“Lincoln cent” on The Daily Caller

Last week we reported that Americans are now paying 80 cents more per gallon for gasoline—an increase of 39 percent compared to this time last year. We also discussed how one major cost element—federal and state taxes—inflates your cost at the pump. Noting the overall retail price at the pump is too high, we promised to delve into other factors and cost components in this edition. (more)

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It has been nearly a decade since President George W. Bush chose arrogance over humility as the basis of American foreign policy. The intervening years have not been good for the United States or the Republican Party. As the GOP seeks to take back the White House it needs to conduct a serious foreign policy debate. Republicans should start by listening to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). (more)

How loud do Americans have to scream before their government hears them? The nation’s debt keeps spinning out of control, yet all we hear on the whispering winds is that the value-added tax is on its way. What the hell? I’ve checked my bank account, I’m tapped. At the bottom of my purse might be an old lint-covered Life Saver and a state quarter, but I need that for my collection. The quarter, not the Life Saver. (more)

I was wrong about my professor. (more)

Washington collects alliances like people collect Facebook “friends.” As the Falklands Islands dispute heats up again, the U.S. finds itself being pressed to take sides. It turns out that collecting allies can be expensive. (more)

The irony of our present democracy is that the rules that govern it are written by people who never asked for your vote. (more)

There has been a groundswell in the states with numerous 10th Amendment or state-sovereignty resolutions and bills being introduced. Many have been passed. (more)

Government should be run like a business. One of the most prevalent reformist assertions about government is also one of the most inaccurate. Why when government assumes the proper role of private enterprise, does the business aspect never prevail? Because government and business are virtual opposites—much to taxpayers’ detriment. Until this, and the reason for it, are understood, any chance of real reform is simply wishful thinking. (more)

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In 2008, I wrote a book. It’s a conservative argument about sex, rock ‘n’ roll and God. All three things, I argue, can only be fully understood if interpreted through orthodox Catholicism. (more)

For the past hundred years, citizens of the United States shared one common holiday, regardless of faith, race, or sex. Though it has never appeared on any calendar, we marked a day upon which we managed to slip free of our shackles and buy our way out of indentured servitude. In 1900, it fell on Jan. 22. By 2009, the last year President George W. Bush scheduled the event, it had been pushed back to the first week of May. This year, most expected it to be held during the first week of August. It was, of course, Tax Freedom Day—the day when American workers stopped toiling to pay their government, and began working for themselves. Sadly, barring Constitutional challenges, we’ll never see another one. (more)

The Washington D.C. Shakespeare Theatre Company chose its plays wisely this year.  Just as the country is searching for skilled leadership to deal with the economic crisis, the continued violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the massive government deficit, and the Iranian nuclear threat, the Theatre is offering its Leadership Repertoire—two months of concurrent performances of Henry V and Richard II. (more)

Sometimes everything sucks. Life doesn’t seem just hopeless, but malevolent. You can’t find a job. Your girlfriend is mad at you. You physically feel lousy. (more)

It is not often that I pay much attention to those who tread beyond the margins of respectable political opinion, much less on the fringes of American society. But after reading a member of Young Americans for Liberty’s response to my recent article here at The Daily Caller, I’d like to volunteer some thoughts. (more)

California is America’s bellwether state. While once the nation’s leader in all indices of civic health, it is now insolvent— incapable under any reasonable assumptions to fund its operating budget, provide for necessary infrastructure investment, and meet its long term debt and public employee benefit commitments. (more)