Just as I was thinking about one of my favorite author-scholars today, I discovered he had very recently died. Forrest McDonald, one of the truly great scholars of early American political thought, and long-time professor of history at the University of Alabama, passed away at the age of 89. The first lesson I should learn […]
Archives
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Forrest McDonald (1927-2016)
04 Mar 2016
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Taxes Versus Spending
02 Mar 2016
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a DC group, had this to say about Ted Cruz’s campaign proposals: “Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has, by our count, put forward seven sets of policy proposals on his campaign website covering areas such as immigration, military spending, and tax reform. By our very rough […]
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There was a time, way back in the eighteenth century, and as recently as the nineteenth century in the United States, that a person who owned land possessed legal title (in so-called “fee simple,” the normal way people own land unless they lease it) to it from the “center of the earth to the zenith […]
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At the Democratic candidate debate last week, Bernie Sanders was asked how big government should be. His response was illuminating, as was Hillary Clinton’s response to Sanders’ answer. Here is part of what he said: WOODRUFF: “And, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let’s get right to the questions. Senator […]
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Many will write better and more personal things about Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court Justice who died today. I did not have him as a professor. I did not clerk for him. I encountered Scalia as a graduate student getting a first taste of constitutional law. Dr. John Maltese, my professor at the University of […]
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To Scrutinize or Not to Scrutinize
12 Feb 2016
OK, today I am going to get into a “wonky” mode and address an issue that always has bothered me when my mind is jogged. Today the issue is strict scrutiny. What, you may ask, is that? Strict Scrutiny (SS) is a principle applied by Federal courts that first distinguishes between the importance attached to […]
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President Obama and Executive Power
25 Jan 2016
In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover for the presidency of the United States. In his campaign, he had promised American voters a “New Deal.” Little known to most Americans today, Hoover had prepared the way for Roosevelt’s New Deal with several initiatives like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and public works like the Boulder […]
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“Dark Matter” in the Federal Universe
11 Dec 2015
I regret I cannot compete with my colleague Mark Smith for sheer humor. In fact, talking about Federal regulations can be really boring. But what they lack in pizzaz, they make up for in importance–unfortunately in a negative way. I read a very illuminating study by Clyde Crews, entitled “Mapping Washington’s Lawlessness: A Preliminary Inventory […]
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Another Modest Proposal
02 Nov 2015
As we watched the Democratic and Republican Party presidential debates, I have heard some, but not nearly enough, discussion of the problems of the “regulatory state,” that is, that “Fourth Branch” of government affectionately called bureaucracy. Since this is a national election, I will confine my comments to the Federal agencies such as EPA, FCC, […]
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Ohio: Common Sense or Marijuana?
31 Oct 2015
I am reminded of a story, possibly apocryphal, from the Constitutional Convention. One of our Founders proposed an element to the Constitution that would prevent the young republic from ever having a standing army larger than 5,000 men. This suggestion has to be understood within the context of the recent past where American colonists believed […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach