In case you missed it…
Free speech
Increasingly, Americans seem willing to censor political opinions with which they disagree. It’s now commonplace for political partisans to invoke forms of “political correctness” to silence dissenting views and demonize opposing thinkers. Such growing political intolerance, however, ultimately threatens the future of our republic. As Thomas Jefferson warned in his first Inaugural Address, “Having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions.” (Read more)
Government regulation
The fight over “Net Neutrality” has created a sense of panic among the big-government supporters of the Obama-era regulations. Lawmakers have received death threats, protestors are warning about the “death of the Internet” and even the FCC chairman’s children have been harassed by supporters of the regulatory scheme. The hysteria, however, is stunningly misplaced, given the FCC’s actual actions. According to Reason.com, “In truth, the Obama administration-era Open Internet Order (OIO) that the FCC is overturning has little to with ‘net neutrality’ at all.” (Read more)
Politics
The term “fascist” is increasingly thrown around by leftists bent on portraying free-market reformers as some sort of power-hungry Mussolini-wannabes. A little knowledge of history, however, throws cold water on the claims. After all, Fascism is diametrically opposed to free-market capitalism, along with multiple other forms of liberty. In fact, the concept of fascism is deeply rooted in the big-government “progressive” movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Watch the video)
Federal lands
When President Obama unilaterally announced millions of acres suddenly “protected” by the federal government, environmentalists applauded the overreaching land-grab. Now that President Trump is in charge — someone committed to limiting such federal excess — executive power is suddenly out of fashion on the political left. (The flip-flop was actually predicted by NPRI’s Communications Director Michael Schaus months ago.) No sooner had President Trump announced he was reducing the size of some national monuments in Utah, and the outdoors retailer Patagonia began telling customers “The President Stole Your Land.” Indeed, the company is even trying to take the administration to court. (Read more)
Healthcare
Medicaid was originally intended to help the elderly and the disabled. Being a big-government program, however, it unsurprisingly expanded well beyond its original mission. Today millions of able-bodied adults are in on the take — via the Affordable Care Act and thoughtless state governments. Some superior solutions, however, can be implemented on the state level. (Read more)
Fiscal and tax
Opponents of the House and Senate’s respective tax reform packages have not been stingy with their false claims. Last week, Democrats claimed that one tax provision of the Senate’s version was an “earmark” to benefit the conservative-leaning private Hillsdale College in Michigan. The truth, of course, was that the amendment would have benefited any college that refused to accept federal tax dollars. If opponents of the provision want more colleges to take advantage of the provision, all they have to do is convince more colleges to abandon the practice of depending on taxpayer subsidies. (Read more)