voters

Obama Reshapes Presidential Politics — But Maybe Not to Democrats’ Benefit

One thing that’s striking about the presidential race, which, finally, officially begins soon, is how much the race has been shaped by Barack Obama. The course of the contests for both the Republican and Democratic nominations would be inconceivable absent the course of the Obama presidency.

What’s Eating America?

“We have people across this country who are scared to death,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared loudly at this week’s Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas. Virtually the entire debate was based upon this premise. Which is understandable. Since the bloody Islamist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, terrorism has shot up as the chief concern for most Americans, particularly Republican voters.

Establishment Republicans Must Be Careful Not to Go Too Far

I’ve long said that the differences between so-called establishment Republicans and grassroots conservatives are about more than tactics in budgetary battles with President Obama and congressional Democrats. The current Cruz-Rubio flap validates my position. Establishment Republicans have been enormously frustrated with the grassroots for wanting to call Obama’s bluff in these budget battles to the point of allowing the government to shut down. They have maintained this is a fool’s errand that will only help Democrats because shutdowns will always be blamed on the GOP, supposedly the party of limited government.

Democrats’ Problem: Americans Have Little Faith in Government

The Republican Party certainly has its problems: a chaotic presidential race; a despised congressional party; unpopularity among the rapidly growing number of non-whites. But the Democratic Party has its problems as well. One of them is the fact that the two signature policies of Barack Obama — the Affordable Care Act and the nuclear agreement with Iran — are unpopular with most voters. You heard little from the president about Obamacare or his approach to Iran during his 2012 re-election campaign. You’ve heard little about them from Democratic candidates for Congress in 2010, 2012 and 2014 or those running for next year.

Which Party Will Emerge From Its Gathering Storm?

Each of our two political parties, ancient by world standards, seems to be facing a gathering storm. Part of the gathering storm for Republicans is Donald Trump’s candidacy and his persistent lead in most primary polls. He is given to outlandish proposals and lacks the temperamental ballast and government experience that general election voters usually seek in a president.

Forced Voting Follies

My old boss, William F. Buckley, often said liberals don’t care what you do so long as it’s compulsory (though he probably borrowed the line from his friend M. Stanton Evans). There’s probably no better illustration of this illiberal streak in liberalism than the idea of “compulsory voting.” The argument usually goes like this: Voter turnout in America is low. Low voter turnout is bad. Therefore, we should make voting mandatory. (This argument is most popular after an election like last week’s when things don’t go so well for Democrats.)

Surge of Democratic Turnout Has Yet to Appear

You don’t have to wander long in the liberal commentariat to find projections that the Republican Party is in a death spiral, doomed by demographics, discredited by the dissension among House Republicans, disenchanted with its experienced presidential candidates and despised by the great mass of voters. There is something to be said for each of these propositions — and yet Republican candidates keep winning elections, as in recent contests in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia.

What Happens When an Irresistible Force Meets an Immoveable Object?

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immoveable object? That’s one question raised by the 2016 presidential campaign. The immoveable object is the close and bitter partisan division that has prevailed in general elections for the last two decades. The irresistible force is the corrosive discontent of American voters, their sense that the nation is headed off on the wrong track and that experienced leaders are more the problem than the solution.

The Fundamentals Still Matter

Much of what the American press covers in political campaigns is the daily horse race of polling and — every three months — the campaign finance numbers. Many of the people in the press who shape the coverage of American politics have never actually worked on political campaigns, run for office, held office or even worked for elected officials. There is more to politics than the polling and money.

Hispanics Wouldn’t Vote GOP if You Held a Gun to Their Heads

At the Democratic debate on Tuesday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders bragged about getting a “D-minus” from the National Rifle Association (which was also Lincoln Chafee’s GPA in high school). Nonetheless, Hillary Clinton attacked Sanders for having voted against an insane bill that would have held gun manufacturers and sellers legally liable for the behavior of anyone who uses one of their guns in a crime.

Americans Still Voting With Their Feet, Fleeing Blue States

So-called progressives love to talk about how their policies will create a workers’ paradise. Why is it, then, day after day, month after month, year after year, people are fleeing liberal blue states for conservative red states? New census data on where we live and where we moved to in 2014 shows that the top seven states with the biggest percentage increases in inbound migration from other states are, in order: North Dakota, Nevada, South Carolina, Colorado, Florida, Arizona and Texas. All of these states are politically red, except Colorado, which is purple.

Another Cynical Democratic ‘Citizenship USA’ Voter Drive

There’s only one time when you can depend on the chronically backlogged, recklessly inefficient Department of Homeland Security to perform smoothly: election season. While hundreds of thousands of visa overstayers and deportation fugitives remain on the loose, federal bureaucrats at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are hastily recruiting tens of thousands of foreigners for the Obama administration’s new “U.S. citizenship and immigrant civic integration” campaign.

Liberal Lawmaker Wonders Why People Need to Register to Vote

Republicans May Use Colorado Strategy to Reach Latino Voters

Demo Strategists Believe Women Are Emotionally Incontinent Idiots

Central to the Democrat Party’s strategy is the emotive manipulation of its largest voter block, women.