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Recent Cato Op-eds

This list consists of Cato op-eds within the last 60 days.

• May 9, 2008, "Inherently Governmental?," David Isenberg, United Press International.

  Amid all the polemics over the use of private military and security contractors by the U.S. government there are two words one rarely sees, but they lie at the very heart of the debate: "inherently governmental." The main reason there is debate ...

• May 9, 2008, "The Limits of Monetary Policy," James A. Dorn, South China Morning Post.

  A central banker must know the limits of monetary policy. Pumping up the supply of fiat money cannot generate real economic growth, but it can ignite inflation. Just look at Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe's policies have destroyed the currency, which ...

• May 8, 2008, "South Africa Plays Ball with Dictators," Marian L. Tupy and James Kirchick, Weekly Standard.

  Friends of Zimbabwe have long hoped for a peaceful transfer of power in that country. But in spite of losing the March 29 elections to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the regime of Robert Mugabe is clinging to power. Once again, ...

• May 8, 2008, "Healthy McCain," Michael F. Cannon, National Review (Online).

  John McCain (R., Ariz.) just spent a week rolling out his plan to reform how Americans purchase health insurance. Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, claims McCain's plan would not cover people with high-cost ...

• May 7, 2008, "Valeo's Revenge," Ilya Shapiro, American Spectator (Online).

  As Pennsylvania Democrats went to the polls last month in the last big primary before the party's nominating convention, the Supreme Court heard yet another challenge to campaign finance regulation. Whether Barack or Hillary finally wins the ...

• May 6, 2008, "Traders," Daniel J. Ikenson, National Review (Online).

  Despite Democrats' rhetoric, Americans embrace trade. Whatever Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama say about the fallout from free trade, producers in Indiana and North Carolina are enjoying a golden age of exports. Both Clinton and ...

• May 6, 2008, "McCain's Health Care Plan: Radical and Right," Michael D. Tanner, Orange County Register.

  John McCain is proposing the most radical overhaul of American health-care policy in a decade and a half. Not since Bill and Hillary Clinton's failed reform attempt has a presidential candidate, or even a president, called for such sweeping changes ...

• May 5, 2008, "Increasing Allure of US Business Schools," David Donadio, South China Morning Post.

  American business schools are creating an increasing number of partner programmes and satellite campuses in Asia. But, in spite of post-September 11immigration restrictions, international students are applying to the primary campuses of ...

• May 5, 2008, "Blame the Fed," Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr., Reason.

  The U.S. economy is in the midst of an old-style credit crunch brought on by a combination of bad policies and incredibly lax underwriting standards at financial institutions. The biggest policy failure was the decision by Alan Greenspan's Federal ...

• May 4, 2008, "Fairness, Idealism and Other Atrocities," P.J. O'Rourke, Los Angeles Times.

  Commencement advice you're unlikely to hear elsewhere. Well, here you are at your college graduation. And I know what you're thinking: "Gimme the sheepskin and get me outta here!" But not so fast. First you have to listen to a commencement ...

• May 2, 2008, "Insurance? What Insurance?," David Isenberg, United Press International.

  Life in Iraq for private military contractors is dangerous. If they get killed their dependents in theory get insurance but there will be no letters from a military commander of the president, commending them for their service to the country. No ...

• May 2, 2008, "The Return of Limited Nuclear War?," David Isenberg, CounterPunch.

  Recent news has brought nuclear weapons back into the political picture, just as a new report suggests that the United States will have difficulty denying nuclear weapons to regional powers that seek them. Sen. Hillary Clinton recently confirmed ...

• May 1, 2008, "Dangerous Delusions," Richard W. Rahn, Washington Times.

  Have you ever wondered why so many people see higher taxes and more government as the solution to every problem, despite the empirical evidence that more government reduces economic efficiency and growth and diminishes our liberties? As will be ...

• May 1, 2008, "Rapid Reaction: McCain's Folly," Ted Galen Carpenter, National Interest (Online).

  The Republican National Committee just circulated an outraged e-mail to potential contributors accusing Democrats of distorting John McCain's position on Iraq. McCain gave his political opponents ammunition earlier this year when he encountered a ...

• May 1, 2008, "Mission Not Accomplished," Stanley Kober, Star Telegram.

