Opinion

Puerto Rico is in the midst of a severe economic and financial crisis and is looking for a way out—or in other words—a change in the rules. As a U.S. territory, and not a state, Puerto Rico cannot allow its municipalities to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy (a special bankruptcy reserved for municipalities if their state…

“There are two kinds of people,” Robert Frommer of the Institute for Justice says: “those that don’t know about civil asset forfeiture and those that are mad about it.” This was the broad consensus at a recent event hosted by Americans for Tax Reform and Right on Crime, titled “Civil Asset Forfeiture: Undue Process and…

Innovation starts locally—not in Washington. Yet, over the past few years, we have witnessed the unprecedented expansion of the federal government into our classrooms. Decades of regulations, mandates and rules have been piling up on our educators, but failing to improve our students’ education. Congress is set to reconsider, and potentially reauthorize, the Elementary and…

What is the best way for America to combat terrorism? That question is bound to loom large as we enter the next presidential race. Yet a coherent answer has not yet emerged because there is confusion over exactly what terrorism is. In my essay “Understanding Tyranny and Terror: From the French Revolution to Modern Islamism“,…

The Senate has begun floor consideration of a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This congress has the opportunity to consider conservative policy reforms that would genuinely restore state and local control of education, yet the proposal as it currently stands has a long…

Funny how painfully sobering Monday mornings can be—for a whole host of reasons—but especially after a long, holiday weekend such as Independence Day. For instance, over the Fourth of July break, there was word seeping out from the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna—to anyone paying attention to anything but friends, food and fireworks—that a deal…

With the deadline pushed off until July 7, I’m betting that an Iran nuke deal actually will be trumpeted over the July 4 holiday weekend, since the best time to put out controversial news in Washington, D.C., is near or over a break. Why? Well, most Americans will be distracted by festivities of fireworks, food…

“We the People.” We’ve heard that phrase so often it’s easy to overlook its significance. But as we mark our nation’s birthday, we should take a moment to ask ourselves: What is the role of the people? Our nation is unique because of its universal founding principles. At the heart of these principles is the belief that…

What to make of reports that ISIS may try to pull off a terrorist attack on Independence Day? Let’s look at the facts. It is not the first time after 9/11 that U.S. authorities have expressed concerns about possible terrorist attacks timed to coincide with significant dates like the Fourth of July. In 2011, a senior U.S. official told…