David Harsanyi from Creators Syndicate

Church of the Holy Contraception for 05/23/2012

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Are you sick and tired of these moralizing moralizers imposing their morality on the rest of us? I know I am.

Though it's commonly said that social conservatives would force us to live under theocratic rule if they could, these days the group most successful in imposing its worldview on others happens to be called the Democratic Party.

Just ask more than 40 Catholic organizations ...

Updated: Wed May 23, 2012

JPMorgan Proves We Don't Need More Regulation for 05/16/2012

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

When banks generate huge profits, they are exploiting the American people, engaging in unadulterated greed and, needless to say, in need of more regulation. And when banks lose too much money? Yep, they're being insatiably greedy — but stupid, too — and, naturally, in need of more regulation.

The unscrupulous can't win for losing, apparently.

So when JPMorgan Chase &am ...

Updated: Wed May 16, 2012

Obama's Ridiculous To-Do List for 05/09/2012

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

President Barack Obama has compiled a handy to-do list for Congress that, "if acted upon quickly, will create jobs and help restore middle class security," according to the White House's blog. And it's about time. This is most certainly not, as cynics might suggest, another transparent political scheme. After all, these initiatives, the White House claims, enjoy bipartisan support &md ...

Updated: Wed May 09, 2012

The Hypothetical President for 05/02/2012

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Plenty of Americans believe that the president's rhetoric runs counter to facts, but actually, it's the president's own counterfactual arguments that matter most.

Which is to say, nearly the entire case for President Barack Obama's second term is based on not what has happened but what could, would or might under different circumstances. Things, as you've surely heard from one official a ...

Updated: Wed May 02, 2012

Obamacare's Newest Fraud for 04/25/2012

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

If the Obama administration expended as much creative energy saving taxpayers money as it does obscuring the costs of Obamacare, we'd probably have a program worth saving.

But from day one, the health care law has been larded with double-counting gimmickry to conceal its $1 trillion price tag. It started by measuring eight years of services against 10 years of taxes, and it has continued ...

Updated: Wed Apr 25, 2012

Another Day, Another Administration Witch Hunt for 04/18/2012

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

So many imaginary villains and so little time.

This week, President Barack Obama is taking the fight to "oil speculators" and "market manipulation" (nee "free enterprise"), demanding that traders put up more money for transactions and government ratchet up enforcement and monitoring. "None of these will bring gas prices down overnight," Obama helpf ...

Updated: Wed Apr 18, 2012

Obama's 'Fairness' Fiction for 04/11/2012

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

President Barack Obama kicked off his re-election campaign in earnest this week with a stirring message of hope and unity for the American people: Eat the rich!

According to media reports, "fairness" will be one of the central messages of the entire Obama campaign. So fittingly, the Senate will pretend to vote on the Paying a Fair Share Act — or the "Buffett rule&quo ...

Updated: Wed Apr 11, 2012

Obama and the Mother of All Tyrannies for 04/04/2012

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Anyone who's had a casual conversation with his neighbors or is cognizant of reality TV should already be petrified of democracy.

But if the Supreme Court — or, as Barack Obama likes to refer to them, an "unelected group of people" — overturns Obamacare's individual mandate, the president says that the court would be taking "an unprecedented, extraordinary step ...

Updated: Wed Apr 04, 2012

Obama Doesn't Care About Debt for 03/21/2012

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

As you may have heard, Senate Democrats haven't bothered to present a budget in more than 1,000 days and counting — which, unlike many pundits, I don't find particularly upsetting, considering we've been free of a new Democratic budget for 1,000-plus days and counting.

This week, though, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., offered up the House's budget outline, which — whether misguided, ...

Updated: Wed Mar 21, 2012

Obama's Union Speech a 'Load of You-Know-What' for 02/29/2012

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

False choices. Populist bromides. A lecture on values. President Barack Obama treated us to some of his greatest hits this week.

Speaking before the United Auto Workers union in Washington, Obama, champion of the working man, challenged auto bailout "naysayers" to "come around" and admit that "standing by American workers was the right thing to do," as bailo ...