  Today marks five years since George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq. This pronouncement was decidedly premature, and as the president recently admitted, "it's taking longer than I anticipated." But he is still optimistic. ...

• May 1, 2008, "Focus on Fuel-Friendly Cars, Not Rail," Randal O'Toole, Seattle Times.

  Many Seattleites assume public transportation is vastly more energy efficient than cars, and that spending more money on transit will attract people out of their cars. In 1979, University of California at Irvine economist Charles Lave showed in The ...

• May 1, 2008, "Hillary Clinton's Appeal as an Optimist Has Steadily Declined Among Progressive Thinkers," Alan Reynolds, Keene Equinox.

  It suddenly became clear that Hillary Clinton and her advisors intend to run a negative presidential campaign not negative about other candidates, but about the U.S. economy. On May 29, Sen. Clinton launched her "Modern Progressive Vision: Shared ...

• April 30, 2008, "Sliding into Recession," Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, American Spectator (Online).

  After four years of 9% GDP growth, and boasts of overtaking China, Indians are reluctant to believe that the economy is headed for a serious fall. But the stock market has crashed, an indication of the pain ahead. Western observers have lavished ...

• April 30, 2008, "Character Issues," John Samples, American Spectator (Online).

  We are often told that presidential campaigns should be about "the issues." But voters will not be enacting laws in November. They will select a president who may well face unexpected dangers or opportunities over the next four years. Voters need to ...

• April 29, 2008, "A Pro-Taliban Threat," Malou Innocent, Washington Times.

  Pro-Taliban militants are currently in talks with one of Pakistan's provincial governments to enforce Shariah, or Islamic law. Though the deal is meant to stop the spreading Islamist insurgency on Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan, if ...

• April 29, 2008, "Be Judicial in Your Compassion," Robert A. Levy, National Review (Online).

  What ever happened to the sanctity of private contracts? Consider the bill now pending in Congress that would essentially wipe out existing mortgages — allowing their terms to be rewritten for the benefit of troubled homeowners. In some ...

• April 28, 2008, "The Libertarian Voter," David Boaz, Washington Times.

  Campaigning in the Mountain West, Sen. Barack Obama said that the Bush administration's policies on warrantless wiretaps and executive authority would drive libertarian votes in his direction. Libertarian voters played a big role in swinging ...

• April 28, 2008, "On "Withdrawing Responsibly" from Iraq," Malou Innocent, CounterPunch.

  Sixty percent of Americans want the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, according to a March 12th Gallup poll. And sixty-four percent, according a recent CBS poll, believe that the Iraq War was never worth fighting to begin ...

• April 28, 2008, "New Delhi's Food Failure," Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, The Wall Street Journal Asia.

  Inflation in India has shot up to 7.4%, and food prices are skyrocketing. To control prices, the government has banned the export of wheat, pulses and all rice, save the luxury basmati variety. But all those measures are at best beside the point and ...

• April 27, 2008, "Immigration Law Should Reflect Our Dynamic Labor Market," Daniel T. Griswold, The Dallas Morning News.

  Among its many virtues, America is a nation where laws are generally reasonable, respected and impartially enforced. A glaring exception is immigration. Today an estimated 12 million people live in the U.S. without authorization, 1.6 million in ...

• April 27, 2008, "Battle over Eminent Domain is Another Civil Rights Issue," David Beito and Ilya Somin, The Kansas City Star.

  Few policies have done more to destroy community and opportunity for minorities than eminent domain. Some 3 to 4 million Americans, most of them ethnic minorities, have been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of urban renewal takings ...

• April 26, 2008, "Beacon Hill's Gift to the Black Market," Patrick Fleenor, The Boston Globe.

  According to police, Richard "Pops" Picardi, a 76-year Revere man who hobbled about on a prosthetic leg, was a purveyor of many vices. For drug addicts he supplied OxyContin, Percocet, and other narcotics, investigators say. To smokers he supplied ...

• April 26, 2008, "Recruiting the Bottom of the Barrel," David Isenberg, Asia Times Online.

  WASHINGTON - United States Army recruits are not being all that they can be, according to data released earlier this week by a congressional committee. The US Army admitted approximately 25% more recruits last year with a record of legal problems ...

