In U.K. but Not U.S., Young Voters Turn Against Big Government By Michael Barone
A trip to London provides an occasion to compare and contrast British politics and attitudes with those in America.
Political Commentary
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July 2, 2013
June 28, 2013
Supreme Court Offers Mixed Verdict to Conservatives and Liberals By Michael Barone
This has been a big week for the Supreme Court. In four separate cases, it applied stricter scrutiny to racial quotas and preferences in higher education, overturned part of the Voting Rights Act, ruled unconstitutional the Defense of Marriage Act and dismissed an appeal of a case overturning California voters' ban on same-sex marriage.
June 28, 2013
About Those Who Abuse Their Health By Froma Harrop
In addition to being a fine actor, James Gandolfini was smart and rich. He could afford the best medical care the West has to offer and understand the stakes of being so overweight and stressed. Yet he let his weight balloon in an orgy of careless eating and drinking. Did he think himself invincible or assume that he had time to deal with health issues later, his age being only 51? Surely a doctor somewhere read him the riot act, so why didn't he make health a priority?
June 28, 2013
Public Opinion Leads, Politicians Follow By Scott Rasmussen
On Dec. 1, 1955, a churchgoing woman of character refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala. Many credit Rosa Parks' courageous action that day with launching the civil rights movement. While I have great respect for what Ms. Parks did that day, however, she did not start the civil rights movement. The movement began long before, and public opinion led the way.
June 26, 2013
Dems Struggle With Scandals; GOP Can't Agree on Policy By Michael Barone
The two political parties are in disarray. The Democrats are disheartened. The Republicans are disunited.
June 26, 2013
The IRS Scandal Is Just Nature Taking Its Course By Mark Meckler
The instinct for survival is coded into the DNA of every living creature, and the Internal Revenue Service is made up of thousands of human beings with that instinct. As a single department of the government leviathan, the IRS is a good example, too, of the collective survival instinct of the federal government.
June 26, 2013
Puritanical Government By John Stossel
People say America is a free country. But what if you want to drink, have a cigarette or make a bet? Government often says "no" to protect us from ourselves.
June 25, 2013
Fighting the Stadium Con: Go Brazilians! By Froma Harrop
Something's gotten into Brazilians that hasn't caught on here, but should. They're out on the streets protesting their government's plan to sink billions into monuments to sport.
June 24, 2013
Reform the Border Patrol, too By Joe Conason
Immigration reform now seems certain to pass the Senate within days, in an amended bill that could win as many as 70 votes from both parties. The results will improve life for millions of undocumented workers and their families -- but the costs will not be negligible, including a "surge" that will rapidly double the size of the U.S. Border Patrol to 40,00 agents, along with much more fencing and surveillance technology.
June 21, 2013
The Missing Cows of Mass Destruction By Froma Harrop
Where did the panic over mad cow disease go? Off the front pages, for sure. A few years ago, respected journalists warned of a looming public health disaster as Americans consumed deadly hamburgers. They accused the beef industry and government regulators of colluding to hide the problem of mad cow disease.
June 21, 2013
An Oregon Study Casts Doubt On Whether Health Insurance Improves Health By Michael Barone
Does having health insurance make people healthier? It's widely assumed that it does.
Obamacare advocates repeatedly said that its expansion of Medicaid would save thousands of lives a year. Obamacare critics seldom challenged the idea that increased insurance coverage would improve at least some people's health.
June 21, 2013
Good Guys Are Hard To Find in NSA Surveillance Story By Scott Rasmussen
While recognizing that it's important to fight terrorism with all of the tools at our disposal, the American people are having a hard time finding good guys in the story about the National Security Agency's surveillance program.
Government officials from the president on down have defended the program and claim it has prevented several terrorist attacks. However, questions have been raised about some of those claims, and just 35 percent of Americans believe the officials are telling the truth. A larger number (45 percent) believe they are just trying to justify the surveillance program now that it's been made public.
June 19, 2013
Government's War By John Stossel
As Americans obsess over NSA spying, abuse by the IRS and other assaults on our freedom, I can't get my mind off the thousand other ways politicians abuse us.
June 18, 2013
The Battle Against the Big Government Dragon By Mark Meckler
The battle has been joined, and the citizens of the great American Republic are streaming to the fight against the immense and powerful dragon beast, “Big Government.” How the story will end, no one knows but God Himself, but today the battle rages openly for the soul of the nation with liberty itself at stake.
June 18, 2013
Another Way We Overpay for Health Care By Froma Harrop
Little victories in curbing health care costs can add up. In truth, they seem little only next to the titanic $2.6 trillion Americans spend a year on health care. So let us salute them.
June 17, 2013
A Libertarian Turn on Marijuana Legalization, Same-Sex Marriage and Gun Rights By Michael Barone
Are Americans becoming more libertarian on cultural issues? I see evidence that they are, in poll findings and election results on three unrelated issues -- marijuana legalization, same-sex marriage and gun rights.
Start with pot. Last November voters in the states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize marijuana, by a 55 to 45 percent margin in Colorado (more than Barack Obama's margin in the state) and by 56 to 44 percent in Washington.
June 16, 2013
On Civil Liberties, Comparing Obama With Bush Is Easy -- and Mostly Wrong By Joe Conason
Nearly a dozen years after the passage of the Patriot Act, rushed through Congress in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, informed debate over the balance between liberty and security is long overdue. That includes a public examination of how widely and deeply the National Security Agency (and other elements of the "intelligence community") may monitor Americans' telecommunications without violating the Bill of Rights.
June 14, 2013
High Heels and Workers' Rights By Froma Harrop
One of the strangest artifacts of American culture is the spiked heel as a symbol of female power. Many waitresses at America's casinos feel otherwise.
June 14, 2013
Distrust of Government Is What It's All About by Scott Rasmussen
Another week, another controversy in official Washington. While each of these stories has its own cast of characters and internal dynamics, it is now possible to identify a unifying theme.
June 13, 2013
NSA Surveillance, If Ungentlemanly, Is Not Illegal By Michael Barone
"Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." That's what Secretary of State Henry Stimson said to explain why he shut down the government's cryptanalysis operations in 1929.
