Real Clear Politics

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, three retired generals, Paul Eaton, Antonio Taguba, and Steven Anderson warn of a supposedly impending coup should Donald Trump be elected in 2024. The column seemed strangely timed to coincide with a storm of recent Democratic talking points that a re-elected Trump, or even a Republican sweep of the 2022 midterms, would spell a virtual end of democracy. Ironies abound. From Election Day in 2020 to Inauguration Day 2021, we were told by the Left that democracy was resilient and rightly rid the nation of Trump. The hard Left, for one of the rare

A recent study by the Cato Institute, the libertarian think tank, ranked California 48th out of the 50 states in personal and economic freedom. The study also examines fiscal policy and regulatory policy. For the first time, California’s population decreased last year, resulting in the loss of a congressional seat. In the third quarter of this year, 150,000 more people on average left the state versus 60,000 net departures in the first quarter of last year. Between March 2020 and September 2021, there has been a 38% decrease in new arrivals. California has 58 counties, and new arrivals fell… Read

The screaming headlines about New York City closing down again in response to the highly infectious new COVID-19 variant are premature. Sure, some things are dialing back, witness the cancellation of the Radio City Rockettes’ “Christmas Spectacular.” The reality is that the surrounding streets are clogged with celebrants viewing the store windows and the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. December 2021 is not December 2020, when America’s holiday season turned eerily quiet. This year, the governors of Colorado, New Jersey and Maryland — two Democrats and a moderate Republican, for those… Read More in Real Clear Politics

An imperfect storm of political events and policy misfires has sparked a national crime crisis. Homicide and violent crime are increasing in most major cities, 12 of which have set new records for homicides. However, in California and nationally, the political pendulum may be swinging back to public safety and victims’ rights. But this crime wave should not be viewed through a racial prism. In Philadelphia, white District Attorney Larry Krasner dismissed the city’s rising homicides by saying, “We don’t have a crisis of crime or violence.” The city’s black police chief, Danielle Outlaw,… Read More in Real Clear Politics

In regions like suburban Philadelphia, the Salvation Army’s red kettles at retail entrances are a timeless reminder of ordinary Americans’ philanthropic commitment to the less fortunate. Unfortunately, Salvation Army leaders have now dared to accuse these same Americans of participating in a “racist” society where “racial groups are placed into a hierarchy, with White or lighter-skinned people at the top.” The organization’s “Let’s Talk About Racism” curriculum for its officers and soldiers has sparked national outrage for its admonition that white people “repent” for “racism” and for its… Read More in Real Clear Politics

Militant transgender advocates are imposing their agenda with uncompromising zeal on public school students. That’s fine with President Joe Biden. On Friday, the Biden administration announced that, by April, it will enhance the legal entitlements of transgender public school students, with new guarantees regarding access to bathrooms, locker rooms and sports competitions. These issues are grabbing the headlines, but they’re less harmful to most students than the damage being done by the distortion of the school curriculum. Children as young as 5 are being encouraged to disregard their… Read More in Real Clear Politics

On Oct. 30, 2020, just days before the presidential election, Joe Biden tweeted, “I’m not going to shut down the country. I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus.” This was a lie. It was a lie because nobody can shut down the virus. Government does not have the power to end disease, as a general matter. When it comes to a wildly transmissible coronavirus specifically, no government can end the virus. Even the sainted Dr. Anthony Fauci has admitted as much: “we’re never going to eradicate this … elimination may be too

Central to the fight over President Biden’s Build Back Better bill has been the use – or misuse – of budget reconciliation to advance the package. Attention has been focused on the cost and politics of the package, but it is also important to take stock of the process. What is budget reconciliation, and how has it changed? When Congress passed the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, it established a process by which it budgeted and spent money. The act contained a number of important provisions. It replaced presidential impoundment – refusal to spend appropriated funds – with