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'Tis the season for giving.
Political Commentary
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December 4, 2013
Will Americans Pay for American-Made? by Froma Harrop
Wow, this T-shirt costs only $8. Great color. Problem is, your finger could punch a hole through it. In most Americans' shopping experience, colors change and styles come and go, but there's one constant: low quality and a sweatshop-country label.
December 3, 2013
For Pakistan and the United States, it's one Delusion After Another By Michael Barone
Not many foreign policy experts would argue with the proposition that the country with which the United States has the most problematic relationship is Pakistan.
December 2, 2013
Welcome to the Kludgeocracy By Michael Barone
How is it possible that Barack Obama did not know that his beloved healthcare.gov website was a botch? That's a question many thoughtful people (including thoughtful Democrats) are asking.
We heard him say that he wouldn't have boasted that it would be as easy to use as amazon.com or obitz.com had he known that it wouldn't. I'm not "stupid enough," he said at his Nov. 14 press conference. Most Americans agree that's true.
December 2, 2013
Data Debris and the Time of Our Lives By Froma Harrop
An elderly friend I'll call Jeff perfectly summed up the stress of digital living. He'd read an article on the race by cyber-merchants to get online purchases into consumers' hands within an hour of their pushing the "place your order" button. One such service, eBay Now, has its own app enabling shoppers to follow the delivery people as they bike or drive to their address.
November 27, 2013
Thankful for Property By John Stossel
Had today's politicians and opinion-makers been in power four centuries ago, Americans might celebrate "Starvation Day" this week, not Thanksgiving.
The Pilgrims started out with communal property rules. When they first settled at Plymouth, they were told: "Share everything, share the work, and we'll share the harvest."
The colony's contract said their new settlement was to be a "common." Everyone was to receive necessities out of the common stock. There was to be little individual property.
November 26, 2013
The Greatness of Obamacare By Froma Harrop
During the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act, it's been hard to defend the law, much less to call it "great." But great it is -- for the American economy and for the American people, rich ones included.
November 25, 2013
For Obamacare Architects, Problems are Features, not Bugs by Michael Barone
The defects of the Obamacare website have become well known. But the problems with the law go further than the website. These problems are not incidental, but central to its design and the intentions of its architects.
Many Obamacare backers, including Barack Obama, would prefer "single-payer" health insurance. The government would pay for everything and you would get health care for free.
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November 22, 2013
Intellectual Impoverishment: Why Paul Ryan Is Rebranding That Old 'Compassionate Conservatism' By Joe Conason
Nobody in Washington talks much about the poor in America these days, even though they are more and more with us in the economic aftermath of the Great Recession. Perhaps that is why the Washington Post welcomed Paul Ryan's recent declaration that he wants to fight poverty "with kinder, gentler policies to encourage work and upward mobility."
November 22, 2013
'Wild Turkey on the Rocks?' By Froma Harrop
Much we believe about turkeys is not true.
Myth No. 1: They were served at the "first Thanksgiving" feast in Plymouth, Mass. There's no evidence for that.
The Plymouth Colony governor, an observer wrote, "sent foure men on fowling" for the dinner. Fowling is an Old English reference to waterfowl. So ducks and geese were probably on the menu, not turkey.
Myth No. 2: Benjamin Franklin proposed that the wild turkey become the national symbol. He did call the bald eagle a bird "of bad moral Character" and praised the turkey as a "Bird of Courage." But he didn't endorse one bird over the other.
November 21, 2013
War on the Little Guy by John Stossel
Marty the Magician performed magic tricks for kids, including the traditional rabbit-out-of-a-hat. Then one day: "I was signing autographs and taking pictures with children and their parents," he told me. "Suddenly, a badge was thrown into the mix, and an inspector said, 'Let me see your license.'"
In "Harry Potter" books, a creepy Ministry of Magic controls young wizards. Now in the USA, government regulates stage magicians -- one of the countless ways it makes life harder for the little guy.
