Inside the beltway, discussion of President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 has provoked the “Sturm und Drang” that we have come to expect in the polarized partisan atmosphere that predominates in Washington.
Democracy, whatever its defects, has this to recommend it: Like the market economy, it is a mechanism for transmitting information. When the demand for rutabagas declines on the free market, so does the price, because sellers are intent on clearing their existing inventories. If the trend continues over the long run, many sellers of rutabagas may leave the market entirely.
The Obama Administration’s attitude toward the American court system is reminiscent of every schoolyard bully: Heads I win; tails you lose. From healthcare to the environment to jobs, liberal legal elites pay lip service to the rule of law while their friends in the bureaucracy race to entrench liberal policies. Welcome to the New Incrementalism.
WE ARE OFTEN TOLD that we possess the most powerful military in the world and that we will face no serious threat for some time to come. We are comforted with three reassurances aimed at deflecting any serious discussion of national security: (1) that Islam is a religion of peace; (2) that we will never go to war with China because our economic interests are intertwined; and (3) that America won the Cold War and Russia is no longer our enemy. But these reassurances are myths, propagated on the right and left alike. We believe them at our peril, because serious threats are already upon us.
The historians will long be fighting over the legislative legacy of the 111th Congress. As to its legal legacy, the only real question is whether this just-finished Democratic Congress was the most unserious in decades, or the most unserious in history.
On the anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday, I thought it would be a great opportunity to listen to President Reagan’s thoughts on socialized medicine. Listen to it carefully, and as always,
According to legend, it was the wayward kick of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow that began the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Two days later, a third of the Windy City’s property value was destroyed and a third of its people were homeless. One wonders if a similar catastrophe will emerge from another seemingly minor combustion: the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year old Tunisian street vendor whose public suicide was a protest against an oppressive government that had confiscated his livelihood and insulted his pride.
Do we sympathize with the tens of thousands of Egyptians marching to topple the regime of Hosni Mubarak? It would be churlish not to. Poverty, insecurity, lack of basic services (the tap water in Cairo is reportedly unsafe to drink), endemic corruption, and political repression have characterized life there for as long as anyone can remember. The military regime lacks legitimacy, having governed since 1967 under a state of emergency.
Under the radar this past week was President Barack Obama’s executive order for a review of government regulations in hope of showing that bigger government isn’t bad news for economic growth and business. Of course, the president didn’t word it that way. In his op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, Obama wrote that he just wants to “make sure we avoid excessive, inconsistent and redundant regulation.” That sounds like such a great idea, doesn’t it? The first problem is the wording; don’t be bamboozled by it.
TODAY IS THE 223RD anniversary of the submission of the Constitution of the United States for ratification. It is the greatest governing document in human history. And on this day we dedicate our Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship near Capitol Hill here in Washington. Let me explain briefly why we are launching this center. The reason has to do with the times in which we live, and it has to do with the purposes of Hillsdale College.
