Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
San Diego Declares War on Our Founding Fathers and Men, Too
It appears San Diego City Hall has been overrun by a wild pack of militant, man-hating feminists who are hell-bent on neutering the King's English. To quote "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy," Great Odin's raven! City Hall recently published an edict on bias-free language — part of a larger correspondence manual for city workers. "Our goal is to encourage bias-free language — language that does not create or perpetuate real or perceived prejudice — in our written and spoken communication," the city explained in its manual.
Liberalism's Legacy: Debt and Dependency
How will history remember the presidency of Barack Obama? In the budget message he sent Congress this week, Obama portrays himself as a president who led America back to economic good times. "When I took office, our nation was in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression," Obama wrote. "The economy was shedding 800,000 jobs a month. The auto industry was on the brink of collapse and our manufacturing sector was in decline. Many families were struggling to pay their bills and make ends meet. Millions more saw their savings evaporate, even as retirement neared.
Voters Not Taking Primary for Granite
It's tough to find two states with less in common than Iowa and New Hampshire — and in last night's presidential primary, voters showed why. The candidates didn't just swap farms for forests, they moved from values-motivated conservatives to fiercely independent moderates. But that didn't mean the results were any easier to predict (just ask Hillary Clinton).
Day of the Demagogues
As the results of New Hampshire's primary were coming in Tuesday night, some commentators on Twitter were jubilant about the "disruption": that is, the victories of an inane socialist demagogue and a foul-mouthed nationalist demagogue and what they represented to the "establishment." Yes, mobs are disruptive. Madame Defarge enjoyed a good shakeup herself. Sen. Bernie Sanders believes that eight years of the most leftist president in American history have left the plutocrats in total control. Channeling the late Hugo Chavez, he promises to lift the minimum wage to $15 per hour, provide free college educations for all and deliver universal health care (with only a small tax on the middle class). How will he pay for it? "With a tax on Wall Street speculation."
Saudi Singer on Egyptian TV Criticizes Radical Islam, Defends the West
This fight against radical Islam is also a fight *within* Islam. Where, we constantly ask, are the voices of "moderation" who question the barbarity committed in the name of Islam? Consider Shams Bandar. Born in Saudi Arabia, this popular singer renounced her Saudi citizenship, lives in Europe and intends to become a citizen of a European country. On an Egyptian channel called Dream TV, Bandar said to the astonished host, "We have been fighting and shedding blood for 1,400 years, and now we are blaming America and Britain?"
Primary Results: Republicans
With few exceptions, the results essentially mirrored the polls. Trump has consistently led the New Hampshire polls since July. Recent polls indicating a surge for Ohio Governor John Kasich were spot on. Here's my analysis...
President's Oil Tax Puts Americans Over a Barrel
If you have ever found yourself at the gas pump thinking, "I really wish it cost more to fill up," then President Obama has just the idea for you. In his final budget request, he will include a call for an additional $10 in taxes per barrel of oil. This terrible idea would roll back the tremendous energy gains made in recent years and harm the economy. The biggest and most obvious impact of the Obama gas tax would be its impact on the pocketbooks of American drivers. That's right; one of the most underrated findings in economics is the fact that the person cutting the tax check isn't always the one shouldering its burden. In this case, you can tax "oil companies" as much as you want, but the burden will be passed on to consumers. And indeed, estimates show the $10 per barrel fee could translate to roughly 22 cents per gallon of gasoline. That would more than double the current federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. The president, in other words, wants Uncle Sam to collect $5 or more every time you fill up.
That 'Controversial' Doritos Commercial
In a day when the most innocuous thing can quickly become political, a Doritos Super Bowl commercial has upset some people who want abortion to be an unrestricted right. For those taking a bathroom break or watching "Downton Abbey" instead of the football game, here's the scenario. A pregnant woman is receiving a sonogram in her hospital bed. The screen shows the baby. The father is snacking on Doritos and he notices the child's arms moving in the direction of the chip, as dad takes it from the bag and puts it in his mouth. Finally, the baby can stand it no longer and emerges from the womb to grab his own chip.
In Search of Fixes for a Fossilized Economy
The U.S. economy grew at an anemic rate of less than 1 percent in the last quarter of 2015. While the unemployment rate has dipped below 5 percent, the all-important labor force participation rate is at a historic low of just 62.7 percent. More than 90 million able-bodied adults are either not currently in the labor force or have stopped looking for work altogether. Average household incomes have been mostly stagnant in recent years relative to the rate of inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 2.2 percent in 2015 and has continued to plummet this year. Most people's retirement portfolios have been losing money. Such economic sluggishness, more than seven years after the 2008 financial crisis, was not supposed to happen, given all the traditional economic stimuli.
