Hillary Clinton (D-NY, AR, IL) announced yesterday that she is running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Clinton, of course, ran for the nomination in 2008 and finished behind Barack Obama. Just as then, she begins the contest as the presumptive nominee, but that guarantees nothing. She has very high name recognition, though she is […]

Republican Senator Rand Paul, from Kentucky, yesterday announced he is running for the GOP’s presidential nomination. Paul’s declaration, all at once, surprised no one, inspired supporters, and sprouted doubters. Unlike the other lightly experienced Senators–Ted Cruz, who announced recently, and Marco Rubio, who will announce soon–Paul is both weighted down and buoyed by association. His […]

It has been a long time since I have written anything on books I am reading.  I think I have a winner in a relatively new book by Joel Mokyr entitled The Enlightened Economy: Britain and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1850, published by Penguin Books and Yale University in 2011 and 2009.  Now I know the […]

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 […]