• April 25, 2008, "No More Mr. Rice Guy," Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, American Spectator.

  Accelerating inflation in India has claimed an unexpected victim: the controversial India-U.S. civil nuclear deal. If the Indian government moves forward in the face of strong domestic opposition, it risks being toppled and forced into an early ...

• April 25, 2008, "Cost-effective: Myth or Fact?," David Isenberg, United Press International.

  If you've heard it once, you've heard it countless times: Governments and corporations turn to private military contractors because it is more cost-effective than using regular military forces. But is it true? Typical is this statement by Doug ...

• April 24, 2008, "Letter to the Editor: Interest Rate Cuts," Steve H. Hanke, The Wall Street Journal.

  In response to Martin Feldstein's April 15 Wall Street Journal editorial page commentary "Enough With the Interest Rate Cuts": Prof. Feldstein asserts that "It's time for the Federal Reserve to stop reducing the federal funds rate ..." He is ...

• April 24, 2008, "The Fed Walks a Tightrope," Jagadeesh Gokhale and Thomas A. Firey, Washington Post.

  When the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Markets Committee meets next month, the foremost topic of conversation is likely to be whether to continue lowering interest rates. Since last September, the Fed has reduced the federal funds rate by 3 ...

• April 23, 2008, "Financial Regulatory Limitations," Richard W. Rahn, Washington Times.

  Do you think we need more regulations for banks and other financial institutions, as many politicians and others have recently urged? Before you answer this question, you may wish to consider the following. There are now literally hundreds of ...

• April 23, 2008, "Phantom Plastic Peril," Patrick Basham and John Luik, American Spectator (Online).

  To judge by the scary headlines and news reports, the latest threat to American children comes in the shape of a plastic baby bottle. According to the National Toxicology Program (NTP), Bisphenol A (BPA), which is used in thousands of plastic ...

• April 22, 2008, "Employers Must Pull the Trigger," Robert A. Levy, Tampa Tribune.

  The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide a Second Amendment challenge to the gun ban in Washington, D.C. I am co-counsel to Dick Heller in District of Columbia v. Heller, so I take a backseat to no one when it comes to vindicating Second Amendment ...

• April 22, 2008, "Hurting the Rich Important to Obama," Sallie James, OCRegister.com.

  The debate between the Democratic candidates last week proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that voters face a choice between two starkly different visions. Barack Obama made one particularly startling statement that puts him well to the left of the ...

• April 22, 2008, "At the Fed, Nothing Succeeds Like Failure," George A. Selgin, Cato.org.

  Although plenty of questions are being asked about Secretary Paulson's plan granting sweeping new powers to the Federal Reserve, a crucial one is in danger of being overlooked. That question is: What use has the Fed made of past extensions of its ...

• April 22, 2008, "Spinning Saddam's Linkages," David Isenberg, CounterPunch.

  After prolonged bureaucratic labor the latest report of the Iraqi Perspectives Project (IPP) finally made it out to the larger world. Its primary conclusion, which has been making headlines since news of it was first reported March 10 by Warren ...

• April 21, 2008, "Liberals Would Undo a State-Based System," John Samples, Tennessean.

  Ever since Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the 2000 election, many Democrats have argued for eliminating the Electoral College. Liberal enmity toward the constitutional method of electing the president is not new. Early in the 20th century, ...

• April 21, 2008, "On Rice and Corn Laws," Steve H. Hanke, Globe Asia.

  As everyone knows, food prices have ratcheted up dramatically in the past few years. The accompanying food price chart, which displays the Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index of 55 commodities, presents the picture in stark ...

• April 21, 2008, "Inventing a Student Loan Crisis," Neal McCluskey, American Spectator (Online).

  College students have lots of "crises" -- tough classes, relationship break-ups, homesickness, beer shortages -- most of which are fleeting and, frankly, fatuous. One college crisis, however, never seems to end, and while parts of it may be ...

• April 21, 2008, "When Employment Lines Cross Borders," Daniel T. Griswold, Star Telegram.

  Apprehensions along the U.S. border with Mexico have fallen in recent months, but Americans should not be lulled into thinking that the problem of illegal immigration has somehow been fixed. Credit for the decrease belongs at least as much to the ...

