Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
Several years ago, after Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011, some states (at the urging of the Tenth Amendment Center), along with ill-informed conservatives, the ACLU, and others, considered enacting legislation that would make it a crime for state employees to participate in the investigation, detention, or arrest of any suspected member…
Americans are concerned about rising drug prices, and they want Congress to do something about it. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, one of the most popular proposals (garnering the support of 83 percent of Americans) is giving the federal government power to “negotiate” with drug companies to get lower prices for medications for people…
The strategic importance of countering the aggressive recruitment and propaganda campaigns of the Islamic State (ISIS) is indisputable, but can the U.S. government get its act together? The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is the independent government agency that oversees several of the main U.S. assets in this fight, including the Voice of America, recently…
Watching the news these days, it may seem as though a minimum-wage job is the equivalent of a life sentence of poverty. But nothing could be farther from the truth. A minimum-wage job is not an end, but a beginning of what could be a very successful career. For more than a year, union-backed protesters have…
In an interview with CNN Tuesday night, The Heritage Foundation’s Ryan T. Anderson discussed the relationship between the religious liberty rights of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who doesn’t want to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and the gay and lesbian couples in her area of Kentucky who wish to get married. >>>For more on this,…
The U.S. inspector general estimates that 25,226 households occupying public housing units exceed the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD)’s 2014 eligibility income limits. In New York City, one household was making an annual income of $497,911 and living in taxpayer-funded public housing. The public housing income cap in New York City is $67,100. According…
In the wake of civil war in Syria, the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS), an Islamist ascendancy in Libya, and a series of conflicts in the Middle East and North and East Africa, hundreds of thousands of people have made their way to Europe, seeking asylum as refugees. Some of those fleeing war zones…
Why is housing so expensive in some cities, and relatively cheap in others? Place the blame on land-use restrictions put in place by local governments. During the housing boom of 2000 to 2005, the cry often went up from Washington that housing wasn’t affordable anymore. From 2000-2005 the median sales price of American single-family homes…
In honor of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) staged a major military parade, featuring some 12,000 troops and major displays of new equipment. Prominent among these was the DF-21D, the so-called “carrier killer” anti-ship ballistic missile. The parading of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)’s…
Something’s amiss with the world’s economy. And it goes way beyond stock-market woes in China and elsewhere. Economists point to debt and low economic growth as the culprits, but this explanation only touches the surface. To turn around the world’s economy, we’ll need to understand the deeper problems. A study just published by the Heritage…
Another school year is underway, and more parents than ever are using school choice to ensure the best education for their children. Or should I say trying to use it? Some groups, after all, are trying to thwart them. Who, you ask? Just ask parents in Nevada. The Silver State is one of five nationwide…
In 2014, 40.6 percent of all children in the United States were born to unmarried mothers. That includes close to 72 percent of black children, 53 percent of Hispanic children, and 29 percent of white children. If we can find any sliver of good news in those dispiriting numbers, it is that black non-marital births…
The recently concluded federal trial over North Carolina’s election rules proved one thing beyond a reasonable doubt: The Obama administration and its partisan, big-money, racial-interest-group allies will stop at nothing to win elections. And using the courts to change election rules is a key part of their strategy. That was clearly evident in the federal…
In his first term, President Obama paid lip service to the value of diplomacy but did little negotiating. Now he’s stepped up the pace, with the Iranian nuclear deal and a trade pact with the EU in the offing. He’d have done better to have done less. Like unhappy families, bad agreements are each bad…
Advocates of same-sex marriage have often mocked those who assert that a legal alteration in the very structure of marriage will most certainly affect the institution itself. Now that the Supreme Court has imposed same-sex marriage on the entire nation, these competing hypotheses will play out for all to see. Same-sex marriage does not merely…
The Pentagon cares as much about how money moves around the world as it does about the movement of arms. Small wonder the recent bobbling in Beijing’s economy has caught the armed services’ attention. After owning bragging rights to one-third of global economic growth, the Chinese economy just hit a major speed bump. Growth slowed. The…
“This thing is like an onion,” George Costanza once said on an episode of “Seinfeld.” “The more layers you peel, the more it stinks.” Just about anyone who examines the Iran nuclear deal knows how he feels. Look at the recent bombshell report that revealed that Iran will be allowed to use its own officials…
The first annual meeting of the nations that have ratified the 2014 Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) opened on Monday, August 24 at a spa in Cancún, Mexico. The treaty’s been controversial in the U.S. from the moment negotiations on it began, and this meeting will surely stoke the suspicions of those who think the treaty’s…
A postsecondary credential is almost universally viewed as important. As student debt levels continue to rise, however, Americans are losing confidence in the quality and affordability of their higher education. A clear majority of Americans think that the quality of higher education in the United States has stagnated or declined, and almost three-quarters think that…
In mid-June, China’s Shanghai Composite Index was up a dazzling 60 percent since the beginning of the year. It was the highest level in more than six years. Some took it as a sign that the recent weakness in China’s economy would be short-lived. Yet it is only a little more than two months later,…