A large portion of the national debt limit bill negotiations involved reestablishing work requirements to receive payments from the various government hand out programs. President Biden objected to what was in the House bill and a compromise was struck. Why are we discussing this now? There is definitely a difference of opinion even though a bipartisan bill was passed in 1996 and signed by President Clinton. That bill ended the aspect of welfare programs encouraging people to sit on the sidelines while others worked and produced the resources off which they would be living. The attitude is exemplified by Zack Beauchamp of Vox describing the successes of Joe Biden. He stated” The May jobs report found that the US economy produced 339,000 jobs, a blistering pace of growth.” That would be true if someone were totally unaware that 10 million American jobs remain open and have for many months. That means only 3.4% of the jobs open were filled. It would truly be a “blistering pace of growth” if all those people sitting on the sidelines took say 1.5 million jobs in a month. And why are these people sitting on the sidelines? Because they… Read More

The Russia collusion hoax is the single dirtiest political trick in the history of American politics. We now know that it was entirely concocted by the Hillary Clinton campaign and ruthlessly used by partisans in the FBI to affect the 2016 election and then to undermine the legitimately elected president of the United States. Mr. Schiff’s active role in promoting this hoax is disgraceful and damning. But that is not the question before us. The question before us is whether a member of Congress should be censored and fined for speech, even outlandish speech, during the public policy debate. We have gone much too far down this road and it is time we turned back. The entire purpose of this Capitol is for the people’s representatives to freely debate the issues that affect the nation’s welfare. Except for the simple rules that promote civility in that debate, no one should be censored for errors of opinion or fact. The sole arbiters of these issues should be the constituents of the representatives, through the votes they cast in an election. The Founders reserved all legislative powers to the Congress because they wanted the issues of the day… Read More

Much has been discussed nationally about what is commonly called the “Mansion” tax. It went into effect March 31, 2023, after passing last November. But calling it a “Mansion” tax is a misnomer as that is just part of it. The measure was sponsored by a litany of unions and left-wing organizations. They formed a group called “Unite to House LA.” They sponsored an initiative that was signed by nearly 100,000 Los Angelenos who were sold a bill of goods (if you go to their website). Just calling it a “Mansion” tax gave voters the impression that the extremely well-to-do were being taxed. A couple of points. One of their primary selling points was the initiative was written by homeless and housing experts and not politicians. Yet if you look at the track record of these groups, they have been abject failures. Los Angeles City and County have been spending billions of dollars confronting the homeless issue. The plans of so-called “experts” have resulted in homelessness growing; not shrinking. As for the affordable housing people, they too have failed in their mission. When Los Angeles is building units for the homeless costing $500,000 each,… Read More

An organization that has stood for everything right in sports has brought controversy upon itself. It is not the first time it has occurred. This is the team that broke the color barrier in professional sports and that was not a good thing – it was a great thing. This is a team that left its beloved borough and moved across the country to nationalize professional sports. That was not a good thing – it was a great thing. This time though the move they made has tarnished their reputation. The question is for how long? The Dodgers are having their 10th Pride Night on June 16th. Though there may be a question about some aspects of the celebration, the night has never had much controversy to it. Last year’s celebration righteously honored the first major leaguer to come out as being gay – Glenn Burke. Glenn started his career as a Dodger. Times have changed. People are not just gay anymore. They are part of an alphabet soup that encourages recognition of community members who often display behavior on the outer edges of society. A great many of us can be a supporter of the Gay community, but apparently that is now not enough. If you don’t support the… Read More

In 2011, Congress faced an impasse on raising the debt limit. It was the first year of a new Republican House majority and the third year of a spendthrift Obama administration. It’s a myth that the impasse caused Standard and Poors to downgrade the nation’s Triple-A credit rating. S&P had warned explicitly for months that Congress had to reduce its projected deficit by $4 trillion over ten years, or face a credit downgrade. Congress responded with the Budget Control Act, which suspended the debt limit and cut the projected deficit by less than half that amount. Standard and Poors promptly made good on its threat. I voted against the Budget Control Act because it failed to preserve the nation’s triple-A credit rating. It seemed clear at the time. Nevertheless, the BCA turned out to be the most meaningful – indeed, the only – true constraint on federal spending in the years that immediately followed. Although it made disappointingly small cuts in current spending, it included an across-the-board sequestration mechanism that kicked in automatically when Congress failed to enact the targeted deficit reductions. In the years… Read More

As always, I know it is vacation because my cell phone is locked up in a safe, there’s no TV watching, and I have no keys in my pocket. We began this year’s journey with a short visit to one of our closest allies, Japan – specifically in Tokyo. Tokyo is a city of 14 million, but it works. It is well organized, with unfailingly polite people. It makes you wonder if any of them get neck problems from all the head bowing. One spends a lot of time saying arigato (thank you). It is nice to walk around a major city where the streets are spotless and safe. The world-famous Ginza district is so inviting to visitors. No one is breaking any rules. Even before we get to the Ginza District there are colorful flowers lining the streets. Pansies, Johnny Jump-ups, and tulips brightening our walk and our day. You don’t think of jaywalking in Japan. Everything is orderly. You notice walking the streets that everyone is Japanese. In fact, the population is 97.8% Japanese. Though they learn English in school very few speak the language. It is not a very diverse country, and it really works.

Which brought to mind a current saying amongst… Read More

Those who regularly read my column know that The Beautiful Wife and I are experienced world travelers. We have been to 80 countries together and love to travel to all corners of the world. One of the countries I would really like to go to is Venezuela. At one point not to long ago, Venezuela had the best economy in Latin America and was in the top 20 economies in the world. It has the largest oil reserves in the world. In the last two decades of the 20th century, the economy started to decline. It was still a country with which many people I knew did business and visited regularly. I wanted to vacation there. I heard wonderful things about Caracas, the capital. Then Hugo Chavez became president promising a Bolivian (socialist) revolution. He indeed provided a revolution until he died. A revolution of despair. The current leader, Nicolas Maduro, took over the country and finished destroying any semblance of civilized life. Human Rights Watch has reported there is a full-blown humanitarian crisis lacking safe water, basic nutrition, and healthcare. Whoever can get out has gotten out. We missed our opportunity to visit Venezuela and likely will never be able… Read More

When President Biden and the Democrats raise the subject of white nationalism and white supremacy, many conservatives immediately lurch for the “pivot” — a technique of bridging to another topic.

That’s a mistake.

While many on the left have made it a habit of painting anyone and anything they don’t like as racist, it’s a mistake for conservatives to fall into the trap of conceding leadership on issues of racism to the Democrats.

True conservatives can — and should — be bold and clear on this subject, not reach for the escape hatch.

White supremacy, anti-Semitism, and all other forms of racism are fundamentally incompatible with conservatism.Someone who is a racist cannot be a conservative.The former disqualifies one from being the later.

Conservatism holds each person should be judged on their own conduct, behavior, and character.This is what we mean when we talk about “personal responsibility” — people should be responsible for their own actions, and judged on their own character as an… Read More