There are some ideas and feelings that sound plausible but given just a wee bit of thought can be shown to border on lunacy. Let's examine a few. Some U.S. companies have been accused of exploiting Third World workers with poor working conditions and low wages. Say...
POLITICS
Social Security is a Monstrous Injustice
Throughout the nation, a fierce debate rages over Social Security. One side, led by President Bush, says the system is in crisis and must be saved via "partial privatization." The other side says the system is basically sound and can be saved with a little tinkering....
Religion vs. Liberty
America’s war on terrorism is being undercut–by the administration’s efforts to inject religion into politics.
Universal Health Insurance: Schwarzenegger Terminates Good Government
Schwarzenegger's Folly Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants all Californians to have medical insurance. So he's going to force them to have it. Schwarzenegger abandoned his opposition to mandated employer-based health insurance and embraced the idea as his own. "Everyone...
Multiculturalism’s Real Agenda
Back to school nowadays means back to classrooms, lessons and textbooks permeated by multiculturalism and its championing of "diversity." Many parents and teachers regard multiculturalism as an indispensable educational supplement, a salutary influence that "enriches"...
Washington’s Make-Believe Policy on Iran
The Bush administration claims to have a way to deter the militant theocracy of Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons--and thwart its ambition to bring "death to America." Washington's plan aims to pressure Teheran, financially and psychologically. The idea is to cut...
One Step Forward, Ten Steps Back: How California Will Make Health Care Much More Expensive
California is a huge state with a huge population, a huge economy and a huge, rapidly growing government. Any attempt by that government to address health care issues draws the aggressive lobbying attention of a huge number of corporate, union, religious and political...
Panic in Boston
A few weeks ago, men working for an advertising agency installed light screens in cities to promote a Cartoon Network program. No one seemed alarmed by the signs featuring cartoon characters flipping the bird -- until suddenly, weeks after the promotion began, the...
World Poverty
If you're looking for a map of world poverty, check out the "2007 Index of Economic Freedom" jointly published by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. You might think that's a strangely titled source for a poverty map. The 13th edition of the "Index of...
Grammar Made Fashionable: Phyllis Davenport’s “Rex Barks”
I began my career as a private teacher for a few families committed to providing their children with a real education. These parents had abandoned a fruitless search for a school in which their children would read the classics of literature, learn the story of...
Property Rights After the Kelo Decision
"Imprimis" is Hillsdale College's monthly publication that has over 1.25 million readers. It's Hillsdale's way of sharing the ideas of the many distinguished speakers invited to their campus. And, I might add, Hillsdale College is one of the few colleges where...
Faith's War against Worldliness
"The Muslim loves death and martyrdom, just as you love life. There is a great difference between he who loves the Hereafter and he who loves this world. The Muslim loves death and seeks Martyrdom." So declared an Islamic clergyman in Jerusalem just months...
Doctors Shrugging
Doctors should demand to work on their own terms and recognize they have a right to trade their services voluntarily in exchange for what the market will bear.
Portland’s Metro Fraud
The Federal Highway Administration has apparently reached its limit with Portland's fantasy transportation planning. In comments filed recently on Metro's so-called "Regional Transportation Plan", the federal government noted that, "it's difficult to find the...
Big, Big Government
Two weeks ago, U.S. drug agents launched raids on 11 medical-marijuana centers in Los Angeles County. The U.S. attorney's office says they violated the laws against cultivation and distribution of marijuana. Whatever happened to America's federal system, which...
Potter’s Morals vs. Bible’s Magic
Christians have it backward. If you're worried about your child obsessing over magic, it's not Harry Potter you should guard against; it's the Bible. Author J.K. Rowling doesn't bill her writing as anything other than fiction. Youngsters are thrilled as the courageous...
Subsidized “Free Trade” Is Not Free Trade
For a small-scale corn farmer driven out of business in Mexico by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the fancy economic theories about the benefits of "free trade" might not seem too believable. As the theory of comparative advantage goes, we're all...
Making More Health Insurance Premiums Tax-Deductible
Making individual premiums tax deductible may open the door for further reforms that help get employers out of providing health insurance altogether.
Life In Junior High, Part 1
When I tell people that I teach literature to junior high students, the response is nearly universal: an expression of profound sympathy. Teaching junior high is regarded as a martyr's job, to be taken on only by those with such a selfless commitment to children and...
Losing Sleep over the Trade Deficit?
I'm told to worry about the trade deficit. Commentators and populist politicians are wringing their hands. The trade deficit is a "malignant tumor in the intestines of the U.S. economy," says Pat Buchanan. Lou Dobbs is very upset that "We're borrowing about $3 billion...
Trade Deficits: Good or Bad?
Two recent articles ought to give pause to current political and journalistic ignorance, perhaps demagoguery, about our international trade deficit. In a December Wall Street Journal article titled "Embrace the Deficit," Bear Stearns' chief economist David Malpass...
Support Our Troops: How the Democrats and Republicans Can Truly Support our Military and Defend America
Whatever their views of President Bush's new "surge" of 20,000 soldiers, both liberals and conservatives continue to claim that they support our troops. Liberals say they support our troops by criticizing or opposing "Operation Iraqi Freedom," which they claim has...
An Open Letter to Businesspeople
Entrepreneurs, risk-takers, men and women of creative ability, of talent, of inventiveness, of productive achievement--for what you do, you are good! Yes, good--as in "moral," "ethical," "virtuous." Throughout history, those of you who actually invent the things the...
Writing and Understanding
Several weeks ago, in my article "Pattern Recognition vs. Real Understanding," I stressed the crucial connection between writing and understanding: For the student to write explanations, in complete sentences, about every subject--whether history, literature, grammar,...
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