Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
After Iowa
Senator Ted Cruz's upset victory against Donald Trump has robbed "The Donald" of his stock answer to any criticism from rivals-- that he is winning and his critics are losers. Now that he has lost, Mr. Trump may finally have to try to come up with some substantive arguments about the complex issues facing this country, rather than simply boast about the great things he will do when he becomes president. Trump may turn out to be like the Wizard of Oz, after the curtain was pulled back to reveal the real man who was been busy projecting an awesome image.
The GOP's Suicidal Immigration Stance
Ted Cruz, who won the Republican caucus in Iowa on Monday, says he has always opposed legalizing the 11 million people who live in the U.S. without the government's permission. Donald Trump, who finished second in Iowa, has promised to deport them all, while Marco Rubio, who was a point behind Trump, has renounced the "path to citizenship" he used to support and wants to double the size of the U.S. Border Patrol, even as net migration from Mexico has dropped below zero. On the face of it, the Republican Party is not in a very pro-immigrant mood. Yet the positions staked out by Cruz and Trump are unpopular even among Republicans and could prove fatal to a party that needs support from Hispanic voters to win.
Political Arrogance
After the Iowa caucus results, it looks like Hillary Clinton vs. Marco Rubio in November! They lead the betting at ElectionBettingOdds.com. This scares me. Neither candidate shows any interest in limited government. They scoff at anyone who suggests that their grand schemes do more harm than good. But big government *does* do more harm than good. I shouldn't single out Rubio or Clinton, or even Donald Trump. Almost everyone running for office today declares himself a "leader" who "gets things done." There's no modesty, little acknowledgement that so much of what government does is costly attempts to fix problems that government created at home and abroad.
Iowa Ruins the 'Inevitable'
The results in the Iowa caucuses are a rebuke to the notion that the national media have all the influence over America's voters. Donald Trump has been the overwhelmingly dominant figure on television news. Even his decision to duck a debate was treated as bigger news than the actual event, and he almost fell to third place in Iowa. On the Democratic side, when Hillary Clinton entered the race last April, she was presented as an unstoppable colossus, the American royal family returning to its natural place of power and adoration. Time magazine published a nauseating tribute from Laurene Powell Jobs, wife of the late Apple computer genius Steve Jobs, as "one of America's greatest modern creations ... she represents new realities and possibilities."
Will GOP Congress 'Affirm' Legitimacy of State-Owned Businesses?
In October, President Barack Obama said that the Trans-Pacific Partnership his administration had just finished negotiating "reflects America's values." In November, in an official notice to Congress, he called it "a free trade agreement." Yet the deal itself expressly affirms government-ownership of industry. The deal's preamble states that the "Parties to this Agreement" resolve to: "Establish a comprehensive regional agreement that promotes economic integration to liberalise trade and investment ..."
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Public School Kisses Valentine's Day Goodbye
The Baby Jesus, Tom Turkey and Cupid are about to be given the heave-ho at a Minnesota elementary school to be more inclusive of their ethnically diverse student population. Bruce Vento Elementary School, in St. Paul, has decided to stop celebrating Valentine's Day along with other "dominant holidays" including Thanksgiving and Christmas. "My personal feeling is we need to find a way to honor and engage in holidays that are inclusive of our student population," Principal Scott Masini wrote in a letter to parents.
The United States of Trump
In the beginning there was a combative media. Dating back to Colonial America, as Eric Burns has chronicled in his book, "Infamous Scribblers," politicians and journalists have mostly had a love (for Democrats)-hate (for Republicans) relationship. It is television and the advent of the celebrity culture — from "TMZ" to "Entertainment Tonight," to now even broadcast news — that has taken the process to new depths. The first televised presidential debate in 1960 between Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon began the shift from substance to the superficial. As numerous journalism students have been taught, people who listened on the radio thought Nixon had won on substance, but those who viewed the debate on TV decided Kennedy was the winner because he looked better than the perspiring, uncomfortable, five o'clock shadow Nixon.
Random Thoughts
Random thoughts on the passing scene: Will this November's presidential election come down to a choice between a felon and a pied piper? People who call Barack Obama a lame duck president seem not to have noticed that he is exercising more power than ever, and has turned the Republican Congress into a lame duck branch of government. The best New Year's Resolution I ever made was to stop trying to reason with unreasonable people. That may be especially valuable during an election year.
Who of the Candidates Has Fairest Tax Plan of All?
With the first real votes being cast in the presidential race Monday, this is an opportune moment to do some last-minute comparison shopping on the candidates' tax reform plans. On this issue there's a lot to cheer about. All the Republican candidates have crafted plans that would slash tax rates for everyone and most would vastly simplify the thousands of pages of IRS tax code. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have endorsed flat-tax plans that, for full disclosure, were designed by Arthur Laffer and myself. These plans have drawn some criticism from the Right of late, though these attacks are mostly baseless.
Republican Debate Shows Where Comprehensive Immigration Is Headed: Nowhere
Donald Trump was absent from Fox News' Republican debate Thursday night, presiding at his own event seven minutes' drive away featuring cameo appearances by the two previous Iowa Republican caucus winners exiled now to the undercard debate, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum. But the issue Trump raised to high-decibel level at his announcement last June was front and center at the main event: immigration. It was raised midway through the debate by the moderator Trump cited as the reason for his non-participation, Megyn Kelly. She ran videotape montages of previous comments on the issue by Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and asked them to explain the discrepancies between what they said then and their positions now. She could have played a similar montage for Trump if he had shown up.
