Alan Bjerga: The Welfare State Is A Great Growth Industry

Food-stamp use climbs to record.    Food-stamp use reached a record 46.7 million people in June, the government said, as Democrats prepare to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term with the economy as a chief issue in the campaign. Participation was up 0.4 percent from May and 3.3 percent higher than a year earlier    ... MORE

Christopher Elliott: Democrats, Republicans And The TSA

Like it or not, TSA is an election year issue.  American voters, who have felt powerless against the allegedly invasive screening methods used by an expanding TSA, got an unexpected gift from a very unexpected place last week. At the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., the party adopted a platform that included a pledge to reform the TSA.    ... MORE

King Obama Issues Major 'Green Energy' Executive Order

by Becket Adams.   Between conservatives focusing all their attention on the successes/failures of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., and the left having a meltdown over the supposed “racism” and unprecedented disrespect of Clint Eastwood’s “Empty Chair” routine, little attention has been given to an executive order issued last    ... MORE

The Silent But Deadly War On Drugs

by Gretchen Burns Bergman. The War on Drugs, which began the year that my first son was born, has wreaked havoc on our families for over 40 years, because it isn't really a war against drugs. It is a war against our own people, and it has stealthily eaten away at the fabric of our lives for decades. These punitive and discriminatory drug war strategies      ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Rising Cost Of College

Walter E Williams: Upward Mobility Barriers

Effects of restrictive economic restrictions and licensing.  Let's pretend that we have the political guts to expand economic opportunities for people at the lower end of the economic spectrum. What vested interests should be attacked, and what economic regulations should be targeted for elimination? It doesn't take a lot of money to become  ... MORE

Theo Caldwell: Police-State Conventions

Republicans need to rethink domestic security.   “They know better than we do.” This was the comment of a Republican attendee, surveying the massive security surrounding us at the GOP Convention in Tampa. What began as a mumbled musing about the militarization of an American metropolis settled into a calm self-assurance that,   ... MORE

VIDEO: GREEN BEAM AGAINST WARRANTLESS SEARCHES

Kenneth Gould: The High Cost Of College

An economic explanation. Despite good intentions, government has reduced price competition; as a result, prices have risen much faster than they otherwise would. Many news articles are starting to note that middle and upper-middle class parents are having trouble paying for their children’s college educations. Most of these articles see this  ... MORE

Steve Conover: 'Top Down' Vs. 'Bottom Up'

“Top-down economics” is a hijacked phrase.    Objectively, it should be the label assigned to rule-of-czar capitalism steered by government officials. Instead, campaign rhetoric has been assigning it to rule-of-law capitalism driven by consumers and entrepreneurs—supposedly a system steered by the already-rich, in which money gradually    ... MORE

Star Parker: Only Issue Now Facing Americans Is Freedom

Keeping it simple. The political parties throw a lot of glitz at us with their made-for-TV spectaculars, which we call conventions. But the bottom line defining the choice facing Americans this year is stark and clear, and these conventions provide no new insights or information. If you think we’re struggling because we don’t have enough  ... MORE