Featured Commentary category, Page 112

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., proposes to establish a new federal agency for designing and directing national industrial policy. Named the National Institute of Manufacturing, this agency would be led by what The Washington Post calls a “manufacturing czar, who could report directly to the president. This person would be called...

State lawmakers are heading into budget negotiations with wages rising, record-low unemployment and state revenues surpassing projections — an economic windfall largely due to federal tax reform. With all this great economic news, it would be easy to grow complacent. But here’s the reality: Pennsylvania still lags other states. To...

The Woodland Hills School District is not unique in the problems we face. Yet, we are uniquely forged from the steel-making roots of our past. Like all districts, we strive to provide a top-notch educational institution for our student body. We also seek to lay the foundation of a brick-and-mortar...

“History is repeating itself, and with a vengeance,” John Dean told the judiciary committee, drawing a parallel between Watergate, which brought down Richard Nixon, and “Russiagate” which has bedeviled Donald Trump. But what strikes this veteran of Nixon’s White House is not the similarities but the stark differences. Watergate began...

It’s personal to us at the Department of Aging that more than 18% of workers earning less than $15 per hour are age 55 or older. That means 374,000 older adults are not making a living wage as they try to afford food and housing, on top of those facing...

Just put it on the towering pile of scripts even the writers of “Veep” would have rejected as too absurd. But it’s shockingly, appallingly, real. See if you can follow this. On Tuesday morning, the president’s national security adviser, John Bolton, announces North Korea is one of five countries he...

Fewer than 18 months stand between us and the next presidential election, and politicians are tripping over each other to offer voters more “free” things, including everything from health care to college to a guaranteed basic income. But voters should be fostering a healthy sense of skepticism. If there is...

In a recent Rose Garden speech, President Trump outlined his administration’s immigration plan. Unfortunately, it offered little in the way of specifics, bullet points for those interested or written guidance for lawmakers. This creates a challenge for those concerned about legally admitting new immigrants into America. America’s current immigration structure...

For decades, the federal government has turned to universities to undertake research in a wide array of fields, including health care, energy and national security. Such investment is crucial for encouraging basic scientific research — the bedrock for the applied research that results in the applications and inventions that have...

We are living in a time of increasing domestic tension. Some of it stems from the presidency of Donald Trump. Another part of it is various advocacy groups on both sides of the political spectrum demanding one cause or another. But nearly totally ignored is how growing government control over...

Soon, some of you will try to make “better babies.” Already, people pay labs to examine embryos so they can pick ones with DNA they like. Some screen for gender or eye color. Some screen out certain diseases. So far, they’ve been limited to selecting genes that exist in the...

The idea holding together the conservative movement since the 1960s was called “fusionism.” The concept, which always worked better as an organizing principle than a philosophical one, was that freedom and virtue were inextricably linked. Virtue not freely chosen wasn’t virtuous. Or as Frank Meyer, the foremost architect of fusionism,...

The Penn Hills School District finds itself in dire financial straits. And it now must execute a state-overseen financial recovery plan. A significant tax increase and layoffs are possible. But had taxpayers been given the direct oversight they deserve, the situation might be different, say two researchers at the Allegheny...

The intellectual right is in the middle of a huge brouhaha, as some prominent right-wing commentators celebrate what they believe is the end of the “conservative consensus” around classical liberalism — free markets, limited government, the sovereignty of the individual and even in some cases free expression. Fox News’ Tucker...

What would you do if you were falsely accused and convicted of a brutal rape and murder you didn’t commit? How would you handle a violent maximum-security prison, sentenced to 16 years to life, at age 17? And where would you go, what would you choose to do, if you...

“Thank you for your service.” As an Army soldier living in Pennsylvania, I am grateful for these words, which I hear often when wearing my uniform in public. What many people do not understand is that I am the one who is thankful. I am thankful for the camaraderie, the...

Last fall, President Trump promised the American people that the Environmental Protection Agency would bring consumers more choices at gas pumps across the country. In a federal rule finalized last week, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler delivered on that promise by clearing regulatory barriers to make it easier to sell fuel...

President Trump is the victim of his own success. Voters now rank health care above the economy as the top issue for Washington to address, and the president must run against his own party to win in 2020. American discontent stems from affordability. We pay 75% more for health care...

The angst in Washington over impeaching President Trump is producing a “Hamlet on the Potomac” moment that even Shakespeare might appreciate. Democrats want to do it, but most Republicans don’t, and voters overall, while divided along party lines, are mostly opposed. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while fully occupied by her daily...

When you send your youngster off to college, you might not mind that they will have to walk on eggshells, respect taboos, snitch on fellow students for politically incorrect jokes and learn to use ad hominem arguments as a means to attack ideas they find “disagreeable.” If that’s your preference,...

Both Republican and Democratic politicians want government to “do more” to give parents paid time off. “This is not a women’s issue. It’s a family issue,” says Ivanka Trump. “(E)very worker in America should be guaranteed at least 12 weeks,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders. “That’s a very arbitrary number! Why...

A Wayne State University student recently upbraided me by email for various offenses — each of which at bottom amounts to me using my blog, Café Hayek, to defend free markets. This livid young scholar ended his email by declaring that “Capitalism. Is. Not. Working.” His signature revealed that his...

President Donald Trump isn’t that worried about potential impeachment hearings. He even tries to goad Democrats into starting the process, knowing that will enliven his base and distract Democrats from their legislative agenda. And he has emerged from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation seemingly unscathed, despite serious evidence of obstruction...

Observances of the 75th anniversary of D-Day are properly focusing on the troops and the architect of Operation Overlord, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who freed Europe from Hitler and his Nazi hordes. One person — a woman — has not received the credit she deserves for her efforts with the...

What is it about Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he cannot say clearly and concisely what he means? His nine-minute summary of the findings of his office, after two years of investigation, was a mess. It guarantees that the internecine warfare that has poisoned our politics continues into 2020. If...