Putting the Values in the Values Voter
For those vying to replace Barack Obama as president, the process started months ago, but for voters who are tasked with selecting the next leader of the free world, that process begins today. Let me give you some good news about the influence of your vote. While evangelicals are a little over one-third of the voting population, they represent nearly half the votes cast in the primary process. This means evangelicals have a tremendous opportunity to direct the future of our nation by whom they support. The not-so-good news is that a large number of evangelicals appear to being using the same criteria for choosing a leader as non-evangelicals.
Monday, February 1, 2016
NYPD Prioritizes Sensitivity Toward Muslims Over Public Safety
Advocates for terrorists control the debate and, too often, the policies of how to counter the threat from Islamic terrorism. These special interest groups, ranging from the ACLU to terrorist fronts such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), have law enforcement on a leash. Our Corruption Chronicles blog reported the latest assault on our security in which the New York City Police Department was targeted by the Left because of an effective anti-terrorist program focused upon radical Muslims...
Progressivism Throws Money at Problems. Conservatism Solves Them.
To "throw money at the problem" is usually understood as a bad thing everywhere but in progressive circles. And for all intents and purposes, the Washington Beltway is one of them. Recognizing the underlying pathology of a problem, or debating whether it is best addressed at a federal, state, or local level — even asking whether it is an issue best left to private citizens — is entirely the domain of conservative policymaking. This is a far cry from so-called progressive policy, which tends to shoot both spending and decision-making straight to the top of the ladder, no questions asked. Simply judging both schools by their problem-solving capabilities, one would assume that the mostly empty toolbox of progressivism isn't nearly as versatile.
If I Were a Democrat
If I were dumb enough to believe that liberalism made the slightest bit of sense, I would vote for Bernie Sanders. For one thing, he has never used a private server so as not to leave a trail of poisoned bread crumbs. He has never told his daughter the truth about the massacre in Benghazi while lying to the American people and to the parents of those four brave souls who lost their lives while serving their nation. Bernie Sanders never berated a congressional committee seeking answers to legitimate questions by saying something as odious as "What difference, at this point, does it make who murdered four Americans?"
Sunday, January 31, 2016
The Extraordinary Generosity of Ordinary Americans
*The Almanac of American Philanthropy* is something new under the sun: a sweeping reference guide to one of the most remarkable institutions of American life — private charity. Published by the Philanthropy Roundtable and running more than 1,300 pages, it is the first definitive work on the history, variety, and impact of private giving in the United States.
How Are Republicans and Democrats Different?
Have you ever wondered why Republicans and Democrats differ in the way they think about government? I'm not talking about the difference between conservatives and liberals. Those differences are pretty apparent. But most Democrats are not all that liberal and ideology is not what drives them to the voting booth.
We Need 'Constitution Strong,' Not 'Christie Weak'
It's Republican presidential primary "game time," and where the party's candidates stand on the proper role of judges in our representative democracy could not be a more important — or, in most respects, a more unifying — issue. All GOP contenders understand that the next president will shape the U.S. Supreme Court and appeals courts for the next decade, and possibly the next generation, given the ages of jurists and philosophical breakdowns on these courts. The Republican candidates all also share the same view of the judge's role in our system of government.
Smart Tax Reform Would Ignite Growth
Woodrow Wilson, who enjoyed moralizing about the mundane, called paying taxes a "glorious privilege." In 1865, when there was a Civil War income tax, one taxpayer shared this sensibility, sort of. Mark Twain said that his tax bill of $36.82 (including a $3.12 fine for filing late) made him feel "important" because the government was paying attention to him. Today, Rep. Kevin Brady wants to change the way government pays attention to taxpayers. Congress is like a Calder mobile: Something jiggled here causes things to wiggle over there. When conservatives toppled Speaker John Boehner, they inadvertently propelled Brady into the House's most important chairmanship, that of the Ways and Means Committee. Because revenue bills must originate in the House, Brady now wields Congress' most important gavel, all because the committee's previous chairman, Paul Ryan, now sits in Boehner's chair.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Lawsuit: Public School Forced My Child to Convert to Islam
A public high school has been accused of radical Islamic indoctrination by forcing children to profess the Muslim statement of faith, ordering them to memorize the Five Pillars of Islam and teaching that the faith of a Muslim is stronger than the average Christian, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. Thomas More Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of John and Melissa Wood. They accuse La Plata High School in Maryland of subjecting their teenage daughter to Islamic indoctrination and propaganda. And when Mr. Wood complained, the school banned him from campus.
The Quisling Establishment
Few expected Donald Trump would be in a dominant position days before the Iowa caucuses. Fewer still expected the Republican establishment would be among the mogul's deluded enablers. As if to validate every insult ever hurled at it, the GOP elite is putting on a display of fecklessness that has to surprise even its most vociferous critics. It is the quisling establishment. All signs are that Beltway Republicans are ready and willing to accept their new Trumpian overlord.