• April 20, 2008, "Doing Little Is Doing Right, or You'll Wreck Economy," Patrick J. Michaels, Des Moines Register.

  In a much-anticipated statement on global warming, President Bush on Thursday announced a national goal to stabilize our emissions of greenhouse gases - mainly carbon dioxide - by 2025. To reach this goal, he proposed new fuel-economy standards ...

• April 20, 2008, "A Mandate for Health-Care Disaster in D.C.," Michael D. Tanner, Washington Post.

  As goes Massachusetts, so goes the District? This month marks the second anniversary of the passage of Massachusetts's landmark universal health-care law. As if to mark the moment, the D.C. Council is about to take up legislation to impose a ...

• April 18, 2008, "No Justice on Contractor Rape," David Isenberg, United Press International.

  Since the very first conflicts, until it was made illegal under international law, rape was a part of warfare. But a series of recent allegations against Private Military Contractors suggests that it is not just a historical phenomenon. Earlier ...

• April 18, 2008, "Dems Betray Our Ally Colombia," Daniel T. Griswold, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

  By refusing to allow a vote on a free-trade agreement with Colombia, Democrat leaders in the House have come down on the wrong side of the struggle to promote liberty in the Americas. Under pressure from organized labor, the Democrat majority in ...

• April 18, 2008, "Our Climate Numbers Are a Big Old Mess," Patrick J. Michaels, The Wall Street Journal.

  President George W. Bush has just announced his goal to stabilize greenhouse-gas emissions by 2025. To get there, he proposes new fuel-economy standards for autos, and lower emissions from power plants built in the next 10 to 15 years. Pending ...

• April 18, 2008, "The Problem of Making Policy Based on the Premise 'If'," Benjamin H. Friedman, Australian Financial Review.

  The United States employs a version of the precautionary principle when it confronts threats to national security. The US spends vast amounts on defences against threats unlikely to affect Americans. Experts, defence officials and politicians ...

• April 17, 2008, "Panic Time at the Fed," Steve H. Hanke, Forbes.

  U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's blundering is becoming more breathtaking with each passing week. At the end of March he rolled out a grand plan to crown the Federal Reserve as the nation's new financial stabilizer. The Fed a stabilizer? ...

• April 17, 2008, "Fuels vs. Food," Indur Goklany, New York Post.

  President Bush's call yesterday for a dramatic slowdown of green-house-gas emissions reflects growing concern for the consequences of climate change. But what about the consequences of the world's response? The fact is, food riots resulting ...

• April 17, 2008, "The Olympics: Plus Ça Change …," Ilya Shapiro, National Interest (Online).

  With the crescendo of protests accompanying the Olympic torch relay, world leaders are caught in a bind over what to do about this summer's games in Beijing. German officials announced that neither Angela Merkel nor her foreign or sports ministers ...

• April 16, 2008, "Focus on Big Financial Picture, Not Televangelists," David Boaz, DallasNews.

  Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is a busy man. The Iowan spends his time supervising private colleges, private charities, churches and now ministries. Oh, and when he has time, he's supposed to be ...

• April 15, 2008, "McCain's Plan Bests Obama's," Michael D. Tanner, The Hill.

  For some time now, the debate over how best to reform the American healthcare system has been dominated by the question of "universal coverage," how to provide health insurance to those without it. However, if Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack ...

• April 14, 2008, "The Imperial Fed: Does It Have Enough Power?," Thomas Humphrey and Richard H. Timberlake Jr., Cato.org.

  The Federal Reserve System (the Fed) is the steward of the monetary system. Originally, Congress limited its mission to supplement the operations of the gold standard by lending to needy but solvent banks that were suffering a liquidity problem. In ...

• April 11, 2008, "Economic Hysteria," Alan Reynolds, New York Post.

  Media hysteria over the mortgage crisis is almost certainly misleading countless people about prospects for the real economy. The US economy is likely in recession. Yet even that conclusion may be premature — it rests on a short sample of ...

• April 11, 2008, "Florida Teachers vs. Poor Parents," Andrew J. Coulson, Orlando Sentinel.

  The Florida Education Association is threatening a lawsuit to shut down the state's scholarship program for low-income kids. Under this program, businesses can donate to nonprofit scholarship organizations, and then claim a tax credit up to a ...