John Stossel is the author of No They Can't! Why Government Fails, but Individuals Succeed. For other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.
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November 20, 2013
A Devastating Poll on Obama -- and Obamacare By Michael Barone
"The Affordable Care Act's political position has deteriorated dramatically over the last week." That, coming from longtime Obamacare cheerleader and Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein, was pretty strong language. And it was only Wednesday.
November 19, 2013
Calm in the Health Care Storm By Froma Harrop
The bungled launch of the federal health insurance website has unleashed significant disorder -- but not everywhere. Life remains calm in many states that set up their own health care exchanges.
Some are so confident of the rightness of the health care reforms that they're rejecting President Obama's proposal to let people keep their inadequate health insurance policies.
November 18, 2013
Why Republicans Suddenly Care About Canceled Health Policies By Joe Conason
Amid the current national uproar over the troubles of the Affordable Care Act, it is almost uplifting to hear the deep concern expressed by politicians, pundits, lobbyists and corporate leaders over cancellation of existing health insurance policies. They empathize loudly with the millions of potential victims, whose plight infuriates these worthy observers with fury. They fill hours of television and pages of print with expressions of outrage. Suddenly, everyone in Washington is intensely concerned about Americans losing their health coverage.
November 15, 2013
Colorado a Microcosm for American Politics By Michael Barone
Colorado, writes National Journal's always insightful Ronald Brownstein, is "America, writ small." "A microcosm," he goes on, "of the forces destabilizing American politics."
Of course, Colorado is not entirely typical of the nation. It has America's lowest rates of obesity, for example -- because of a young population and because most Coloradans live a mile or more above sea level. You burn more calories there just getting out of the car and walking to the mall.
November 14, 2013
The Last Farm Bill? By Froma Harrop
Many conservatives want farm bills to stop coupling food stamps to agricultural subsidies. They see the linkage as an unsavory deal between urban Democrats and rural Republicans to waste the people's money.
But not all conservatives are principled conservatives. Principled conservatives oppose the farm subsidies as a monstrous example of corporate welfare. The other kind thinks it can strip spending from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program while preserving the farm rip-offs.
November 12, 2013
Wheels of Misfortune by Froma Harrop
The problem of America's congested roads has long been simple: too many tires vying for a fixed amount of pavement. But with a growing bicycle culture joining the car culture, the difficulties have expanded greatly. The conveyances now travel at very different speeds, follow different rules of the road and expose their operators to vastly different levels of physical vulnerability.
November 11, 2013
Are Politicians who Cut Food Stamps and Deny Health Access Truly 'Pro-Life'? A Commentary by Joe Conason
When Wendy Davis proclaimed that she is "pro-life" -- a description long since appropriated by conservatives opposed to abortion rights -- the right-wing media practically exploded with indignation. How could she dare to say that? But having won national fame when she filibustered nearly 12 hours against a law designed to shutter Lone Star State abortion clinics, the Texas state senator with the pink shoes doesn't hesitate to provoke outrage among the righteous.
November 8, 2013
Lessons for Both Parties in Virginia and New Jersey Elections by Michael Barone
In an August Washington Examiner column, I argued that this year's governor elections in New Jersey and Virginia would have little precedential significance, unlike some other off-year elections in those states.
Boiled down, my argument was that in New Jersey you had a governor who could not lose and in Virginia you had two governor candidates who could not win.
Michael Barone, senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner (www.washingtonexaminer.com), is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Fox News Channel contributor and a co-author of The Almanac of American Politics. To find out more about Michael Barone, and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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November 7, 2013
A President Christie Would Spell Tea Party's Doom by Froma Harrop
Mainstream Republicans are doing backflips over Chris Christie's frolic to re-election as governor of New Jersey. Here is a Republican who took on public employee unions, spoke out against abortion and gay marriage, and still scored a landslide win in a blue state. And he won Latinos' and women's votes, too.
