The Genius of "One Percenters" Is Their Amazing Command of the Obvious | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Genius of "One Percenters" Is Their Amazing Command of the Obvious | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The U.S. Post Office doesn't seem to deliver routine mail any faster than it did one or two hundred years ago, yet postal rates keep going up. Why, then, did it take so long for someone — Mississippi-born college student Fred Smith — to do the obvious thing and start pursuing the idea of a nation-wide overnight delivery service in the form of FedEx? He too became a billionaire.'

Santorum's Big-Government Conservatism | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Santorum's Big-Government Conservatism | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'When Hillary Clinton was justly excoriated by conservatives for her book It Takes A Village, which advocated greater government involvement in our lives, Rick Santorum countered with his book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, which advocated greater government involvement in our lives. Among the many government programs he supported: national service, publicly financed trust funds for children, community-investment incentives, and economic-literacy programs in “every school in America” (italics in original).

Santorum’s voting record shows that he embraced George Bush–style “big-government conservatism.” For example, he supported the Medicare prescription-drug benefit and No Child Left Behind.

He never met an earmark that he didn’t like. In fact, it wasn’t just earmarks for his own state that he favored, which might be forgiven as pure electoral pragmatism, but earmarks for everyone, including the notorious “Bridge to Nowhere.” The quintessential Washington insider, he worked closely with Tom DeLay to set up the “K Street Project,” linking lobbyists with the GOP leadership.

He voted against NAFTA and has long opposed free trade. He backed higher tariffs on everything from steel to honey. He still supports an industrial policy with the government tilting the playing field toward manufacturing industries and picking winners and losers.'

'True liberty, he writes, is not “the freedom to be left alone,” but “the freedom to attend to one’s duties to God, to family, and to neighbors.” And he seems fully prepared to use the power of government to support his interpretation of those duties.'

Will Republicans Hand the Left a VAT Victory? | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary

Will Republicans Hand the Left a VAT Victory? | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The most important thing to realize is that many people in Washington want bigger government, and a VAT is a necessary condition for that to happen. Simply stated, there is no way to turn America into a European-style welfare state without this new source of revenue.'

Attack Iran? Ask Congress to Declare War | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Attack Iran? Ask Congress to Declare War | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Declarations of war have gone out of fashion. The last one was 70 years ago, in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, less formal authorizations of force are common. While not quite the same, Congress still voted on war with Iraq. And President George W. Bush did not deny that he was fighting a war. In contrast, President Obama channeled George Orwell in claiming the absence of hostilities in Libya as U.S. drones, missiles, and planes destroyed military materiel and killed military personnel.'

'the Founders gave Congress several important war-making powers, including raising an army, approving military expenditures, ratifying treaties, setting rules of war, and issuing letters of marquee. Moreover, the legislative branch was to decide whether there would be a war for the president to fight.'