Columns
Right Title for Arizona Fight: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’
The passage by a Republican legislature, and subsequent veto by a Republican governor, of the wildly controversial “Religious Freedom” Law in Arizona qualifies as neither triumph nor tragedy. Democrats may react to the outcome of the dispute by invoking a Shakespearean comedy: “All’s Well that Ends Well.” For the rest of us, other titles from the Bard seem far more appropriate, including “A Comedy of Errors” and “Much Ado About Nothing.” The furious fight over SB-1062 amounts to nothing because...
Read MoreDefense Cuts Demonstrate Mistaken Priorities
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel demands dramatic cuts in the nation’s military to bring the number of personnel to the lowest levels since before Pearl Harbor. He never acknowledged, however, that the population 73 years ago was only 132 million—compared to 315 million today. That means the Hagel-Obama military, as a percentage of our overall population, would shrink to much less than half the vulnerable forces that tempted the Japanese and Germans in 1941. Hagel candidly acknowledged that other nations now...
Read MoreThe Middle Class is Alive and Well
If a young couple with a combined income of $21,000 can still manage to buy themselves a cozy, comfortable home, it’s premature to proclaim the death of the middle class dream. Despite the painful setbacks of the Great Recession, nearly all Americans who find jobs and work hard will avoid poverty and climb the economic ladder. It’s simply not true that minimum wage jobs lock people into hopelessness and destitution. The president and his allies may insist that struggling families can’t rise without...
Read MoreDem Contradictions on Fairness – And A Conservative Opportunity
If you believe that the nation’s economic system is fundamentally unfair, then how would you logically explain why it’s nonetheless fair to you? That’s an explanation that we ought to demand of self-identified Democrats who gave wildly contradictory responses to a memorable Gallup Poll from 2012 probing the trendy issue of income inequality. Only 37 percent agreed with the statement “The US economic system is fair” but more than two-thirds (68 percent) considered it “fair to me personally.” In other...
Read MoreAnticipating Oscar
This year’s Oscar race for best picture comes down to a fundamental, timeless question about the nature of the film medium itself: what is the highest, most worthy goal to which any motion picture can aspire? Those Hollywood insiders who believe that movies at their best will make a social statement, enlightening the mass audience with fresh perspectives on past or present, will cast their ballots for 12 Years a Slave. Based on a true story, with vigorous attention to historical detail, the film achieves a deep...
Read MoreConsidering Fresh Faces
Republicans feel growing confidence about crucial Senate races in 2014, but still feel anxious about finding a candidate to beat Hillary Clinton two years later. The most prominent prospects display prominent flaws: Rand Paul is out of the party mainstream on defense and security issues; Chris Christie is tarred by the bridge-gate scandal; Ted Cruz is a polarizing figure associated with an unpopular government shutdown. Other contenders—Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum—look like retreads...
Read MorePro-Lifers Can Celebrate Progress
Pro-Life activists can celebrate astonishing progress toward their most important goal: reducing the number of pregnancies that are terminated by abortion. The latest figures show the abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level in more than 30 years. Statistics indicate 17 abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age, down from a peak of 29 per 1000 in 1981. In other words the rate has been cut nearly in half. Researchers associated with Planned Parenthood say tougher regulations in many states contributed to...
Read MoreA Bold Plan to Boost Employment
Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee is a popular conservative who has set a strong example for his fellow Republicans with a bold plan to offer two years of free community college or technical school for all high school graduates in his state. This program would make use of Tennessee’s 27 Colleges of Applied Technology, one of the best systems of vocational schools in the country. The governor’s proposal would not only train young people for the jobs of the future but would also provide them with a powerful...
Read MoreIf You Work Full Time at Minimum Wage, You’re Not in Poverty
President Obama recently declared: “It’s time to raise the minimum wage because nobody who works full-time should live in poverty.” Actually, the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour means people who work full time have already risen above the poverty level. Sean Davis, of The Federalist magazine, points out that $7.25 an hour, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, puts an individual $3,000 above the federal poverty line, while a couple with two kids, where both parents work full-time at minimum wage, will earn...
Read MoreHow Oil Drillers Saved the Whales
Watching a parade of migrating whales as they leap and frolic in the warm waters off Honolulu, it’s worth remembering that these creatures owe their very survival to a much-derided 19th century Pennsylvania oil driller named Edwin Drake. His story should reassure present-day pessimists of the near miraculous power of technological advancement and pursuit of profit to save the environment. That power is often obscured by controversies that seem to suggest an inevitable conflict between development and...
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