elections, it’s important to recognize a vital distinction between government and community. Community evokes positive feelings for most of us, whereas politics and government are nastier and generate a desire to stay away. We choose to be involved in community while we have […]

 



Vox Explanation Highlights Gap Between Political World and Everybody Else

A recent column on Vox.com may have inadvertently highlighted the gap between the nation’s political elites and the rest of the nation. Vox is an “explanatory journalism” site founded by former Washington Post columnist and blogger Ezra Klein. When Fox News’ parent company briefly flirted with buying Time Warner and CNN, Vox appropriately deemed it […]

 





Opposition to Hobby Lobby Decision Highlights Problem With Mandates

Following the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision, one of the key talking points that emerged from enraged opponents of the ruling was: “My boss shouldn’t be involved in my health care decisions.” California State Senate candidate Sandra Fluke says on her official website that such a perspective is “common sense.” An Ohio Democrat is introducing […]

 


Political Language, Not Watergate, To Blame For Public Distrust Of Government

In his weekly column for CNN.com, Julian Zelizer makes a reasonable case that “Distrustful Americans still live in age of Watergate.” In his eyes, this helps explain why the president’s health care law and other initiatives have encountered so much resistance. The Princeton Professor concludes, “The worst effect of Watergate is that it created a […]

 

The Lasting Relevance Of The Declaration

Happy Fourth of July! America’s 238th birthday party is being celebrated in the usual way with fireworks, cookouts, parades and patriotic songs. Words from the Declaration of Independence are recited at some events to remind us of the founding ideals of our nation. While the world has changed dramatically since 1776, those ideals remain as […]

 

Celebrating Checks And Balances

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling against the president’s right to get around Congress by making recess appointments. This is frustrating to President Barack Obama at the moment and will undoubtedly aggravate some future Republican president. The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin wrote that this ruling will “make the government function less […]

 

The Tech Industry Poised To Reinvent Regulation

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Uber was upsetting government regulators. The ride-sharing company is providing such great service to consumers that existing taxi companies called upon the government to help. Shortly after I wrote that column, the attorney general of Virginia issued a cease-and-desist order to the company. There was no allegation […]

 


College for Everyone Is Not the Answer

A recent study estimated that getting a college degree is worth about a half-million dollars over the course of a graduate’s lifetime. On the surface, that presents an open-and-shut case that college is worth the time and money involved. That’s the conclusion reached in a New York Times column by Dave Leonhardt, who wrote, “Yes, […]

 



Doctors Must Serve Patients, Not Society

When we go to the doctor, most of us expect to receive the best possible advice on whatever ails us. Unfortunately, some medical groups see that as a quaintly archaic notion. Associations are recommending that the doctors should consider more than the patient they are treating. According to The New York Times, these groups want […]

 


Piketty Book on Inequality Bad News for Clinton

A book by a French economist on income inequality has become a pop sensation among Democratic liberal elites. Thomas Piketty’s “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” initially released in France, has an English translation, which has received rave reviews from pundits like Paul Krugman of The New York Times. It is also the latest reason to […]

 

A Supreme Need for Educational Diversity

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ended legal segregation in public schools with a unanimous 9-0 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. While the ruling paved the way for future integration of American society, the court itself was far from integrated. The decision was reached by nine white men. It wasn’t until Thurgood Marshall […]

 

The Numbers on the Health Care Law Are Still Bad for Democrats

President Barack Obama announced triumphantly that 8 million people selected a private insurance plan through the health care exchanges created by legislation known as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. He added his own interpretation of the numbers: “This thing is working.” At the same time, however, Democratic candidates across the country still see the […]