Politics

Clinton’s Job Performance Puzzle

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1998

The pundits are bewildered over the public's apparently contradictory response to President Clinton during his recent troubles. Most people have a low opinion of his character. Yet at least 60 percent of those polled think he's doing a terrific job and should not resign. How can this be? Assuming the polling ...

Treating Us Like Children

by Sheldon Richman July 2, 1998

It's getting harder and harder to imagine a Republican keeping a straight face while proclaiming the GOP to be the party of limited government and personal liberty. The latest reason? The Republican-controlled Senate recently voted 90-10 to outlaw gambling over the Internet. The prohibition, tagged onto an appropriations bill, would impose a penalty of three ...

The Politics of Scandal

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 1998

The hand-wringing over President Clinton's extracurricular activities is misplaced. Whatever else can be said about what Mr. Clinton did or didn't do, we can say this: it would be no tragedy if, as a result of the scandals, the presidency, indeed government itself, were diminished. Quite the contrary. Pundits and others have been heard to say that it is too ...

Service without a Smile

by Sheldon Richman June 2, 1998

Stop the presses! Here's a news headline that will send shock waves through the nation: Compulsory community service doesn't work. Imagine that: When students are forced to be compassionate volunteers, they rebel and find ways to game the system. Who'd have believed it? In a recent article, James Youniss and Miranda Yates are crestfallen that ...

Loving the Children

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 1998

Love for the children is one of the favorite justifications that Democrats and Republicans use to maintain and expand government control over people's lives. Whenever libertarians propose ending the war on drugs, along with all of its terribly destructive consequences, a standard Democratic-Republican response is, "We have to maintain the war on drugs for the sake of the children." ...

The Capricious State

by Sheldon Richman February 2, 1998

A little noted passage in President Clinton's State of the Union speech offered a stark clue about the hypocrisy of politics. In announcing that his administration would sue the tobacco companies to recover money Medicare has spent on treatments for smoking-related illnesses, Mr. Clinton said, "Now, I ask this Congress to resist the tobacco lobby, ...

Pay Equity Errors

by Sheldon Richman February 2, 1998

President Clinton has pledged to step up enforcement of the Equal Pay Act. The promised $14 million to fight wage discrimination was on his list of bribes to the American people, otherwise known as the State of the Union address. The president's Council of Economic Advisers says women make only 75 cents for each dollar men ...

Rhinestone Benevolence

by Sheldon Richman January 2, 1998

If the Senate doesn't think perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes, they could convict President Clinton of bribery. His State of the Union address was nothing if not an attempt to bribe the American people to let him stay in office. Bill Clinton embodies everything that is wrong with government in the 20th ...

Any Surplus Belongs to the Taxpayers

by Sheldon Richman January 2, 1998

After years of budget deficits in the hundreds of billions of dollars, an increasing number of Washington watchers now see budget surpluses coming in the near future. What happened? It should be said up front that the politicians don't deserve credit for the disappearing deficit -- although, unsurprisingly, they have seized credit. The reason ...

No Federal Role in Daycare

by Sheldon Richman January 2, 1998

Those of us who favor limiting government power should stop accusing President Clinton of treading water during his final years in office. The last thing we need is a new initiative from this lifelong interventionist politician. Last year several observers commented that the president was playing golf more than presiding and that perhaps he had ...

Let the Presidency Be Diminished

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 1998

The hand-wringing over President Clinton's extracurricular activities is misplaced. Whatever else can be said about what Mr. Clinton did or didn't do, we can say this: it would be no tragedy if, as a result of the scandal, the presidency, indeed government itself, were diminished. Pundits and others have ...

The Justice Department’s Other Criminal Cover-Up

by James Bovard January 1, 1998

Many Americans have been appalled in recent months to watch the Justice Department use one tactic after another to block inquiries into possible criminal wrongdoing by the Clinton administration. Regrettably, such anti-justice tactics are not a novelty. The Justice Department's continuing falsification and obstruction of justice in the Ruby Ridge case exemplify its devotion to covering up crimes against ...