POLITICS

John Kerry keeps talking about young people “giving something back.” Exactly what did young people take away and from whom did they take it? What is the factual basis for such an accusation? And why is it so general, applied to the whole population of...

Q: I agree with you that President Bush is a conservative who embodies yesterday’s liberals, as exemplified by his massive domestic spending, expansion of Medicare, campaign finance reform, etc. But don’t you think this is just his political opportunism at...

The religious foundations of the new governments in Afghanistan and Iraq threaten to undercut the Bush administration’s war on terrorism. Being a champion of religion, however, Bush sanctions these developments that aid and abet America’s would-be...

Is gay marriage a Constitutional, individual right?

America’s complicated tax system needs a complete overhaul, not minor fixes. The large role that system plays in many of the political dramas dominating the daily headlines shows why. Republicans and Democrats, for instance, are fighting over the...

What is racial profiling, and is it racist? We can think of profiling as using cheap-to-observe characteristics as indicators or proxies for more-costly-to-observe characteristics. A person’s physical characteristics, such as race, sex and height, are cheap to...

I can now admit it. I was hooked on The Apprentice since the first time I watched, which was on the 5th week of the show (the episode concerning the flea market). I think everyone knows the show’s premise: Donald Trump holds a competition at business tasks among...

Q: As you argue, the only proper role of government is to protect our individual rights against fraud and brutality, foreign and domestic. At what point does government intervention “cross the line”? One is not allowed to commit slander (or libel), but...

Q: What do you think of hunting and killing animals? And should it be legal? A: Frankly, I find it rather depraved to hunt and kill animals for the sake of sport. Don’t misunderstand. Animals don’t have human rights and human beings have a right to kill...

In a constitutional history class that I’m taking I recently heard an interesting idea. The class was studying the way the US Supreme Court changed its stance on economic interventionism during the years of the Great Depression. The case in point was Nebbia v....

Are America’s CEOs paid more than they deserve? Many people’s answer is a vehement: Yes. That view is reinforced anew every spring, when companies file their financial statements and we learn how much CEOs were paid last year. In 2003 the average pay for...

There were many good ideas in President Bush’s televised statement (April 13, 2004). He knows the stakes: “Iraq will either be a peaceful, democratic country or it will again be a source of violence, a haven for terror and a threat to America and to the...

Few voices offering moral guidance in the rapidly advancing field of biotechnology are as influential as the President’s Council on Bioethics. Professing to uphold man’s well-being, the council on April 1 called for regulating the techniques and research...

On Tax Day consider some basic facts. The wealthiest 1% of the taxpayers pay 34% of all federal income taxes. The top 50% pay 96% of the total bill. This means that the least wealthy 50% pay almost nothing. In short, the income tax system soaks the rich. In the name...