If Republicans ever want to govern again, they are going to have to take back the tax issue, which they have completely and inexcusably lost to the Democrats since 2008.

The White House is touting something called "Promise Zones" as a model to spur economic growth. These areas feature federal spending with the usual strings attached, attempting to spur economic growth and civic renewal. What the country needs is not set of federally micromanaged zones, but to restore the original American promise for all of the us: here we can be free.

While tonight is New Year’s Eve for the rest of the country, inside the Beltway over the last few years December 31st has been akin to the Night of the Living Dead. Not because worn out Capitol Hill staff and interns wander the streets in a drunken stupor (though this is an accurate assessment), but because dozens of tax extenders set to expire at year’s end are usually reauthorized in bulk by Congress.

Recently, I attended a speech that attempted to lay out a case that Ronald Reagan would not have been a Tea Party President. The speaker, a conservative not terribly familiar with the Tea Party movement, made an interesting case.

We all know that communism is evil, socialism is bad, big government reduces personal liberty and central planners can't plan their way out of a wet paper bag. But we don't often examine why.

This week, I decided to research the Farm Bill to write a little bit about some of the “reforms” House Republicans who support the bill are so proud of. The CBO estimates savings of $35 billion over the next ten years (vs. the current baseline). The CBO is also notorious for underestimating costs, and it looks like this time won’t be any different. 

As part of the complex montrosity known as Obamacare, people signing up for health insurance can have the help of Navigators - people with little training or experience wading through the most complex law ever passed. The manual for the program describes a system that will lead to privacy violations, personal embarrassment, and identity theft.

The IRS, in its zeal to block the legal political activity of conservative groups, has still not come clean. The agency is out of control, and needs serious reform, and ought to be shuttered, its services provided in some other way.