National Politics
In an earlier posting, I introduced a book entitled The New New Left: How American Politics Works Today by Steven Malanga and a review of the book in the Claremont Review of Books. The core theme of the book was described by one reviewer as “American politics is not about [political] parties, it is about…
Cafe Hayek has a very good posting entitled Government Ain’t Us, which says: The idea is prevalent that little or nothing beneficial happens for people generally unless it is done by government. Things people do individually — for their own purposes, using their own gumption, own wits, and own resources, neither incited by nor directed…
From the February 17 edition of the Wall Street Journal’s Political Diary (available for a fee): Remember that three-day mass transit strike that paralyzed New York City over the Christmas holidays? Apparently the drama isn’t over. Since then, transit workers have narrowly rejected the contract their leadership accepted to end the strike. The union is…
D. W. MacKenzie wrote in the October 2002 issue of The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, the monthly publication of the Foundation for Economic Education, about the coercive role of government: I am government… Coercion is both my vocation and my avocation; it is in my very nature to compel others to do that which they…
Thinking aloud over at The Corner, Ramesh Ponnuru asks, “What do conservatives gain if Chafee wins?” But first he makes a case for conservative retribution against Sen. Chafee: The more I think about it, the more important it seems to me that Steve Laffey beat him in the Rhode Island Senate primary. None of the…
In addition to being the only Republican Senator to vote against the confirmation of now-Justice Alito, Senator Chafee has opposed President Bush and–more often–conservative ideals on the following substantive matters. (All links are to data provided by ProjectVoteSmart. An index of Sen. Chafee’s complete voting record is here). Presidential Appointments: Voted against nomination of Judge…
Back in December, the National Republican Senatorial Committee–in support of Sen. Chafee–decided to try to undermine Steve Laffey’s conservativism by claiming he was really a tax-and-spender. Well, by reading the comments (select “View all comments” at the aforementioned page), you’ll find that a few people have tried to set them straight. Interestingly, the thread is…
Walter Williams, once again, cuts through all the political posturing about the rationale for lobbying reforms in his latest editorial: …Whatever actions Congress might take in the matter of lobbying are going to be just as disappointing in ending influence-peddling as their Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, known as the McCain-Feingold bill. Before we…
George Will has written an editorial entitled For the House GOP, A Belated Evolution in which he makes the following comments: …And now among House Republicans there are Darwinian stirrings, prompted by concerns about survival. In Washington, such concerns often are confused with and substitute for moral epiphanies… The national pastime is no longer baseball,…
In a Wall Street Journal editorial entitled Right and Ron: Republicans long for a new Reagan, Brendan Miniter offers this commentary on Republican Party leadership in the Congress and in the Oval Office: …It’s telling that now, five years into the second Bush presidency, conservatives are still looking for the next Ronald Reagan to champion…