• April 10, 2008, "Mugabe's Best Friend," Marian L. Tupy, Forbes.com.

  Close to two weeks after the ballots were cast in Zimbabwe's pivotal elections, two points appear to be clear. First, the opposition won. Second, the Mugabe regime has no intention of relinquishing power. Blatant disregard for democracy that ...

• April 10, 2008, "Hot Air in Bangkok," Indur Goklany, The Wall Street Journal Asia.

  After five days of contentious discussions in Bangkok, governments from nearly 200 countries last week agreed to an agenda for further talks to forge a new United Nations global warming agreement. One sticking point has been developing nations' ...

• April 9, 2008, "Global Warming: When The Red, Red Koyapigaktoruk Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along," Patrick J. Michaels, Foxnews.com.

  Ah, spring! I know it's here when swarms of red-breasted robins descend on my Virginia farm, rooting for every worm that survived winter. No one gains much political traction writing about global warming's threat to turkey buzzards, but robins ...

• April 8, 2008, "Trading Up," Daniel J. Ikenson, National Review (Online).

  President Bush announced Monday that he will send the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress for a vote. It was a bold decision and the right one. Whatever the outcome, the vote will be a defining moment for U.S. trade policy. Monday's ...

• April 7, 2008, "How Pennsylvania Gains From NAFTA," Alan Reynolds, New York Times Topics.

  The 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, and free trade in general, have somehow emerged as hot campaign issues in the Democratic primary race. This is particularly odd in Pennsylvania because the state economy has done very well in exporting ...

• April 7, 2008, "Starbucks and 'Laissez Faire'," David Boaz, The Wall Street Journal.

  Laissez-faire. It's a policy that made Starbucks vastly successful. But don't try to put that phrase on a customized Starbucks Card. The cards are supposed be personalized to reflect customers' tastes and uniqueness. They are available in a range ...

• April 6, 2008, "The Real Cost of Public Schools," Andrew J. Coulson, Washington Post.

  We're often told that public schools are underfunded. In the District, the spending figure cited most commonly is $8,322 per child, but total spending is close to $25,000 per child -- on par with tuition at Sidwell Friends, the private school ...

• April 4, 2008, "The Babysitter's Club," Ted Galen Carpenter, National Interest (Online).

  The NATO summit in Bucharest produced a split decision on expanding the alliance. Opposition from Germany, France and other key long-time members thwarted the Bush administration's goal of offering a Membership Action Plan (the first stage of ...

• April 4, 2008, "Lawyers, Guns and Money," David Isenberg, United Press International.

  The Pentagon recently issued a memorandum with the less-than-snappy title "Uniform Code of Military Justice Jurisdiction Over Department of Defense Civilian Employees, Department of Defense Contractor Personnel, and Other Persons Serving With or ...

• April 4, 2008, "America's Protectionist Drift," James A. Dorn, South China Morning Post.

  After several months of relative calm on Capitol Hill about US-China trade relations, leading House Democrats are making a noise. They are calling on the Bush administration to employ "all available tools at its disposal to address China's ...

• April 3, 2008, "Don't 'Pull an Iraq' in Afghanistan," Benjamin H. Friedman, Christian Science Monitor.

  This week at a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romainia, American officials asked Europeans to send more troops to the war in Afghanistan. Leaders in both the Democratic and Republican Parties agree that higher troop levels and a deeper commitment to ...

• April 2, 2008, "Kelo, M.I.A.," Ilya Somin, National Review (Online).

  The Supreme Court's Kelo decision in 2005 generated a massive political backlash. Kelo v. City of New London endorsed the condemnation of private property for transfer to other private owners in order to promote "economic development." Polls showed ...

• April 1, 2008, "Foolish Misuse," Ilya Shapiro, National Review (Online).

  Quite appropriately, today exposes another facet of the foolishness that is U.S. immigration policy. April 1st is the day each fiscal year when employers are allowed to begin filing petitions with the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS, ...

• April 1, 2008, "Che's Way," Gabriela Calderon, American Spectator (Online).

  Last week I attended a conference in Rosario, Argentina, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the think tank Fundacion Libertad. The event brought together a motley crew of classical liberal historians, philosophers, journalists, novelists, ...

