History will remember Justice Anthony Kennedy for advancing an illogical argument to deny a God-given right. That places him on the opposite side of a fundamental question from the great Roman senator Cicero — as well as from Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1825, an 82-year-old Jefferson wrote a […]
By Peter Wehner In a press conference on Monday, President Obama said, “I’d just remind conservative commentators that for years, what we’ve heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or the lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. And […]
George Washington has a monument; Jefferson has a memorial; and even James Buchanan has a spot in Washington, D.C., dedicated to his legacy. But there’s no slab of marble in honor of James Madison. Yesterday was James Madison’s birthday, so today let us then remember his legacy as the father of our Constitution. Madison conceived the […]
What is America? What is this country fundamentally about? By and large, pundits and politicians on the right and the left don’t seem to get it. Some come close, but there is a widespread failure to explain why the Founders established this republic. On this date in history, two of the clearest expressions of the […]
California is teetering on the edge of economic and social collapse. According to an Economist special report, this is largely the result of decisions to implement direct democracy reforms during the Progressive era, such as poplar recall, initiatives, propositions, and referenda — reforms that have “inflamed” the passions of the people — “James Madison’s worst […]
by Prof. Steve Hochstadt A new internet cartoon is capturing public interest by explaining the sources of our worldwide financial distress. Using a clever South Park format, “The American Dream” reveals the hidden enemies of naive Americans, and others around the world, who yearn for financial independence – the US Federal Reserve and all national […]
The current language surrounding American foreign policy (and the New START Treaty in particular) is diplomatic and courteous. It is also dangerously ambiguous about American sovereignty. As Steven Groves explains in the latest installment of the Understanding America series, “Sovereignty is a simple idea: the United States is an independent nation, governed by the American […]
On this day in 1833, President Andrew Jackson announces that the government will no longer use the Second Bank of the United States, the country’s national bank. He then used his executive power to remove all federal funds from the bank, in the final salvo of what is referred to as the “Bank War.” A […]
