On January 9th, Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a “Corner Congress” held by Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in Tucson, killing six people and seriously wounding many others, including the Congresswoman. In the rush to make sense of the tragedy, many in the media cited the relatively recent surge in violent political rhetoric as a … Read more
Max Novendstern recently commented that this post by Matt Yglesias was the type of post that makes him love Yglesias more than he hates him. Max’s love/hate relationship with Yglesias aside, the post ignores the important aspects of the James case by focusing on the money. What we should be concerned about here is not … Read more
Representative Paul Ryan’s recent Medicare spending proposal has greatly stirred the political pot going into next year’s congressional and presidential elections. Not only has the proposal been blamed for the recent Republican loss of the staunchly conservative New York 26th district, it has also continued to feed into the larger debate on government spending. Due … Read more
The 2012 Republican field so far has not generated much enthusiasm, with voters rather dissatisfied with the options they have. The lack of excitement accorded to it is embodied by a recent CNN post about how the field is “historic” as no sitting senators are running on either side, something which hasn’t happened since 1944. … Read more
“Our spending has caught up with us, and our debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy. No longer can we kick the can down the road.” So declared Speaker John Boehner in his maiden speech to the U.S. House of Representatives. In the weeks following Boehner’s assertion, budget battles have consumed Washington, … Read more
On March 2, the U.S. Supreme Court released its opinion in one of the most controversial cases of its term, Snyder v. Phelps. By an 8-1 majority, the Court ruled that under the First Amendment’s freedom of speech clause, protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church could not be charged with intentionally inflicting emotional distress by … Read more
With Memorial Day around the corner, it is not only a time for us Americans to look back at the sacrifices our service men and women have made for our country, but also how we as a country have returned the favor. Libertarians may often be caricatured as heartless and rigid individualists, but I, for … Read more
Since its inception in 1913, the Federal Reserve has faced questions over its independence from the political sphere. For the most part, such efforts of politicians and bureaucrats seeking to direct monetary policy have been rebuffed. As Harvard economics professor N. Greg Mankiw told the HPR, “Congress decided that it made sense to have monetary … Read more
President Obama is an excellent rhetorician—he displayed his oratorical gift once again during his speech on the state of the Middle East and North Africa last Thursday. However, I continue to be bothered by the seemingly arbitrary distinction President Obama drew between “good” Arab revolutions in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, and the “bad” revolution … Read more
With advocates ranging from documentaries like Waiting for “Superman” to policymakers like Michelle Rhee, charter schools remain the hot topic in education policy. Supporters argue that the schools’ innovative teaching strategies, progressive teacher evaluation models, and superior administrative structures offer a panacea to inefficient public education. More broadly, scholars contend that anti-regulatory, anti-union approaches have … Read more