No matter where you live I am sure you have heard the same argument I hear continually: “Republicans are slashing spending and hurting kids.” Health care, education, you name it, this is the refrain. The problem? It’s not true. In May I offered a chart that highlighted how spending is not the path to growth. Today I want to focus on education. Look at the | Read More »
I will admit up-front that I am far from an unbiased observer when it comes to Jonah Goldberg. I am a fan. And I have been lucky enough to get to know him some over the years and consider him a friend. So feel free to factor that in to what follows. But even with that caveat, there is a small part of me that | Read More »
I wanted to bring to your attention a short report released by The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions (full disclosure: I am the president) focused on state spending burdens and their connection, or lack thereof, to economic growth. Adam Schwiebert, The Diehl Family Fellow at the Buckeye Institute, put together a short policy brief that uses a measurement know as “state spending burden” – comparing combined state | Read More »
I have worked in or around the Ohio Statehouse for a decade or more. I have seen a great many protests, counter-protests and events involving all kinds of issues and groups. But when I stopped by the Statehouse today to check out the Values Bus Tour event put on by Heritage Foundation and Family Research Council I experienced something I don’t believe I had ever witnessed. A counter-protest effectively | Read More »
As a companion to the Coffee & Markets interview with the author here is my review of the book. With An American Spy Olen Steinhauer continues to explore both the mechanics of spy craft and the moral tension inherent in the trade using Milo Weaver as his lens. With this third volume in the series, Weaver is no longer a Tourist but can’t escape the gravity of the agency’s destruction. What | Read More »
Issue 2 in Ohio has failed. Unions poured a gazillion dollars into Ohio and won. Despite having a sense of this outcome for some time it still stings. Believe it or not, a great many felt that these reforms were important steps in bring fiscal and structural sanity to government. The voters clearly did not get that message. The media is going to try and | Read More »
Is John Glenn a hero? Tricky question. First American to orbit the earth and third American in space. A long list of awards and medals to his name. But also a Senate a career that was less than illustrious (including the Keating Five scandal). When I think John Glenn I think bland Democratic politician not heroic astronaut. Your mileage may vary. But the point of this | Read More »
**I am going to try and re-start something I had begun previously: Friday Books. Each Friday I will bring to your attention a book worth reading. Feel free to leave a comment on books you have read recently or are reading.** It is easy to lose perspective these days. What with the 2012 campaign, the struggling economy, and the often miss-the-forest-for the-trees nature of social media and | Read More »
One of the failings of our public school systems is the lack of basic economic literacy of so many of our students. I am afraid this has infected our political discourse and policy making to a degree that is frightening and deeply disheartening. One prime example of this, are attempts to ignore basic things like supply and demand when making public policy. In my humble opinion, Democrats | Read More »
It is not my attention to pile on Herman Cain or to get further into the abortion imbroglio covered in detail here at Redstate. Instead, I want to take a moment to talk about the concept of “professional politicians.” People love to hate politicians and often for good reason. And in our hyper-populist mood these days there is a scrambling to be anti-politician, anti-Washington, anti-government, etc. | Read More »
As you may know, there is a critically important issue being debated here in Ohio that has long term implications for politics, public policy and the health of Ohio’s economy. Issue 2 is a result of a union led attempt to repeal Senate Bill 5 – legislation which brought much needed reform to Ohio’s collective bargaining laws. A yes vote allows these important reforms to | Read More »
There is a tendency by some to look down their noses at politics; viewing it as the grubby fight for power and the inevitable disappointment that results from politicians who promise everything during election years only to deliver hot air and favors for friends once safely ensconced in office. To be fair, all too often this is what politics actually offers. But in his biography of founding | Read More »
Implementation of something called E-Verify is bringing out opposition from a group that the GOP counts on: farmers. Georgia farmers are upset: Georgia farmers are suffering from the state’s new immigration law. HB 87 was partially blocked by the courts, but other parts took effect July 1. Even without fully becoming law, the legislation had a chilling effect on migrant workers essential to agriculture, according | Read More »
Budget showdowns in DC, battles with government unions in the Midwest, tragedy in Japan, war in the Near East, unemployment frustratingly high and gas prices disturbingly so. There is much to worry about and debate these days. One suspects, however, that there aren’t many Americans who are worried about the upcoming Sarawak elections in Malaysia. And yet, even amongst all the headlines above, they should. Why? I will try to explain.
Read More »I have been reading Tony Woodlief for some time and I would guess many of you have as well. First at this blog, Sand in the Gears, and then in places like the Wall Street Journal, World Magazine and National Review Online. Tony is the kind of writer I enjoy: honest, intelligent and always interesting. I don’t always agree with him but I almost always | Read More »
I am an admitted bibliophile and thought it might be interesting and useful to post some thoughts on books/authors every Friday. So here is the first post. Let me know if you think this is something worth continuing. William F. Buckley (Christian Encounters Series) by Jeremy Lott is an excellent introduction to one of the central figures of the post-war conservative movement. But it is important to keep | Read More »
Does he have a sense of humor about it? Yes, he does: Another after the jump
Some real smart analyst/blogger recently said that Ted Strickland was in trouble because unemployment was high – and likely to stay that way – the larger political environment was trending against him and he faced a credible opponent who would take advantage of these factors. While I try to remember who that was, please take a moment to look at some number that back that | Read More »
There are a great many conservative journalists, a seemingly endless array of pundits and a gazillion bloggers opining this days. No offense, and present company excluded, but few rise above the occasionally interesting and far too few are able to bring the desired combination of detailed and useful facts and a talent for writing to their craft. The editors (past and present), however, have a | Read More »
Ohio Representatives, I suggest you think deep and hard about how you vote on health care “reform” because the numbers are ugly. First, Susan B. Anthony List: OH-01 Steve Driehaus 73% oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions (61% strongly oppose) 72% oppose taxpayer funding of abortions as part of healthcare reform (62% strongly oppose) 64% agree that abortion and abortion funding have no | Read More »
So what exactly is going on with Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner in the Democratic primary for the US Senate seat in Ohio? The two candidates seem intent on ignoring each other and the party and its interest groups seem to have sworn an oath to avoid talking about the primary (the biggest in this important state in a critical year). First, there was some | Read More »
A few days ago I posted on how the Democrats were attacking US Senate Candidate Rob Portman for supposedly supporting the “status-quo” on health care (instead of the health care monstrosity currently being debate in Washington). The ODP rolled out some nonsensical attack quotes that missed the whole point. Portman has been saying since the beginning that a bill that raises costs and hurts business | Read More »
Remember Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) in 2009 who opposed the House version of ObamaCare containing a public option, because the House bill “put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care.” He argued that ObamaCare solution is ”within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care.” Well, that same Congressman Kucinich has changed and now supports a bill without | Read More »
This story from the Dayton Daily News is revealing in so many ways: On a day that brought President Barack Obama to Ohio to make a final appeal for congressional approval of his health care overhaul plan, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman had a different message. “I pray that it will not pass,” Portman said on Monday, March 15. His comments came in a | Read More »
Yes, I just claimed that John Kasich is going to be Ohio’s next governor. This is not meant as hyperbole. I really believe Kasich is going to beat Governor Strickland in November. This is not based on deep study of the polls or a county-by-county analysis or anything of that sort. It is more of a gut feeling based on how I see the campaign | Read More »
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