Right Opinion
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The Progressive Legacy: Part II
"Often wrong but never in doubt" is a phrase that summarizes much of what was done by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, the two giants of the Progressive era, a century ago. Their legacy is very much alive today, both in their mindset -- including government picking winners and losers in the economy and interventionism in foreign countries -- as well as specific institutions created during the Progressive era, such as the income tax and the Federal Reserve System. Like so many Progressives today, Theodore Roosevelt felt no need to study economics before intervening in the economy. He said of "economic issues" that "I am not deeply interested in them, my problems are moral problems." For example, he found it "unfair" that railroads charged different rates to different shippers, reaching the moral conclusion that these rates were discriminatory and should be forbidden "in every shape and form."
The First and Foremost Freedom: Freedom of Religion
I've been talking a lot lately about the Obama Administration's relentless attempts to restrict religious freedom. You know by now that the Catholic bishops have strongly rejected the president's so-called "accommodation" to exempt religious organizations from paying for abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization. Good for the bishops. What the president outlined changed nothing: religious organizations will still have to provide insurance that covers services that violate their religious beliefs, even if they don't have to pay for them directly.
Never Trust Government Numbers
President Obama said in his State of the Union speech, "We've already agreed to more than $2 trillion in cuts and savings." That was reassuring. The new budget he released this week promises $4 trillion in "deficit reduction" -- about half in tax increases and half in spending cuts. But like most politicians, Obama misleads. Cato Institute economist Dan Mitchell cut through the fog to get at the truth of the $2 trillion "cut."
Obama's Fiscal Fakery: How Can You Pay Down the National Debt by Building It Up?
Decrying "a decade of deficits" on Monday, President Obama declared that "my budget lays out a path for how we can pay down these debts." It is hard to see how that can be true, since his plan would add $6.7 trillion to the national debt during the next decade. Obama thus begins his fourth year in office the way he began his first, preaching prudence while practicing profligacy. Back then, you may recall, he promised to cut the deficit, at that point estimated to be $1.3 trillion, "at least in half by the end of his first term," as a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget put it in February 2009.
Socialist Destruction Unleashed in Greece
Early Monday morning, after three days of intense negotiations, the Greek government approved the latest austerity measures demanded by other EU nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) by a vote of 199 to 74. In return, they get the latest bailout of $171 billion that nation needs in order to avoid default on March 20th, when a $19.1 billion payment on its debts is due -- if EU finance ministers approve the accord when they meet on Feb. 15. Greek Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos, who addressed the nation on Saturday night, had urged the Cabinet to approve the deal, warning of "social explosion, chaos" if it failed.
Make a Difference for Foster Children
I am an adopted son. I am a very lucky adopted son. And as an adopted son I want all adoptees like me to have the same wonderful adoptive parents I was lucky enough to have. My biological mother was an unmarried young woman from Ohio who had an affair with a married man. It was 1945 -- my biological father was in the Army and was shipped off to France to fight in the war while my mother went to California to give birth to me. My mother made the painful decision to put me up for adoption. Thankfully, I was adopted by none other than the actor Ronald Reagan and his then-wife Jane Wyman. No youngster ever had more loving parents, despite their divorce.
Free Health Care? That's Rich
"It's not about contraception," thundered GOP presidential contender Rick Santorum. "It's about economic liberty. It's about freedom of speech. It's about freedom of religion. It's about government control of your lives. And it's got to stop!" He was talking, of course, about the Obama administration's recent decisions first to force large religious employers to pay for birth control and "preventive services" (including sterilization and abortifacient drugs), and its subsequent decision to demand that the relevant insurance companies provide it for "free" instead.
The 'Progressive' Legacy
Although Barack Obama is the first black President of the United States, he is by no means unique, except for his complexion. He follows in the footsteps of other presidents with a similar vision, the vision at the heart of the Progressive movement that flourished a hundred years ago.
ObamaCare Architect: Premiums to Soar
Once again for the Obama administration, lofty promises are giving way to hard reality. On September 22, 2010, in an informal discussion regarding the healthcare bill, the president contended that "as a consequence of the Affordable Care Act, premiums are going to be lower than they would be otherwise; health care costs overall are going to be lower than they would be otherwise. And that means, by the way, that the deficit is going to be lower than it would be otherwise." That was then. Over the weekend it was revealed that MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, the chief architect of ObamaCare, backtracked on the analysis he performed two years ago. He told officials in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado the price of insurance premiums will "dramatically increase" under the reforms.
Power vs. Liberty
"Compromise," in President Obama's lexicon, has a funny meaning. It means -- with respect to the row over forcing religious employers to provide health insurance for contraception -- "Oh, all right, if you're going to be that way about it, we'll make the insurance companies provide the coverage. Will that make you shut up now?" It won't, I trust. It manifestly shouldn't. Shall we try to embarrass the president by examining the principle actually at stake here? The principle Obama wishes Americans to understand is that he cares; specifically, he cares about women who regard access to contraception and abortion as fundamental American rights.
