Commentaries

The problem with policing the world

By JOHN STOSSEL

With an election approaching and at least some Americans upset about irresponsible spending, the president has finally expressed a political interest in cutting something. He says the Pentagon will spend “only” $525 billion next year. Tha... Full story

Obama can't kick habit of government interventionism

Thinking it Through, by RICHARD REEB

President Obama evidently can’t look upon American commerce without finding cause to interfere with it or tax it, especially when entrepreneurs and capitalists successfully escape the federal government’s clutches. The president’s S... Full story

New surveillance tools threaten our privacy

By JACOB SULLUM

“If you win this case,” Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben during oral argument in U.S. v. Jones last fall, “there is nothing to prevent the police or the government from monitoring 24... Full story

I want my planet back

Florida is the state that put the first man on the moon, NBC’s Brian Williams noted at the Republican presidential debate in Tampa. He asked the candidates, “At a time when you all want to shrink federal spending, should space exploration... Full story

The real State of the Union

By JOHN STOSSEL

Has Barack Obama learned nothing in three years? Tuesday night, during his State of the Union address, he promised “a blueprint for an economy.” But economies are crushed by blueprints. An economy is really nothing more than people partic... Full story

Obama takes aim at U.S. Constitution

Thinking it Through, by RICHARD REEB

Ever since Barack Obama said he intended to “transform” America, many have speculated about what sort of transformation he had in mind. It is now pretty clear that he idolizes the European social democracies for their “advanced&rdqu... Full story

The pretense of 'independent' campaign spending

By JACOB SULLUM

Winning Our Future, a “super PAC” that supports Newt Gingrich’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination, spent more than $1.2 million on ads in South Carolina. That fact requires some explanation. First, why would anyone wan... Full story

'Downton Abbey' more Democratic than we are

By FROMA HARROP

Every Sunday night, the mega-carriages drop millions of us off at “Downton Abbey,” the hit PBS series about an aristocratic family, its English country estate and the complexities of being Them at the dawn of the 20th century. We revel in... Full story

Don't trust your instincts

By JOHN STOSSEL

Simple answers are so satisfying: Green jobs will fix the economy. Stimulus will create jobs. Charity helps people more than commerce. Everyone should vote. Well, all those instinctive solutions are wrong. As Friedrich Hayek pointed out in “Th... Full story

Analyzing the workings of presidential primaries

Thinking it Through, by RICHARD REEB

As the current Republican hopefuls wage war on each other in the Democrat-designed gauntlet that leads erratically to their party’s nomination for president, it is helpful to remember that such political institutions as state primaries and cauc... Full story

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