Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee may have ravaged northeastern Pennsylvania with floodwaters, but displaced people have found aid and comfort in the relief provided by private charities and businesses. A recent New York Times story described affected people’s disillusionment with the federal government’s ability to dispense disaster relief aid through FEMA. “Uprooted and desolate, […]
Our country is at a tipping point, yet the last thing we need to do is start anew. “We don’t need to remake America or discover new and untested principles,” says Heritage’s Matt Spaulding. At times like these, we should return to our First Principles, which provide us with the wisdom and guidance we need […]
Give two U.S. Senators credit for trying to do something about the smoke-and-mirrors games in Washington. The “Honest Budget Act” by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) goes to the heart of public distrust of Congress, namely the dishonest budget gimmicks and accounting tricks. The public is rebelling because too many “budget […]
When House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D–CA) staff released a chart in May that attempted to illustrate how much past Presidents increased the national debt, it collided with a meticulous critique from Politifact that in turn led to a revised chart. The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler weighed in as the original chart resurfaced recently, reporting […]
Do you know all the laws of the United States? Do you know all the laws of each of the 50 states (not to mention the assorted territories, Indian reservations, and other enclaves)? Probably not. And yet “ignorance of the law is no excuse” has been a maxim of criminal law since time immemorial. The […]
Animal rights activists and commercial fisherman may find little common ground, but both can share their plight as victims of overcriminalization. The front page story in the Wall Street Journal juxtaposes these often-at-odds groups because they are vulnerable to the problems of overbroad and ambiguous legislation… along with the rest of us. Year after year, […]
Knowing America’s history well is one of the first steps to becoming a well-rounded and knowledgeable conservative. It’s not always easy to remember the many dates, speeches, people, and events from the past 235 years, and The Heritage Foundation knows that. As a result, we have created a new one-stop shop for America’s first principles […]
The National Organization for Marriage recently announced the launch of a new project called the Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance. This vital project responds to growing concerns about the reprisals directed against many people who support marriage as one man and one woman. The Heritage Foundation has documented, for example, how people who supported Proposition 8, the […]
As if further evidence actually is needed, Bank of America on Thursday demonstrated yet again how government price controls inevitably harm consumers—and low-income consumers the most. In this instance, the nation’s largest bank (by assets) announced on Thursday a new $5 monthly fee for use of a debit card. Several other banks are likewise imposing […]
Republicans and Democrats on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction this week finally agreed on something substantive: The U.S. corporate tax rate is too high. It’s a point we’ve been making for years at Heritage. High federal and state corporate tax rates — a whopping 39.2 percent when combined — make it difficult for […]