A Real Winner: Measuring Success
A recent study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology has concluded that men who are nice (or "agreeable" as the study describes them) make as much as $7,000 less a year than those who are more ruthless. According to the study, "disagreeable" men are those who "aggressively advocate for their position during conflicts." In contrast, "agreeable" men are those who are known as "trustworthy, straightforward, compliant, altruistic, modest, and tender-minded."
The Free Lunch Is Back
Leaving aside the blatant assault on religious liberty that the Obama administration's contraceptive mandate represents (a number of commentators have ably elucidated the assault on free exercise), the edict ought to offend all sensible Americans for its sheer economic and moral fatuousness. In this case, "moral" refers to moral hazard, i.e., unintentionally encouraging bad behavior. But first, consider the economic argument the administration has advanced for forcing insurance companies to offer free contraceptives and abortifacients to all women.
President Magoo Needs No Delphic Oracle
President Obama is nothing if not an incorrigible spendaholic, as his new budget reconfirms in spades. While the nation drowns in debt, Obama wants to buy new expensive Tinkertoys to indulge his utopian fantasies. Legend has it that prior to embarking on his mission to conquer the known world, Alexander the Great, who had not yet established his greatness, visited the oracle at Delphi seeking a good omen. The oracle was actually a priestess who sat on a stool in the crypt of Apollo's Temple above a fissure in the earth that emitted vapors and put her into a trance, wherein she would channel messages from Apollo.
Losing Liberty
"Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?" -- Thomas Jefferson "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." -- Patrick Henry Liberty is always tenuous. Those who enjoy it seem to be a minority in the world. That's why liberty must not only be preserved by those who currently benefit from it; it must also be fought for and constantly renewed for future generations, because there are always those who wish to restrict or eliminate our freedoms.
Chris Christie on Israel -- and What It Means to Be a Leader
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) last week. In the few words reported by the Weekly Standard magazine, he said just about everything one needs to know about Israel; about America and Israel; and about American political leadership: "America should stand by its friends and its democratic allies, even, and sometimes especially, when it's unpopular to do so." "... It may not be fashionable in some of the chancelleries, the foreign ministries, and salons around the world to talk about why America stands with Israel -- but that's no excuse not to be saying (it), and saying it loudly."
Romney Appeals to White Collars, Santorum to Blue
Rick Santorum won big victories in three small contests in the Republican presidential race last Tuesday. In doing so, he reshaped the oft-reshaped nomination battle once again. But he has not installed himself as the favorite, and neither he nor Mitt Romney has established himself as the candidate who can do best in the general election. These were small contests not because the states involved were small -- Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado all actually have populations near the national average -- but because the primary in Missouri and the caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado are nonbinding, and so their results don't give any candidate any national convention delegates.
A Second Look at 'The Third Jihad'
Did the New York City Police Department use "terrible judgment," as Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, when it showed a documentary about Islamist extremists -- "The Third Jihad" -- to more than 1,400 officers undergoing counterterrorism training? You might think so if you took your cues from a New York Times editorial calling the documentary a "hate-filled film about Muslims," or from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which declared that it "defiled our faith and misrepresented everything we stood for."
No King Solomons in Sight
One good thing that candidate Gingrich did was open to discussion the role of the judiciary. Personally, I balk at his suggestion that judges should be called before Congress to explain and defend their dopey decisions. That is, unless members of Congress are then called before the judicial branch to explain their own follies. Still, there is no question that far too many judges have gotten way too big for their britches. Make that, their robes. If it were up to me, I would limit Supreme Court justices to nine year terms. But I don't want the president or Congress destroying the balance of power that the Founding Fathers worked so hard to create when they wrote the Constitution. Inasmuch as the president and the 535 members of Congress are every bit as prone to screw up as the Court -- and even more so when the Democrats are in charge! -- I can't imagine why Gingrich felt those clodhoppers were qualified to judge the judges.
Is It Bribery or Just Politics?
WASHINGTON -- All elected officials, and those who help finance elections in the expectation that certain promises will be kept -- and everyone who cares about the rule of law -- should hope the Supreme Court agrees to hear Don Siegelman's appeal of his conviction. Until the court clarifies what constitutes quid pro quo political corruption, Americans engage in politics at their peril because prosecutors have dangerous discretion to criminalize politics.
A King Dollar GOP?
Out on the campaign trail, Fed head Ben Bernanke is an unpopular guy. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have both said they would replace Bernanke, not reappoint him. Rep. Ron Paul would swap the whole Federal Reserve monetary system for a gold-linked dollar, making the yellow metal legal tender. And it was Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, before he dropped out of the race, who said more quantitative easing by the Fed would be "almost treasonous."