There is no free market of ideas, candidates, or political parties on Election Day. It’s not for a lack of demand. According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post survey, 57 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton; 44 percent say they would prefer a third-party candidate to run. …
A tariff is a sharp edged tool used to carve out the best trade deals for America. It is used to raise the price of imported goods as a defense against unfair competition from foreign markets. And like any other tax, a tariff doesn’t have to be universal or permanent: it can be limited, lowered, …
“No Eunuch Ever Wrote a Book.” That was the late novelist Taylor Caldwell’s take on her phenomenally successful career, but she is no longer a well-known name among avid fiction readers. Then again, who hears much about Irving Wallace or even John Dos Passos these days? Among fiction writers who hold the all time record of …
Edward P.G. Seaga became Prime Minister of Jamaica on October 30, 1980, after winning a landslide victory over the pro-Castro incumbent Michael J. Manley. Eight years of socialist rule had devastated Jamaica and Seaga was faced with the treasury that was literally empty. In fact, the Bank of Jamaica announced the day before the …
If there ever was a real Horatio Alger story, the life and times of Dan Smoot certainly fit the bill. From farm boy, orphan, and hobo to the faculty at Harvard University, service as an FBI agent, and staff assistant to J. Edgar Hoover—that in and of itself makes for a fascinating story, with enough …
Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asserts that the “most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” The money we spend on weaponry — and the fingers that fire them — is staggering. For example, the 2012 Department of Defense budget (more than the annual defense budgets of the …
We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now Murray Polner and Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Basic Books, 2007, PB; 352 pages; $16.95 What do Abraham Lincoln, Pat Buchanan, Helen Keller, John Quincy Adams, George McGovern, and Daniel Webster have in common? All were anti-war advocates (at least Lincoln was …
There is a growing clamor for “open” primaries which permits voters of all parties, or no affiliation, to vote for a candidate before the general election. There is a “top two” component to open primaries: candidates for a given office, regardless of party line, appear on the same ballot, but only the two with the …
James Madison wisely observed, “When the variety and number of political parties increases, the chance for oppression, factionalism, and non-skeptical acceptance of ideas decreases.” Marginalized policy initiatives can often bubble up into the mainstream because of independent candidates and third parties. In his book, Declaring Independence: The Beginning of the End of the Two-Party System, …
President Reagan has correctly updated and refined the way Washington works” an “Iron Triangle” of power and money interests perpetuate a big government run with red ink. He derided the coalition of left-wing congressman, special interest groups, and liberal elements of the media this week as usurpers of our democratic institutions. The Iron Triangle formula once included …