• March 31, 2008, "Share Power in Haste and You'll Repent at Leisure," Patrick Basham, AllAfrica.com.

  At President Bush's urging, former United Nations Secretary General Dr Kofi Annan stitched together a power-sharing deal between President Kibaki and Opposition leader, Mr Raila Odinga. However, this deal will not heal the wounds of a political ...

• March 31, 2008, "In Praise of Private Infrastructure," Steve H. Hanke, Globe Asia.

  An economy depends on infrastructure to facilitate the flow of goods, people, information and energy. Accordingly, ports, roads, bridges, railways, airports, communication networks, power lines, waterworks and many other infrastructure systems ...

• March 30, 2008, "Can E-Verify Help Stem Tide of Illegal Immigration?," Jim Harper, Daily Herald.

  With the failure of Congress to reform immigration laws, political leaders are searching for election-year achievements in this area. But the emerging consensus in favor of "electronic employment eligibility verification" will collapse when ...

• March 28, 2008, "How Can Mainland 'Super Ministries' Be Accountable?," David Donadio, South China Morning Post.

  In the latest example of China's transition from authoritarian management to authoritarian management by specialists with business credentials, Beijing plans to restructure its major government ministries. The reforms passed by the ...

• March 28, 2008, "No Gravy Train for PMC Grunts," David Isenberg, United Press International.

  The popular belief that there is a huge disparity between what U.S. private security contractors and military personnel are paid has been exposed as a myth yet again. Earlier this month the Pentagon released its Tenth Quadrennial Review of ...

• March 28, 2008, "The Long Fall of Robert G. Mugabe," Marian L. Tupy, The New Republic (Online).

  Zimbabweans will head to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president and parliament. Even with the elections rigged to continue Robert Mugabe's 28-year reign and keep his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party in power, his return ...

• March 27, 2008, "Sanford Should Stand Up to Fed Bullying Over REAL IDs," Jim Harper, Charleston Post-Courier.

  In the next few days South Carolina's Gov. Mark Sanford will decide whether or not the citizens of South Carolina should allow the federal government to bully them into adopting national identification. In spite of its growing unpopularity, ...

• March 27, 2008, "Lock Them in a Room," Jagadeesh Gokhale, American Spectator (Online).

  I'm glad that the Social Security and Medicare Trustees have started reporting the costs of fixing those programs' finances permanently. They've been consistently releasing those figures since 2004, and this year, the costs are estimated at $102 ...

• March 26, 2008, "Some Major Threats to Limited Government," William A. Niskanen, Examiner.com.

  Some of the major new threats to limited government in the United States are independent of who is elected to the White House and Congress this November. An administration and Congress of either party is likely to approve a federal program of ...

• March 24, 2008, "The Guns of April," Leon T. Hadar, American Conservative.

  April 18, 2009 Pundits warned that the Middle East would present the newly elected president with his first international crisis. Iraqi Shi'ite leader Muqtada al-Sadr could revive his forces' attacks on U.S. troops. The ...

• March 24, 2008, "Obama's America," John Samples, American Spectator (Online).

  In the middle of his now famous speech on race and politics in America, Sen. Barack Obama claimed that his life story has made him an unconventional candidate. Yet the content of the speech reveals him to be an entirely conventional presidential ...

• March 21, 2008, "How Should Kenya Confront the Past?," Patrick Basham, African Press International.

  Ten Lessons for the Truth, Justice & Reconciliation Commission George Santayana warned, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." As a means of confronting her past, Kenya's forthcoming Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation ...

• March 21, 2008, "Life Imitating Art," David Isenberg, United Press International.

  Contrary to popular wisdom, "private military contractor" is not a euphemism for mercenary. But the connections between today's security industry and the infamous freebooters of yesteryear like "Mad" Mike Hoare and Col. Bob Denard — whose ...

• March 21, 2008, "Bridges Over Troubled Water," Christopher Preble and Jeremy Lott, American Spectator (Online).

  Does fiscal conservatism stop at the water's edge? It's a question worth pondering because Senator John McCain is a hawk who is also rightly skeptical of too much federal spending. During his successful bid to capture the Republican nomination ...

• March 18, 2008, "Mugabe Is the Mobutu of Our Time," Marian L. Tupy, Spectator (London).

