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.
Political Commentary
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June 26, 2013
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.
June 13, 2013
House Update: Tiny Movement Toward Republicans By Larry J. Sabato and Kyle Kondik
At this very early point in the 2014 race for the U.S. House, small Republican gains -- as in, less than five seats -- look likelier than a similarly small gain for Democrats. That’s because the Republican targets just look a little better than the Democratic ones.
June 12, 2013
Terror and Safety By John Stossel
This week, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the National Security Agency's data mining violates our Fourth Amendment right to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers" and is "tyranny that our founders rebelled against." Good for him.
June 11, 2013
Prop. 13: Message for Another Time By Froma Harrop
If the national tax revolt has bookends, the first bracket was placed 35 years ago this month. That's when California voters passed Proposition 13, a law curbing tax increases.
June 11, 2013
Citizens Stand and Fight the IRS By Mark Meckler
The NorCal Tea Party last month filed class action litigation against the Internal Revenue Service in federal court in Ohio, based on the unconstitutional profiling and harassment of conservative, religious and other liberty-minded organizations in their applications for non-profit status. By its own admission, the IRS has been profiling and discriminating against hundreds of groups based on their political viewpoint.
June 10, 2013
America Will Pay a Price for President Obama's Inaction in Syria By Michael Barone
Barack Obama's appointments of Susan Rice as national security adviser and Samantha Power as ambassador to the United Nations have naturally triggered speculation about changes in foreign policy.
June 7, 2013
Live From Istanbul: Authoritarians With Bad Taste By Froma Harrop
Anti-government protests in Turkey have produced a social movement like no other. The lit match was not the death of a heroic dissident, a corrupt election, high unemployment or the other usual-suspect grievances. It was the government's plan to replace precious park space in downtown Istanbul with a shopping mall and replica of army barracks from the Ottoman era.
