Something that fascinates me is how people inform themselves–how they get their news, what books they read, who they listen to, and what they watch. I think that people are profoundly influenced by who they listen to and what they read.
Category Archives: Politics
My Daily Reading Habits
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What’s the alternative to Keynesian stimulus?
Stimulus spending DOES stimulate the economy (Write this down; Bob’s actually saying this), which is why the Democrats are constantly trumpeting it. Here’s the problem, though; it’s very hard to say that government stimulus actually stimulates the economy MORE than the alternative.
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What’s Wrong With Universal Background Checks?
The last remaining plank of President Obama’s gun control legislative package is the “universal background check” provision, which would, seemingly, make a background check a requirement for ALL gun purchases. What could be wrong with background checks? Are background checks equal to a gun registry? Does a gun registry lead to gun confiscation?
Do Strict Gun Control Laws Work?
One of the things that has troubled me in the gun control debate is this: is there any data that suggests that strict gun control laws actually produce results? Do gun control laws reduce murders? Do they even reduce gun murders? I decided to do some very rough research. Here’s what I found.
Liberals’ Demand Economics Don’t Work
Ronald Reagan once said, “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.” One of those things, recently, that liberals are increasingly espousing is demand economics. I’m hearing it more and more, from MSNBC liberals: “We have a demand problem, not a spending problem.” Why are liberals wrong about demand-side economics?
Ten Specific Problems with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
A while back, I wrote about the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. It was horrible. Now, a new treaty is coming before the U.S. Senate: the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It’s equally bad, and should not be approved by the Senate.
President Obama Obscures the Facts on Small Business
In his weekly address today, President Obama laid out what sounded like a very compelling argument for raising taxes. However, he was deliberately misleading about the impact of increasing taxes on small businesses.
New Members of Congress from Illinois
2012 was a wave Democratic year. There were quite a few surprise Democratic winners across the country, including in Illinois. Illinois had the distinction of being a bright spot for the Democrats in 2010, in an otherwise Republican wave year. They held on to the Illinois legislature and the governor’s mansion, and so controlled the redistricting process in Illinois.
The Fiscal Cliff: What Is It? How Does It Affect Me?
Now that the election is done, there has been a bunch of talk about how to fix the “fiscal cliff.” But few people actually know what the fiscal cliff is or how it would affect them.
The Hard Work of Governing…
In the early morning on Wednesday, all the talk was about bringing the country together. Will President Obama compromise with Republicans? Or will his second term be as contentious as his first? He can learn some lessons from former president Bill Clinton.