  'Nice shoes,' said a young Zimbabwean looking wistfully at my $40 Nike tennis shoes that I wore when I encountered him sitting on the floor of a completely barren Bata shoe store in the town of Victoria Falls. It was last November and I was in ...

• March 18, 2008, "Fighting for Our Right to Bear Arms," Robert A. Levy, Boston Globe (Online).

  Does the Constitution's Second Amendment give individuals the right to bear arms or is that right reserved exclusively for members of a "well-regulated militia"? That is the question the US Supreme Court will consider today in the case of District ...

• March 18, 2008, "Taiwan Strait Tightrope," Ted Galen Carpenter, Asian Wall Street Journal.

  Ma Ying-jeou's impending victory in Taiwan's presidential election Saturday promises to usher in a period of relative calm in the island's turbulent relations with mainland China. Mr. Ma's Kuomintang Party is determined to end the bold and ...

• March 18, 2008, "Why Tax Havens Are a Blessing," Daniel J. Mitchell, Foreign Policy.

  If Ian Fleming ever had the urge to write a spy novel about tax policy, he might have found good material in the German external intelligence service's recent purchase of confidential client data stolen from a Liechtenstein bank. With its list of ...

• March 17, 2008, "Armed for Liberty," Alan Gura and Robert A. Levy, Legal Times.

  Two hundred years ago, the rights secured by the first 10 amendments were so widely accepted that many of the Framers considered a Bill of Rights unnecessary. Yet the Anti-Federalists wisely insisted on a Bill of Rights, fearing that fundamental ...

• March 15, 2008, "Jobs Hysteria from the Times," Alan Reynolds, New York Post.

  How bad does economic reporting get in a presidential election year? Consider last week's performance by The New York Times. Exhibit No. 1: All the papers, not just the Times, made a huge deal out of job losses during last two months of ...

• March 14, 2008, "Peace Won't Come to Zimbabwe," Marian L. Tupy and David Coltart, The Wall Street Journal.

  Zimbabwe's presidential and parliamentary elections on March 29 are rigged in favor of the incumbent leader Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. Much ink has been spilled on the electoral prospects of his two ...

• March 14, 2008, "Iran Upstages U.S. in Iraq," Leon T. Hadar, United Press International.

  They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And the image of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad glowing -- radiating a Bush-like smugness, some might say -- during a red-carpet welcome in the American-occupied "Green Zone" in Baghdad last week ...

• March 14, 2008, "Persian Pitfalls," Ted Galen Carpenter, National Interest (Online).

  A poll of Iranian public opinion released in mid-March by Terror Free Tomorrow and D3 Systems highlights both problems and opportunities for U.S. policy toward Iran. Much of the American news media focused on one result: that a majority of Iranians ...

• March 13, 2008, "The Hillarys and the Huckabees," David Boaz, Lima News.

  Mike Huckabee is out of the presidential race, and Hillary Clinton is back in. But in a larger sense we'll always have the Hillarys and the Huckabees. Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee are classic examples of two strains of big-government ...

• March 13, 2008, "The Pitfalls of Forecasting Foreign Policy," Leon T. Hadar, PRA's Right Web.

  After close to eight years during which the relationship between the United States and much of the international community has been dominated by tensions over foreign policy, many wonder what a new administration will hold. Some hope there will be a ...

• March 13, 2008, "No Child Left Ahead," Neal McCluskey, American Spectator (Online).

  Shame on you, South Carolina! You have high academic standards compared to other states, and it's making you look bad under the No Child Left Behind Act. It's time to get on the ball, dumb-down "proficiency," and join everyone else in the race to ...

• March 13, 2008, "More Pain at the Pump," Thomas A. Firey, Baltimore Sun.

  The road to hell is paved with good intentions, says the old saw. It may soon be lined with higher-priced gas stations, too, thanks to Maryland's General Assembly. State lawmakers are considering legislation to ban motor fuel "zone pricing," ...

• March 13, 2008, "Against a Common Purpose," John Samples, American Spectator (Online).

  The day he lost the California primary Barack Obama said his campaign has unified Americans of all backgrounds in pursuit of a "common purpose." Three weeks later, in Texas, he said the nation needs "leaders who can inspire the American people to ...