Updated: Wed Feb 29, 2012

Aren't High Gas Prices What Democrats Want? for 02/22/2012

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Gas prices are spiking. That's great news, right? We have to wean ourselves off the stuff. At least that's what we've been hearing for years. Oil is dirty. We import it from nations that hate our guts (like Canada!). And moreover, we're running out. Oil is "finite." Finite much in the way water is finite.

So why aren't Democrats making the case that the spike in prices is a goo ...

Updated: Wed Feb 22, 2012

Commerce Is the Culture War for 02/15/2012

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

It's always curious to watch the champions of "choice" decide what choices to champion and what choices to dismiss for the common good.

If you believe that the Obama administration's decision to force Catholic institutions to pay for and offer (directly or indirectly) products the church finds morally objectionable is an assault on religious freedom and free speech, you probabl ...

Updated: Wed Feb 15, 2012

Obama's Halftime Hypocrisy for 02/08/2012

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

On Super Bowl Sunday, America was treated to the most expensive political commercial in history — brought to you by Chrysler — called "It's Halftime in America."

In a series of vapid non sequiturs, Clint Eastwood's gravelly voice pinned the promise of a city — no, a nation — to government dependency, claiming that "the people of Detroit" lost a ...

Updated: Wed Feb 08, 2012

Republicans' Obamacare Problem for 02/01/2012

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Once the presidential nomination process is settled — and Lord knows that day can't come fast enough — Republicans will get back to doing what they do best, getting on Barack Obama's case. Incredibly, though, they'll have to do it without one of their most potent arguments.

The Republican candidate, after all, can't effectively attack what he supports. Today both leading cont ...

Updated: Wed Feb 01, 2012

How To Fight Money in Politics: Free Will for 01/18/2012

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Have you heard about these terrifying super PACs? According to cable news anchors — and other trustworthy sources — they're like political super-bugs, resistant to free will.

Needless to say, the principled and high-minded political debates we've grown accustomed to are now over. Our unsullied national conversation is about to be defiled by a carpet-bombing of television ads ...

Updated: Wed Jan 18, 2012

The GOP's Creative Destruction for 01/11/2012

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Yes, it's true that unlike some Republicans, Democrats don't "enjoy firing people." They enjoy "investing" your money in exploding electric vehicles, bullet trains and other highly unprofitable but morally satisfying economic misadventures. Venture socialism is certainly empathetic.

Venture capitalism, on the other hand, happens to be useful.

And until ...

Updated: Wed Jan 11, 2012

Santorum: Conservative Technocrat for 01/04/2012

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Rick Santorum, like most Republican candidates, fashions himself the one true conservative running in 2012. If the thought of big, intrusive liberal government offends you, he might just be your man. And if you favor a big, intrusive Republican government, he's unquestionably your candidate.

People are taking a look at Santorum. Important people. People in Iowa. Even New York Times colum ...

Updated: Wed Jan 04, 2012

Bain Over Newt Any Day for 12/14/2011

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

This week, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney called on newly minted front-runner and noted historian Newt Gingrich to return the estimated $1.6 million he made providing "strategic advice" to Freddie Mac, the quasi-governmental agency that has done the hard work of making "toxic home mortgages" a forever feature of our national portfolio.

To this, Newt, the ...

Updated: Wed Dec 14, 2011

Obama vs. Capitalism for 12/07/2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

In Teddy Roosevelt's era, President Barack Obama explained to the nation this week, "some people thought massive inequality and exploitation was just the price of progress. ... But Roosevelt also knew that the free market has never been a free license to take whatever you want from whoever you can."

And he's right. Even today there are people who believe they should have free l ...

Updated: Wed Dec 07, 2011

Superfrauds for 11/23/2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Our government has the time to worry about school lunch menus in Boise, Idaho, but the Senate hasn't found the time to pass a budget in Washington, D.C., in nearly three years. H.L. Mencken famously wrote that every decent man is ashamed of his government. This one gives you little choice.

Gridlock is ordinarily the most constructive and moral form of government, but with entitlement pro ...

Updated: Wed Nov 23, 2011