Replacing School Choice with Govt Mandates
Recently, Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education, penned a piece explaining why she no longer supports school choice. Her new pet education reform? A comprehensive national curriculum for all students. Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education, recently penned a …Don't Bench Pawlenty
Governor Pawlenty is right where he should be – both running the state in his final year of office and getting out to the hustings, raising money for Republican candidates ahead of this year's elections. Has my friend Jeb Golinkin forgotten that there are mid-term elections this year, for …Beck Gets French Politics All Wrong
Life isn't long enough to keep track of the dumb things said by Glenn Beck, still this may hold some kind of record. Life isn't long enough to keep track of the dumb things said by Glenn Beck, still this may hold some kind of record. The linked blogpost is mostly offended that Beck calls Dutch …Meet the Next Senator from North Dakota
North Dakota's current governor, John Hoeven, boasts an 87% approval rating and is proving that quiet governance not revolution is what voters want. Sporting Saddam Hussein-style approval ratings, the next senator from North Dakota is current governor John Hoeven. A traditional Midwestern …The New Front in the War on Terror
One benefit (if one dare call it that) of the underwear bomber’s failed attempt to blow up an American airliner over Detroit, is that it has drawn attention to Yemen as a training ground for al-Qaeda terrorists. One benefit (if one dare call it that) of the underwear bomber’s failed attempt to …Learning From the Mistakes of Past GOP Reformers
Geoffrey Kabaservice’s The Guardians also offers a harsh challenge to those of us who want to develop a more modern Republicanism. The men profiled in his book tried to do it too – and failed miserably. Henry Kissinger is reported to have mused that if he could ever have wished for an …Jill Biden: Not Educated on School Vouchers
The Second Lady admitted yesterday that she had not been following the D.C. school vouchers program. This despite her role as an advocate for the Obama administration on education issues, her Ph.D. in education, and her year-long residence in a city where this is perhaps the biggest issue in local …Pawlenty Fights to Save State Budget Cuts
Last week, a judge placed an injunction on many of Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty's cuts to the state budget. While his critics have painted the ruling as a setback, the fight to preserve the budget cuts could boost his credentials amongst conservatives. Last summer, facing a $2.7 billion …Bad Times = Big Government?
Michael Barone makes the interesting observation that President Obama seems to have assumed Americans would be more supportive of big government policies in tough economic times. If Obama did carry this assumption, he was heading for trouble. Michael Barone offers a thought-provoking observati…Neo Mug
In the new Atlantic I champion the half-forgotten, half-despised Mugwumps of 120 years ago. This may seem really, really far off the beaten path, but in the new Atlantic I champion the half-forgotten, half-despised Mugwumps of 120 years ago. Twenty-first-century America abounds in …Don't Count on a High-Minded Slugfest
John Guardiano is right that we should use the 2010 GOP primaries to encourage an intelligent conversation on the party's future. But as the attacks on Mark Kirk in the Illinois Senate race sadly show, most primary fights won't be civil debates about policy. It's difficult to dispute anything …No Army Marches into Battle Alone
Independent military contractors are nothing new. No army in history has ever marched one step without private enterprise providing everything from boots and uniforms to meals and weaponry. Although not new by any means, the privatization of the military was foreseen as early as …