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Commentary
It is easy to imagine that the publishers of National Review, the Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal – bastions of conservativism, all – must have been in a dark mood early in the morning of November 9. Two things had happened that seemed to diminish the influence of conservatism in
Commentary
I have written here and elsewhere about my misgivings over Donald Trump. In particular, I co-wrote a study that was sharply critical of his ideas on trade policy. I have cringed at Trump's off-the-cuff personal attacks on people. He was my last choice among the initial contenders for
Commentary
Second only to lawyers, economists are the subject of frequent jokes. For example: "If all the economists were laid end to end, they would never reach a conclusion." The follow-up joke is that "if all economists were laid end to end, that would be a good thing.
Commentary
It is customary this holiday week to remind ourselves why the American colonies declared their independence from Britain some 240 years ago. The Declaration of Independence provides the answer in the form a list of tyrannical acts attributed to King George III. Among their grievances, the authors cited the "
Commentary
Probably the most famous example of nanny state intervention in consumer choices was Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempt to ban the sale of oversize sugary drinks. After a court overturned the ban, one state legislator introduced a bill that would impose a similar ban on drinks sold to consumers
Donald Trump
"Today, the belief in American exceptionalism has vanished with the end of empire, the weakening of power, the loss of faith in the nation's future." Sound familiar? It could be a lament from anyone in Donald Trump's camp or from Trump himself. Actually, it
Massachusetts
Massachusetts progressives are making another try at amending the state constitution to permit a graduated income tax. This is after unsuccessful efforts to do the same thing in 1962, 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1994. But this time is different. In 1994, proponents were upfront about what they had in mind.
trump
The media are missing the point when they attribute the Trump and Sanders phenomena to unhappiness with the "establishment." As for Trump, there is no Republican "establishment" – no clique of insiders who have let down their supporters by refusing to dis-establish the Obama agenda. There are