Daily Archives: March 29, 2012

James Bovard, a tireless foe of governmental folly, writes in this column about the history of that horrendous 1942 Supreme Court decision, Wickard v. Filburn. That case pushed the boundaries of federal power to regulate anything remotely connect to interstate commerce and now is the precedent that Obamacare supporters hope will save it. Federal interventionContinue Reading

The left-of-center Public Policy Polling has a new survey out that finds 58 percent of North Carolina voters support the marriage amendment compared to 38 percent against. The poll also found that, although a majority support the amendment, some voters might not fully understand that it would prohibit both civil unions and state recognition ofContinue Reading

An anonymous commenter recently took umbrage over one of my posts regarding the numerous legal and policy defects in Obamacare, posting what I called an obtuse comment to the effect that the only reason for the opposition to that law was that Republicans and conservatives are just unremittingly hostile to the president. I replied thatContinue Reading

…you had never heard the arguments made by Alito, Kennedy, Scalia, etc. in the Obamacare case until this week.

Ed Cline has an excellent essay here, in which he comments on the weakness of the oral arguments over Obamacare. Unfortunately, the discussion of the issues never got to the heart of the case: does the federal government have any authority to run the market for medical care? Cline quotes from my own recent pieceContinue Reading

In this sharp column, Doug French points out that Federal Reserve policies that keep interest rates artificially low are doing damage to the nation that few can see — undermining the prudent impulse to save. Hayek observed that the advance of the state slowly changes the character of the people, luring them away from self-reliance,Continue Reading

Judge Andrew Napolitano explains how we got from a Constitution written expressly to put strict limits on the authority of the federal government (and we must keep in mind that the revolution was all about opposition to a government that exerted overweening powers) to one where many politicians think it’s perfectly all right to dictateContinue Reading

Regular readers in this forum know the value of pursuing tax reform that limits disincentives to work, save, and invest. An article in the latest Forbes titled “Tax Bracket Magic” offers a good example of how the complications of our existing federal tax code can create problems. Warning to high achievers: The tax code isContinue Reading