Thanks to the wisdom of the pundits, one can know the outcome of the 1996 presidential election 10 months early. A preliminary hint: Voters are wasting their time. As the candidates kick off three solid months of primary campaigns—very-early primaries, earlier-than-thou primaries and who’s-on-first party caucuses preceded by highly consequential and rigged party straw votes — followed by five months Read More ›
How much of your income–or anyone’s income–do you think governments from all levels should take? In a recent Reader’s Digest survey, Americans of all backgrounds overwhelmingly selected the figure of 25 percent. In truth, we are far past that amount. Indeed, high taxes have become one of the main reasons that Americans find it so hard to get ahead and Read More ›
At the recent Internet Law Symposium 95, sponsored by the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, noted technology author and pundit George Gilder stated that “[i]n the twenty-first century, all law will be Internet law.” The proof of this statement is the debate already taking place among lawyers, scholars, technologists, and Netizens about security, privilege, and confidentiality in cyberspace. It is common currency Read More ›
GOLIATH IN THE VALE of Elah roared his contempt at the weapons and zeal of David: “Do you think me a dog that you contest me with sticks and stones?” Bill Gates, the Goliath of software, sees himself similarly beset by zealous rivals with risible weapons. Entering his modest second-floor office on the edge of the Microsoft campus on a Read More ›
Presidential candidate Phil Gramm of Texas already seems set to win the lion’s share of Washington state’s 36 delegates to the Republican National Convention in San Diego next summer. This outcome may not be clear at the time of the state GOP precinct caucuses on March 5, let alone at the state’s presidential primary on March 26. But, despite the Read More ›
The great economic debate of 1996 is already roiled by divergent interpretations of budget plans, but now Jack Kemp and the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Policy, which just reported, are attempting to direct top attention to the still more volatile subject of tax reform. The report arrives in a capital stalemated on economic policy. In 1992 the Read More ›
Many years ago, a young psychoanalyst approached The Master for guidance. Replied Mr. Freud directly: “Don’t try to save people. They don’t want to be saved.” Wise counsel for America, as Saddam Hussein continues his game of playing us like a yo-yo. For the issue involved here has come to transcend Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and their locales du Read More ›
What do “Seinfeld” and the Clinton administration’s missile defense policies have in common? Obvious answer: Neither is about anything. It’s too late for Seinfeld. But the Boeing Company recently received a modest (by Beltway standards) contract to design yet another missile defense system. Boeing can deliver. But will success be welcome? Probably not. But then, success has never been welcome. Read More ›
Most Americans are either bored or disgusted by the failure of Congress and the President to reach agreement on a budget and tax program. But the stakes are enormous and rightly demand more of our attention, not less. The subject ultimately affects not only the stock market, but the whole economy; indeed, the well-being of each American family. Unfortunately, while Read More ›
Way back in 1980 (Long Time Passing), as Jimmy Carter staggered through the final days of an unsuccessful attempt to get his contract renewed, he announced that his daughter had told him her greatest fear was nuclear proliferation. The media guffawed, many wondering whether L’il Amy was old enough to spell nuclear proliferation, let alone fret over it. Given recent Read More ›