Since President Obama left office, congressional Democrats have developed a curious habit of pretending to be fiscal watchdogs. Unfortunately, they are only using federal spending as an excuse to feign moral outrage and play political theater.

To the modern American, the word propaganda may conjure up images of World War II, Soviets, or even an Orwellian police state. It just does not sound like something that is encountered in America today. But the truth is that propaganda is still alive and kicking and, as covered by a recent Scientific American article, the FDA utilizes journalists to disseminate propaganda.

The liberal media is failing our country. Instead of being the objective observer of the truth, too often the media becomes an advocate of one side of a story.

As the blogosphere expands, diversifies and matures, many folks in the conservative blogging world are tempted to say that the mainstream, legacy, alphabet network media has become obsolete. Bloggers seemingly break more news, do more investigative journalism, produce high quality audio and video, and fill a void that newspapers are no longer able to fill. As ad revenue has shrunk, reporting staffs at newspapers across the nation have been slashed, and circulation is shrinking. All while consumers have an ever growing appetite for news, amplified by the instant access of social media. It is tempting to view this landscape and smugly conclude that we bloggers are the wave of the future, and it's only a matter of time until the MSM is little more than a memory.

In an intersection of well intended laws and unintended consequences, Oregon's Government Ethics Commission has created a debate about what constitutes a real journalist. Once again, we're debating who is a real journalist, and who is not. The result of this determination could have much greater impact than anyone realizes. According to a report in The Oregonian (allegedly a real newspaper),

In 2011, with bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans, Cover Oregon was ushered in as the vanguard of the state based healthcare exchanges encouraged by the Affordable Care Act. Instead of resisting the Obamacare mandate, the Oregon legislature doubled down on Obamacare, with the encouragement of our Democrat Governor, former ER doctor John Kitzhaber. Despite innumerable warnings from grassroots activists that the project was doomed to failure, most Republicans in the legislature were persuaded to go along. Now, Oregon is saying goodbye to the terminally ill Cover Oregon, after millions in wasted taxpayer money, FBI investigations, lawsuits and political fallout that will be felt for years to come.

Maybe, maybe not. U.S. House of Representatives Republicans will unveil a 10-year budget blueprint in the next few weeks that will champion fiscal austerity, a theme party leaders hope will energize conservative voters ahead of the November congressional elections.

On today’s edition of the FreedomCast, Andrew Campanella joins me to discuss National School Choice Week, some of the myths and misgivings about school choice and why every conversation about education reform should begin in the living room or at the kitchen table. 

On today’s edition of the FreedomCast, Jim Geraghty joins me to discuss the sudden abandonment of health care reform by Democrats running for reelection, security breaches and more delays for ObamaCare and why millennials are suddenly fleeing the president they helped elect twi