Americans are worrying about the founding document again. I don’t worry about the Constitution,” said Representative Phil Hare, Democrat of Illinois, at a town-hall meeting where voters questioned his support of the legislation that became Obamacare. You can find the clip on YouTube, where it has 462,084 hits. That was before the 2010 election ... MORE
The tragedy: an increased willingness to use government force. Public misunderstanding, ignorance and possibly contempt for liberty play into the hands of people who want to control our lives. Responses to my recent column "Compliant Americans" brought this home to me. In it, I argued that the anti-tobacco movement became the template and ... MORE
by Shikha Dalmia. With the three-day ObamaCare circus at the Supreme Court behind us, let’s fast-forward to June. Suppose that five justices find their constitutional bearings and do what a majority of Americans want them to do: Scrap the individual mandate, the key provision without which the law will collapse. What then? Will that mean that our current system ... MORE
Vincente Fox says the solution is legalization. When a former Mexican president comes to town, you might expect drugs to be discussed. You might not expect a pitch for legalizing them. But there on Wednesday was Vicente Fox, who led Mexico from 2000 to 2006, sharing a cocktail with a group at the Des Moines condo of Connie Wimer and Frank Fogarty ... MORE
No good reason required. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by the court’s conservative wing, wrote that courts are in no ... MORE
You only get one chance at self-defense. The high-profile shooting death of an unarmed Florida teenager by a neighborhood watch captain has prompted rallies and protests across the country, including in Oklahoma, but state leaders say it won’t affect the push for greater gun rights in Oklahoma. While officials in some states, like Florida, are taking a ... MORE
Highest corporate tax in the developed world. The United States is now, officially, the worst place to do business in the developed world. On Sunday, Japan lowered its corporate tax rate in the hopes of luring business to its shores, handing the title of highest tax rate to the Land of the Free. The market reaction on Monday will tell whether money will begin flowing ... MORE
Health care should not be a federal concern at all. Well, I can’t imagine that that — that the Commerce Clause would — would forbid Congress from taking into account this deeply embedded social norm.” This was Solicitor General Donald Verrilli on Day Two of the great Obamacare case. At issue was Affordable Care Act’s most controversial aspect: ... MORE
Understanding the origins of state power. In the beginning ruling classes had a problem. It will be familiar to those acquainted with the Austrian critique of central economic planning: Rulers could not know what they needed to know to do the job they wanted to do. Societies, even seemingly primitive ones, are complex networks held together by ... MORE
Can the government force you to eat broccoli? This week, the Supreme Court measured Obamacare to see whether it fits within the confines of the Constitution. The big picture is whether the Constitution limits the behavior of the federal government to the plain meaning and historical context of the Constitution, or whether clever lawyers and politicians ... MORE
Higher electricity prices will affect the poor most. “If someone wants to build a new coal-fired power plant they can, but it will bankrupt them because they will be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”- Candidate Barack Obama, 2008. Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned. This week, the unelected, unaccountable ... MORE
Doctors, patients, and the future of ObamaCare. Imagine if the government mandated that you buy an expensive certificate to eat at a certain restaurant chain, but you quickly discovered that this chain only provided you with limited food options and didn’t hire additional chefs or waiters to cover the new volume of customers. Moreover, what if ... MORE
The billionaire adventurist advocates liberty. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, involved in such ventures as selling space travel to the affluent, is now pushing for people to have the freedom to get high here on Earth without risking going to jail. The British billionaire argues criminal punishment fails to stem drug abuse, and is calling on countries ... MORE
Sparking a thirst for liberty? Though the liberal media and leftist Hollywood are wrapping themselves in The Hunger Games, the book series' pro-individualism, anti-socialist/communist/totalitarianism message has thus far eluded them -- but the legions of children reading the books are getting the message. When I learned that my teenage sons -- macho young lads ... MORE