Keynesianism is still not working.The central idea of the dominant economic philosophy in Washington, DC, is that when the private economy fails to produce enough demand, the government can and should step in to take up the economic slack. It should have been long since discredited. But like other bad ideas, people keep bringing it back.

[Note: This article was written before the July 2013 announcement by President Obama's Office of Personnel Management (OPM), that it would allow Members of Congress and their staff to keep their workplace health insurance subsidies despite having to obtain their coverage in a government health exchange. This special treatment is enjoyed by no other class of Americans. With the OPM announcement, Congress became effectively exempted from ObamaCare. -- Dean Clancy, FreedomWorks]A carefully crafted story in Politico caused a stir this week by claiming that congressional leaders were in talks to exempt staffers from the effects of Obamacare. It isn't true.Will Politico print a retraction? It's more likely that they will merely pat themselves on their collective back, hoist a toast at their favorite DC watering hole, and share a laugh over another episode of successful trolling completed.

As Dean Clancy wrote last week, the House on Wednesday will take up the Helping Sick Americans Now Act (H.R.1549). The bill cuts a slush fund and uses the money to subsidize insurance for the sickest Americans. Congress should pass it.

"Oh, no. Another post about the RNC rules. Let me see how fast I can click away from this..."Stop! I get it. Who cares about a political party's internal rules? And when I see "Rule 16(a)(2)" and "delegate’s affirmative duty under state law or state party rule", my eyes glaze over a little, too.  Read on, for why you should care. This stuff determines who gets elected and how much freedom you continue to enjoy.

Today, the state of Arkansas is considering funding for what they call a "private option" for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. It's really just a different way to expand socialized medicine.  The Arkansas legislature should not fund this boondoggle.

Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) linked to this instructional video produced by Texas State Rep.Lois Kolkhorst, the Republican chairwoman of the House Public Health Committee. In the video, Kolkhorst says Texas will benefit from exchange subsidies even though Texas has not created an Obamacare exchange.

Obamacare turned three years old last week and the old nag is already showing signs it needs to be sent off to the glue factory. Even though the law is causing rapid and shocking price increases, the Obama administration is riding at a gallop to implement their plans, even if it means breaking the Obamacare law itself to do it.

In developing the Growth and Opportunity Project's Autopsy of the 2012 election (pdf), the Republican National Committee correctly identified the reason for the party's loss, but failed to recommend a coherent strategy to reverse it.The report endorses primaries, campaign finance reform, and recommends various ways outside groups can get involved. Some of it's good, some of it's not so good, but in the end it's a half measure where a radical change is needed.

In developing the Growth and Opportunity Project's Autopsy of the 2012 election (pdf), the Republican National Committee correctly identified the reason for the party's loss, but failed to recommend a coherent strategy to reverse it. President Obama won by defining his opponent in a negative way, and marrying modern technology with old-fashioned boots on the ground. Republicans can do those things even better than he did, but doing so will require radically reforming the party.

The Republican National Committee's Growth and Opportunity Project post-mortem of the 2012 election cycle covers a lot of ground in its effort to diagnose the Party's losses. This first installment of my response covers the report broadly and particularly its prescriptions for messaging.