Politics & Rights

In a recent interview with Book Page, novelist Adam Johnson offered observations of North Korea that capture the consequences of collectivist ideals taken seriously. Johnson travelled to the dictatorship while writing his latest book and was struck by the stark conformity and fear he found there: There are four shoe styles…

For one thing, both advocate censorship. Fonda wants to use the power of the federal government to shut down Rush Limbaugh’s radio broadcasts (as I’ve discussed); Santorum wants to use the same power to shut down internet pornography. Both Fonda and Santorum are enemies of freedom of speech. As Steven…

Two U.S. senators a few weeks ago went to Cuba to discuss the release of jailed American, Alan Gross, with Cuban dictator Raul Castro. Gross “is serving a 15-year jail term for spiriting satellite and other communications equipment onto the island while on a USAID-funded democracy-building program. Cuba considers the…

Although I may disagree with what Rush Limbaugh says, I will defend to the death his right to say it. That sentiment, inspired by Voltaire, is the proper attitude to take with respect to anyone with whom one disagrees. But in an article recently published by CNN, Jane Fonda, Robin…

The Obama administration finally found a program it is willing to cut, albeit a tiny one. However, the administration is facing opposition to this reduction by. . . conservatives. As the Washington Times reports, the U.S. government has spent around $2 million per year to facilitate the “adoption” of so-called…

Should college students with a permit to carry concealed handguns be legally allowed to carry a gun on campus? On campuses subsidized by taxpayers, they should—subject, of course, to the state’s restrictions on use and trade, prohibition of menacing, and the like. Recently the Colorado Supreme Court correctly overturned the…

Few things could better illustrate the deep corruption of U.S. law than the Department of Justice’s grotesquely unjust assault on Apple, one of America’s most beloved and most successful companies. What is Apple’s alleged crime? It is contracting voluntarily with willing publishers to sell digital books to willing customers, thereby…

In less than a week the “Kony 2012” video produced by the California charity Invisible Children racked up over 60 million YouTube views. While the video reminds us what a brutal hellhole much of Africa remains, it attacks the wrong problem and offers the wrong solution. No doubt the subject…

[caption id="attachment_92906" align="alignnone" width="720"] Image by Gage Skidmore[/caption] The night after Andrew Breitbart died, I watched an episode of Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld in which Gavin McInnes told a delightful story about Breitbart. In an earlier episode of Red Eye, Gutfeld and McInnes had been mocking the idea of Donald…

If you own a fine restaurant, should you be free to require diners to wear a jacket and dress slacks? If you own a night club, should you be able to admit only patrons with fashionable attire? How about if you own a convenience store? Should you be free to…