Break the Teeth-Whitening Monopoly
It is frequently said that, unfortunately, Americans disdain government. It is more usefully said that, unfortunately, they have abundant reasons for doing so. In coming days, the Supreme Court, by deciding to hear a case from Connecticut, can begin limiting a contemptible government abuse that the court's passive deference to legislatures has encouraged. The case concerns a minor economic activity, teeth whitening, but a major principle: Can a state limit Americans' opportunities by restricting access to particular professions for no reason other than the enrichment of people entrenched in those professions? If the court refuses to hear the case, or if it hears it and decides it incorrectly, the "rational basis" test for judging government regulations of economic activities will no longer test anything — it will be completely severed from reasoning based on evidence.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
New Hampshire Republicans Stain Their Credibility
New Hampshire primary voters have long taken pride in subjecting presidential wannabes to a long and thoroughgoing scrutiny — vetting the candidates on their political stands, grilling them at innumerable town hall meetings, assessing their demeanor on the campaign trail. White House hopefuls held themselves to a high standard of civility, or they didn't win the first-in-the-nation primary. By handing a victory to Donald Trump in this year's primary, New Hampshire's voters may have just blown up that long-nurtured credibility.
Sloppy Language and Thinking
George Orwell said, "But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." Gore Vidal elaborated on that insight, saying, "As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate." And John Milton predicted, "When language in common use in any country becomes irregular and depraved, it is followed by their ruin and degradation." These observations bear heeding about how sloppy language is corrupting our society.
High-Tech Ted
Politicians tailor their messages to different audiences. Facing New Hampshire's primary, Ted Cruz talked more about "free-market principles" and a "commitment to the Constitution" and said "no one personality can right the wrongs done by Washington." Politico ran the headline "Ted Cruz, born-again libertarian." I'm skeptical. Campaigning in Iowa, Cruz had emphasized religion and social conservatism. But politicians no longer just target voters state-by-state — they target by person. Last election, President Obama beat Mitt Romney partly by doing just that. Obama had 50 people working in data analytics. Romney had four.
Republicans Can Get More Black Votes
The 2012 presidential election delivered a wake-up call to the Republican Party to improve communication with minorities. The realization that the American presidency can now be won with support of less than 40 percent of white voters — Obama won with just 39 percent — was a bombshell. When Ronald Reagan was elected president in November 1980, 88 percent of the electorate was white. In 2012, when Barack Obama was elected, this was down to 72 percent. Pew Research projects that in 2016 the percentage of white voters will be down to 69 percent. This trend will continue, as America becomes a nation that is less and less white.
What Rand Paul Brought to the Race
During the last Republican presidential debate in which he participated, Rand Paul condemned the National Security Agency's mass collection of Americans' telephone records, cautioned against reckless intervention in Syria's civil war, and declared that a "true fiscal conservative" must "look at all spending" for savings, meaning the military budget is not sacrosanct. The Kentucky senator also called for criminal justice reform, touted body cameras as a way "to protect both officers and citizens," and bemoaned the racially disproportionate impact of the war on drugs.
Hillary's Use of the Gender Card Isn't Working
Hillary Clinton is not a woman, and that's a triumph for feminism and a problem for Hillary. Let me clarify. Yes, technically she is female. But when millions of Americans think of Hillary Clinton, they don't think of her gender; they think of, well, Hillary Clinton. Some may think of her as a heroic liberal technocrat. Others might think of her as a deeply partisan politician. The list goes on: She's a supportive (or enabling) wife, a great (or terrible) former secretary of state, a left-wing bully or a victim of political witch hunts. What she is not is an icon for a category of humanity called "womanhood."
Obama's Budget: Blueprint for Bankruptcy
President Obama submitted his final budget to Congress [Tuesday]. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama declared, "The budget that we are releasing today reflects my priorities." That's certainly a true statement. It is a jaw-dropping $4.1 trillion manifesto of higher taxes, more spending and bigger government. It is a blueprint for national bankruptcy. Just consider this analysis from the Associated Press: "Obama's budget would increase taxes by $2.6 trillion over the coming decade, nearly double the $1.4 trillion in new taxes Obama sought and failed to achieve in last year's budget... Even with the increased taxes, Obama's budget projects sharply higher deficits in coming years, totaling $9.8 trillion over the next decade."
How Attitude Trumped Conservative Thought
On Monday, grassroots Republican favorite Donald Trump repeated the phrase when an audience member called Ted Cruz a "p—." He came to this conclusion after determining that Cruz wasn't sufficiently gung-ho about waterboarding possible terrorists. Asked to define conservatism at the last Republican debate, Trump stated, "I think it's a person who doesn't want to take overly risks. I think that's a good thing."
TSA: Total Security Abyss
While a TSA agent pawed my hair bun this weekend, presumably on high alert for improvised explosive bobby pins, I pondered the latest news on the Somalia airplane terror attack. Intelligence officials released video footage of airport employees in Mogadishu handing a laptop to a jihadist suspect before he boarded Daallo Airlines Airbus Flight D3159 last week. The device allegedly contained a bomb that exploded on the plane, which created a massive hole out of which the bomber was fatally sucked. Two other passengers were injured in the blast before the pilot successfully made an emergency landing. Several airport workers have now been arrested and the FBI is in Africa assisting the investigation.
GOP Plan a Rough Draft for America's Daughters
In debates where most of the surprising comments have come from Donald Trump, the single greatest surprise of Saturday's was when Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Governor Jeb Bush (R-Fla.), and Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.), all fathers of girls, couldn't point to a single reason why American women shouldn't be forced to serve in the military. Among other things, it would mean assigning women to ground units with the mission to destroy the enemy through brutal means like hand-to-hand combat. With five daughters between them, their answers shell-shocked voters who struggled to understand what's happening in our country when even Republicans would order women into harm's way in a misguided attempt at parity.