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
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
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
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
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
“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
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
The primary danger of confident ignorance. After reading Barack Obama's book "Dreams from My Father," it became painfully clear that he has not been searching for the truth, because he assumed from an early age that he had already found the truth — and now it was just a question of filling in the details and deciding how to change things. Obama did not ... MORE
To serve, protect, embarrass and extort. California city officials typically spare police officers even modest reductions in the pay and pension packages that are a main source of local budget problems, even when the other alternatives are cuts in public services or even municipal bankruptcy. The common explanation is politicians are afraid of the ... MORE
by Michelle Malkin. Thumper the Rabbit’s parents always taught him, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” If the left’s self-appointed Omniscient Diviners of True Meaning have their way, conservatives in the public square won’t be left with anything at all to say. Ever. It’s a treacherous business exercising your freedom of ... MORE
by Sheldon Richman. Imagine the following person. He believes all individuals should be free to do anything that’s peaceful and therefore favors private property, free global markets, freedom of contract, civil liberties, and all the related ideas that come under the label libertarianism (or liberalism). Obviously he is not a statist. ... MORE
Democrats used to care about poor and working people. In a nearly full-page op-ed appearing in the business section of the August 25 New York Times, Cornell professor Robert H. Frank lays out the new green agenda for tax policy. According to Professor Frank, stopping global warming may require carbon taxes of about $300 per ton of carbon ... MORE
by David Kravets. The Transportation Security Administration denied Thursday it was stonewalling a federal appeals court’s year-old decision demanding the agency hold public hearings concerning the so-called nude body scanners installed in U.S. airport security checkpoints. On July 15, 2011, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ... MORE