McDonald’s just announced a wage increase for its employees to ten dollars per hour.  But the reaction was not gratitude but protests by union-led workers who are advocating for fifteen dollars per hour.  The debate on the wage rate is tied to the equally contentious debate about inequality of income.  I am not wading into […]

This blog serves as somewhat of a response to Mark Smith’s blog.  It is different however in that it deals primarily with legal and broader theological issues.   By now most know something about the stir in Indiana—I can feel the reverberations from across the border—concerning the recently passed state law protecting those with religious […]

“But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” (Matt. 5:38-41) On Thursday, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed […]

Looks like the Media—short for Mainstream Media or MSM—are at it again, this time getting hot and bothered over Ted Cruz’s speechifying about our God-given rights, exceptionalism, and all that.  The so-called “God-made” Constitution left several of the MSM hooting with ridicule.  Their reaction of course was (predictably) to say that the Constitution and the […]

Long-time marijuana advocate Willie Nelson is reportedly going to produce his own marijuana for sale, called Willie’s Reserve.  Seems like Willie Weed would be more accurate, but hey…what do I know about marketing (or marijuana for that matter).   As an aside, I went to a Willie Nelson concert circa 1980 while living in southern […]

The concept of minimum wage has its origins in the United States in a rather forgotten purpose.  Minimum wage was first proposed as part of the legislation that created the National Recovery Administration that Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal created in 1933.  FDR pursued the NRA because he was embracing the new economic theory of progressive […]

We often lament the ever burgeoning national debt ($18T+), and especially so when we consider the unfunded liabilities (some estimates well north of $100T).  Yet while the national debt captures the public’s attention periodically, the disastrous condition of state finances is seldom discussed.  There are few good states, albeit red states are typically much better […]

As Robby Soave of Reason.com pointed out in a March 22 article, students today come to college with a basic problem.  They are scared on ideas that challenge them.  Soave gave an illustration of this from a debate between a left-feminist, Jessica Valenti, and a libertarian feminist, Wendy McElroy at Brown Univesity.  Apparently some students […]

In 1964, Barry Goldwater was about to accept the Republican presidential nomination. Reporters covering the convention were curious how the firebrand Senator from Arizona would present himself to the electorate. They were convinced that Goldwater would have to file off the rough edges and trim his positions to appeal to the moderate middle of American […]

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has decided to use his chain of coffee houses to provoke a national conversation about race. By encouraging baristas to write slogans–like “Race Together”–on coffee cups, Schultz hopes that customers and employees will have honest discussions about the racially based disparities still prevalent in the U.S. Yesterday, at the company’s recent […]