Immediately after 9/11, there was a groundswell of support for anything the government deemed necessary to make us safer. American flags flew on every car and new legislation passed at a dizzying rate as everyone wanted to do something, anything, to let the world know we weren’t going to just sit here and be a target for every two-bit terrorist that wanted to make a name for himself. There result, among other things, was the behemoth we now know as the Department of Homeland Security. The idea seemed right: ensure that all of our intelligence
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Once again, the federal government is trying to sell us on the fact that the multitudes of drone aircraft they’ve ordered are for your own protection. Drones in and of themselves aren’t new, but they are most certainly new to the American people in that they are a technology we invented to be used mostly on someone else. In yet another bizarre case in which a wartime technology is being turned upon the American people, drones are becoming more and more widespread right here in America. Not all drones look like the classic Predator and
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The United States Armed Forces hold a special place in the collective heart of America. We’re a superpower, mainly because of our military might. We won the Cold War; we prevailed against a foe that for decades had more men, more tanks, and more weapons than we ever could, but we won because we fight smarter. Our military is peerless, and yet most people don’t realize how constrained it is. Many second- and third-world nations have seen coup d’états that were driven by military leaders; in those countries, he who controlled the guns, tanks, and
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The Arab spring hit Egypt with full force, and we watched a country band together to rid itself of a ruler with whom it could no longer live. We all heard the media coverage of a “Twitter revolution,” and despite government attempts to black out the Internet, citizens found new and innovative back doors that allowed them to use social networking to organize protests, secret meetings, and shape the revolution. To many of us, it seems unlikely that this could happen in the United States, but we may be closer than we think. Companies are
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The Motivation Conservative forces throughout the country are unhappy with a president who continually expands the reach of government, forcing citizens to pay additional taxes in order to keep the poor afloat. These groups are beginning to push for secession forcefully, championing a position that was once confined to the fringe elements of conservative parties. Popular conservative media outlets like Fox News are covering these secessionist movements with no incredulity: they see secession as a viable option for states unhappy with current government trends. Many states were home to secessionist movements before the election, but
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Mayor Bloomberg isn’t just taking aim at super-sized sodas in his quest to impose his vision of a safe and healthy citizenry on the people of New York City. Now his administration has its sights set on “unhealthy” food donations to government-run facilities that serve the city’s homeless. And New York isn’t alone in that effort. In conjunction with a mayoral task force and the Health Department, the Department of Homeless Services recently began enforcing new nutritional standards for food served at city shelters. Because DHS says it can’t properly assess the nutritional content of
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Solyndra was not the first alternative energy company to receive federal funding with little promise of repayment, nor will they be the last unless we make drastic changes to the way the federal government currently doles out assistance to energy companies. With no oversight from the general public, the federal government provided over $36 billion in funding for Solyndra development. The failure of companies like Solyndra and Abound Solar should prove that Obama’s green energy loan guarantee program is neither cost efficient nor effective. Time and time again, our government has handed billions of dollars
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Riots and demonstrations seem to be the trend this fall. All over the world, governments are trying to cut back on expenditures, and those who live off the government teat are protesting violently. Yet had welfare and socialist entitlements not sprung up in the first place, there would be neither the extreme levels of debt at the international level nor the multiple street riots that have tax-paying citizens shaken. It’s all a cycle of mutually dependent relationships that are collectively ruining both society and the world economy. The Rise of the “Taker” Mentality Our Founding
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“My favorite government agency is one that’s defunct, and my favorite politician is one that’s dead.”  ~ Chris Mayer Chris Mayer, an investment analyst, could be speaking for most of us. Congress has an approval rating of just 17 percent according to June 2012 polls by Gallup. A massive 79 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being run, and the idea of just throwing everyone out (bodily, if possible) is attractive to enough members of the public that many elected officials are afraid to be left alone with their own
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There are some who believe the concern that so many of us have about the amount of government interference in the lives of American citizens is exaggerated. In a sense it is easy to see why so many feel this way, because to all outward appearances, most people still seem free to go where they want, associate with whom they choose, and speak their mind in just about any public forum. But this is more a reflection of the fact that we have a democratic tradition that goes back several hundred years, to a time
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