Category: Column

America has long been known as the land of opportunity. “When one starts poor,” Abraham Lincoln observed, a “free society is such that he knows he can better his condition.” It’s a theme constantly celebrated in popular culture. In the 19th century, countless Horatio Alger tales told of poor boys working hard and reaching middle […]

In today’s technically sophisticated and globally connected world, we assume life has been completely reinvented. In truth, it has not changed all that much. Facebook and Google may have recalibrated our lifestyles, but human nature, geography and culture are nearly timeless. Even as ideologies and governments come and go, the same old, same old problems […]

Recent polls find a majority of Americans believe that “race relations,” since the election of the first black president, have gotten worse, not better. Colin Kaepernick, a National Football League quarterback, is Exhibit A for why so many people feel this way. Kaepernick signed a $114 million six-year contract in 2014, with $61 million guaranteed. […]

On Tuesday, Aug. 30, President Obama commuted the sentences of 111 federal drug offenders. In his first term, Obama endured the sting of critics like me who called him one of the stingiest modern presidents when it comes to the presidential pardon power. In his second term, Obama is making up for lost time. With […]

Loyalty oaths have been tried in the past, but eventually were struck down by the courts as either too vague, or an unconstitutional violation of free speech. These applied, as far as I can tell from reading their history, only to American citizens. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has suggested something different. He wants to […]

When outspoken socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders was in the presidential race, he often expressed his dream to turn the United States into a Nordic-type social democracy like the one in Denmark. Hillary Clinton dismissed his comments by claiming that the United States isn’t Denmark. But the truth is that at the center of her political […]

If a pair of extreme green ballot measures fall in the Rocky Mountains and no one in the liberal media is paying attention, does the collapse make a sound? This week, two anti-fracking initiatives backed by deep-pocketed environmental lobbying heavyweights, such as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, failed to gather enough signatures. The more draconian […]

It was refreshing to moderate a “town hall” with the Libertarian presidential and vice presidential candidates last week because Govs. Gary Johnson and William Weld respect limits on presidential power. Sunday, when Fox’s Chris Wallace challenged Johnson’s plan to replace the IRS with a consumption tax, Johnson pointed out that he’s “not getting elected dictator […]

A general economic principle is that any law or regulation that restricts market entry tends to impose the greatest burden on those who can be described as poor, latecomers, discriminated-against and politically weak. The president of the NAACP’s St. Louis chapter, Adolphus Pruitt, has petitioned a circuit court judge to reject the St. Louis Metropolitan […]

Unless you’re a high-ranking government official, it’s hard to get a meeting with any secretary of state. But during Hillary Clinton’s tenure, there was another way: Pay up. A staggering 85 of the 154 private-sector people who met or had phone conversations scheduled with Clinton donated money to the Clinton Foundation. That looks highly improper, […]

Critics of Donald Trump are apoplectic about the possibility that the Republican presidential nominee could align himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ever since the two men offered words of praise for each other — Putin referring to Trump as “bright,” and Trump praising Putin’s leadership ability — critics have parlayed their own fear and […]

On Friday, a South Carolina high school stopped students from bringing American flags to a football game against a heavily Hispanic rival school. Why? The principal was presumably worried that waving the flag might offend the Hispanic students. According to the principal, “This decision would be made anytime that the American flag, or any other […]

Last week delivered one of the most remarkable moments of this most remarkable political season. A major politician defended the conservative movement and the Republican Party from guilt-by-association with a fringe group of racists, anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists who have jumped enthusiastically on the Donald Trump train: the so-called alt-right. “This is not conservatism as […]

So the federal government really can be efficient – when it wants to. I guess it just must not want to very often.   I supposed we could say that August is a banner month for the government. Yesterday I wrote http://commonconstitutionalist.com/current-events/the-obamacare-scheme-may-be-imploding-ahead-of-schedule/  that Barack’s plan for Obamacare was for it to collapse under its own […]

We have gotten so used to seeing college presidents and other academic “leaders” caving in to so many outrageous demands from little gangs of bullying students that it is a long overdue surprise to see a sign that at least one major university has shown some backbone. Dr. Robert J. Zimmer, president of the University […]

Why would a country with the world’s largest Jewish population, outside of Israel, admit large numbers of immigrants from countries where hatred of Jews has been taught to their people from earliest childhood? This question is ultimately not about Muslims and Jews. It is about discussing immigrants in the abstract, rather than in terms of […]

One of the most oft-heard claims made by supporters of Hillary Clinton is what a positive role model she would be for young girls as president. They say: “Then, my daughters will know that nothing is to too great for them to aspire to. A woman can indeed be president of the United States.” So […]

Some people do not learn from their mistakes. Anthony Weiner is one. The husband of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin resigned from Congress in 2011 when he was caught sending shots of his tumescent privates to a number of women not his wife. His first instinct was to lie about the messages and claim someone […]

“Borders are the worst invention ever made by politicians.” Those were the words of Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Union’s European Commission, at the Alpbach Media Academy last Monday. Nonsense, most readers will surely think, in numbers going far beyond the legions of Americans dismayed with the choices they face in this year’s presidential […]

IBD wrote  last week that the, “Illinois‘ insurance regulator said ObamaCare premiums in the state will jump as high as 55%. The Obama administration’s response to this and other news of massive rate hikes: Don’t worry. Be happy.”   Yes, be happy that this fall Illinois Obamacare premiums will increase by an average of 48% – […]

Religious liberty concerns continue to weigh heavily on church-going Americans. In a recent survey from Pew Research, 40 percent of those who reported attending church in the last few months said that clergy spoke about religious liberty. No other issue received more attention from clergy. And not surprisingly so. The aggressive growth of secularism in […]

That didn’t take long. It was beyond question Hillary Clinton would play the race card. The only issue was when. Progressives are born without forearms, which affords them the ability to have so many such cards up their sleeves. But playing it this early and this forcefully does not demonstrate strength on Hillary’s part; it’s […]

On this new special edition of Anni Cyrus’s “Top 10”, Anni focuses on The Top 10 Innocent Women Executed in Iran, asking us to never forget them — and to reflect on the true meaning of Sharia: And make sure to watch another special Anni Cyrus Top 10 in which Anni discusses the Top 10 […]

Yesterday I was critical of Donald Trump’s new and evidently “evolving” illegal immigration policy. Some Trump supporters didn’t take kindly to any criticism of their man. That’s too bad, because we constitutionalists were in favor of Trump’s original hard line on illegal aliens. It’s a shame he appears to be softening. But in order to […]

Opponents of California’s death penalty have been highly successful at thwarting executions since the state resumed executions in 1992 after a 20-year hiatus. Their latest ploy is Proposition 62, which would repeal the death penalty and resentence death row inmates to life without parole. Measure sponsors argue that capital punishment presents the risk of executing […]

The recent flooding in Baton Rouge is a study in media bias if you compare it to media coverage of Hurricane Katrina. While Baton Rouge flooded, President Obama continued to play golf at Martha’s Vineyard as if nothing was happening and the media gave him a pass. George W. Bush was accused of being a […]

Is the political map, so familiar that even non-pundits offhandedly refer to red, blue and purple states, changing before our eyes? Yes, at least to a limited extent — and it’s probably about time. The political map has been pretty static for almost two decades, the longest since the 1880s. In the last four presidential […]

Trump says he will follow the immigration laws. Actually – no he didn’t. Trump stated in his town hall interview with Sean Hannity: “We wanna follow the laws. You know we have very strong laws…in this country…and I don’t know if you know but Bush and even Obama sends people back. We can be more aggressive […]