In his two terms in office, President Ronald Reagan gave America a powerful transfusion of his own optimism and hope. He rekindled a sense of the possible, rescuing America from defeatism and restoring our confidence and pride in this great nation. That transformation of America was possible chiefly because of Reagan’s unshakable faith in the power of ideas. Reflecting his strong conviction in freedom, Reagan pointed out in his address to students at Moscow State University in May 1988: Freedom is the right to question and change the established way …
“Economic fairness” is expected to be the topic of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, during which he will likely sound the same populist notes of progressivism that America heard last month in his speech in Osawatomie, Kansas. Fairness, though, is in the eye of the beholder. And in the President’s eye, “fairness” means equality of outcomes, not of opportunity. He says he will “lay out a blueprint for an American economy that’s built to last,” but if his Kansas speech is any indication, that …
Support for Obamacare sunk to 29 percent in the latest Associated Press poll. The widespread dissatisfaction with President Obama’s signature achievement is one reason Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) has developed health care reform that puts patients first rather than government. Price, chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, understands health care better than most. Before coming to Congress, he spent nearly 20 years in private practice as an orthopedic surgeon. He’s now using the lessons from that experience to undo the damage of Obamacare by promoting a plan called the …
President Obama may believe that America’s “reset” policy with Russia is the correct move to cover important foreign policy bases, but the policy is deeply flawed. It puts the United States at a disadvantage we can’t afford and forces us to lay aside fundamental American principles of human liberty. The “reset” concessions are simply not worth the exchange of empty promises from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is merely a talking head for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. As Heritage’s Ariel Cohen & Kim Holmes wrote recently in a memo on …
Today is John Dewey’s birthday, and though it’s been almost 60 years since this major Progressive figure passed away, thoughtful conservatives should acquaint themselves with his writings, since they had a profound impact on our society. Dewey, who is best known for his work on education’s role in democracy, wrote extensively on numerous topics, including philosophy, psychology, art, and politics during the course of a long academic career at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and Columbia University. Dewey’s great themes are progress, democracy, and the experimental method …
Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, the direction of the Middle Eastern revolutions this year has been a concern. Attempts by the new governments to shut down media coverage of demonstrations suggest that freedom of the press cannot be taken for granted. Without law and order, the future of the Arab revolutions is in question. Conditions in Egypt have from the beginning been among the most troublesome. And now the violent mob attacks on the Israeli embassy in Cairo over the weekend have spurred a new round of trouble …
As attention focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, where protesters have taken to the streets to demand political change, some wonder whether Cuba will follow suit. A closer look at the island, where freedom fighters wage a nonviolent struggle against a regime desperate to conceal the effectiveness such methods have met during the “Arab Spring,” reveals good news: a big story that cuts through the bleak reality of 52 years of totalitarian rule and the media noise fueled by pro-regime talking points. The island’s growing pro-freedom Resistance, a …
The Obama Administration’s decision to waive provisions of the Jones Act last month when releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is typical of this Administration’s disregard for the principle of equal protection under the law when it becomes too inconvenient. For example, we’ve seen well over 1,000 waivers of the new health care law for those with the influence to get them. The Jones Act waiver was even more transparently political, as the only real crisis at the time of the oil release was a crisis in President Obama’s …
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is a man on a mission. The freshman senator came to Washington after defeating an incumbent Republican, angering some in the GOP establishment but exciting Tea Party activists for his desire to end Washington’s reckless spending. He hasn’t disappointed. Lee wasted little time crusading for a Balanced Budget Amendment, bringing together different factions of the GOP earlier this year to coalesce around a single goal. Now that the country is engaged in a debate over the debt limit, Lee is seizing the moment to promote a …
The presidential proclamations commemorating National Captive Nations Week—the third week of every July–are a revealing reflection of U.S. foreign policy over the past 50 years and America’s sometimes hard, sometimes soft attitude toward those who suppress the basic human rights of peoples and nations. The first proclamation, issued by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 17, 1959, crackles with phrases like “the imperialistic and aggressive policies of Soviet communism.” It urges the American people to study “the plight of the Soviet-dominated nations” and recommit themselves to the support of the …
