As we approach the new year and incidentally, Old Christmas (January 6), I thought I would leave you with a few “gifts.” These come from Federal, state and even local actions over the past year. I don’t really wish these on anyone, but they are current reality. Release of five more Guantanamo detainees, whose threat […]
Archives
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Did You Know You Were a Criminal?
31 Dec 2014
There is a great article on the subject of overcriminalization published in the Federalist Society’s Engage (vol. 15, 2, Dec. 16, 2014). This is a topic which has been drawing greater attention in recent years, and even been mentioned by the likes of Justice Antonin Saclia as a growing problem. At its simplest, it is […]
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The Next SNL Schoolhouse Rock Spoof
24 Nov 2014
Last Saturday evening Saturday Night Live’s opening skit parodied President Obama’s executive order on immigration. I’ll leave the detail to the script writers, but I do suggest the next Schoolhouse Rock parody to be based on:
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The Real Crisis
22 Nov 2014
In light of President Obama’s speech on immigration and his new regulations, I came across an excellent article by Charles C. W. Cooke in the National Review. It can be found here: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/393248/congress-seems-happy-have-its-powers-usurped-charles-c-w-cooke (sorry I can’t do better with links). The real crisis is Congress’s happy relinquishment of its prerogative over time, and the quite predictable results. […]
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Obama, Immigration, and Presidential Power
17 Nov 2014
President Obama appears to be weighing the possibility of unilateral executive action to redefine the legal status of between 5 and 10 million illegal immigrants. His party’s defeat at the polls just two weeks ago appears not to have chastened the President, but has, perhaps, precipitated a constitutional crisis. Obama’s defenders are invoking previous Presidents […]
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Coke vs. Pepsi V
09 Nov 2014
The debate between the economists reminds me of a long-past humorous saying about the dismal practitioners (only teasing there): “If you laid all the economists of the world end-to-end they would never reach a conclusion.” I guess they still haven’t regarding this question of whether the Republicans and Democrats are essentially different or the same. […]
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Another Great One Dies
05 Nov 2014
Gordon Tullock died the other day. He was about 92. For those who didn’t know, Tullock was a founder of the Public Choice School of economic thought, famous for its use of microeconomic principles applied to problems of government, in particular government failure. Tullock was known as the “inventor” of the concept of rent-seeking, known […]
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Remarks on Religious Freedom
10 Oct 2014
I was asked to speak at the Religious Freedom Summit that is still going on at Cedarville University. What follows is a copy of my remarks. They were lightly edited and altered when delivered since I did not read the text. *** Our tendency, when we think of religious freedom or anything else, is to […]
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Eric Holder–The Activist Attorney General
26 Sep 2014
Nicholas Katzenbach was one of my favorite Attorneys General. Though it may seem odd to begin a post about Eric Holder, the just resigned A.G., with a recollection of an Attorney General from L.B.J.’s administration, please bear with me. Katzenbach, who died in 2012, was a pivotal part of the Kennedy and Johnson presidencies. It […]
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Happy Constitution Day!
17 Sep 2014
There is much to laud about our founding document. The mechanics of our government have, largely, served us well over these two and a quarter centuries. Our founders were wise to construct a system that was at once powerful enough to govern, yet limited in what it could do. In the Federalist, Madison wrote: In […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach