Should Sesame Street’s Big Bird or the like receive tax dollars? Not according to wise and fair Sesame Street characters. Mitt Romney took that position, too, when, during the first presidential debate, he said: I will eliminate all programs by this test: Is the program so critical it's worth borrowing…

Should politicians be permitted to restrict campaign speech? That is a question Colorado voters will face this Fall regarding Amendment 65, a ballot measure asking politicians to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution "that allows Congress and the states to limit campaign contributions and spending." Recently I presented my…

“You didn’t build that.” “Spread the wealth around.” Don’t “roll back regulations” on businesses. “Make these critical investments” in government projects, from Solyndra to Obamacare to federal education programs. Such are the ingredients of Barack Obama’s vision of an increasingly powerful central government—a government far past the bounds prescribed by…

A recent article from the Denver Post reveals the central problem with the modern clash between Democrats and Republicans: While both parties seek to protect individual rights in some ways, both seek to violate rights in other ways. The Post interviews a college student, Tyler Antikainen, about one main issue,…

A recent Washington Post article clarifies the meaning and purpose of Barack Obama’s government “investments.” As the paper reports, Obama has showered select citizens of Ohio with tax dollars and special privileges, helping them receive a grant for a “manufacturing center,” large tax credits for allegedly “clean energy,” and “the…

As Fox News reports, the United Nations is seeking to “create global taxes that would transfer hundreds of billions, and even trillions, of dollars from the rich nations of the world—especially the U.S.—to poorer ones.” [caption id="attachment_3473" align="alignright" width="242"] Image: Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Although a spokesperson from the U.S. Mission to…

It would be shocking if it weren’t so predictable. Steven Rattner, who once advised the Obama administration, begins his recent New York Times op-ed as follows: We need death panels. Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently—rationing, by its proper name—the…

What explains the U.S. government’s cowardly appeasement of Islamist violence in the Middle East? As Richard Salsman explains in his recent column for Forbes, one major cause is the worship of democracy by U.S. leaders: Asked if Egypt was still a U.S. ally, [Barack] Obama dissembled: “I don’t think we…

First consider recent actions by leaders of Islamic nations following Islamist assaults on American embassies and murders of American officials. From the New York Times: On the eve of his first trip to the United States as Egypt’s new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi said the United States needed to fundamentally…

Although I strongly disagree with Sam Harris about ethics and volition, I admire his recent article passionately defending free speech in the wake of Islamist murders of Americans in Libya and violence elsewhere. Harris first criticizes the Obama administration’s policy of appeasement: [T]he White House struck the same note of…

Following the Islamist murders of Americans at the embassy in Libya last Tuesday, Islamists continue rioting in Libya, Yemen, and Egypt—on the absurd pretext that an amateurish film hurt their feelings by offending “Allah.” But the recent murderous violence is only the most visible and outrageous manifestation of a much…

Barack Obama apparently failed to see the irony in criticizing the Republicans for promoting antiquated ideas, for Obama’s politics rehash those off FDR. Obama emoted: Despite all the challenges that we face in this new century, what [Republicans] offered [during their convention] was more often than not an agenda that…

Stable owner Thomas Hobson is said to have offered his customers the choice: “Take the horse nearest the gate, or take none at all.” At least Hobson offered a reasonable alternative. Bill Clinton offers no such thing. Here’s what the former president said at the Democratic National Convention: We Democrats,…

To profit is to improve one’s condition and enhance one’s life. In the context of a voluntary exchange, a profit is a gain that each party expects to receive. In the context of business, a profit is a financial gain after all costs have been paid. Businesses profit only if…

Democrats often claim they are “pro-choice,” yet usually they fundamentally oppose a person’s moral right to live his own life and make his own choices unhindered by the coercion of others. Zach Weissmueller of ReasonTV brilliantly exposes the left’s hypocrisy concerning “choice.” Of course, when Weissmueller asks Democrats at the…