Rights and Democracy

Empower the People, Restore Trust in Government

From city hall to the halls of Congress, important policy and spending decisions have been made for far too long by a handful of politicians behind closed doors, working in concert with corporations and special interests. This old way of doing the public’s business has bred anger and mistrust of all levels of government.

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Why Our Taliban’s Gaining Traction

The Dutch government is the Afghanistan War’s latest casualty. When the Labor Party recently exited the The Dutch government is the Afghanistan War’s latest casualty. When the Labor Party recently exited the The Dutch government is the Afghanistan War’s latest casualty. When the Labor Party recently exited the The Dutch government is the Afghanistan War’s latest casualty. When the Labor Party recently exited the Netherlands’ ruling coalition government to protest the extension of the Dutch deployment in Afghanistan, the Taliban rejoiced. Perhaps you thought I meant Afghanistan’s Taliban. No, I meant the Taliban in the Netherlands. Never heard of it? It’s the “Freedom Party,” and it’s poised to become a top vote-getter in the elections scheduled for early June because of the ruling coalition’s collapse.

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Another Corporate Path for Buying our Government

Like the five-man majority of Supreme Court justices, perhaps you’ve been worried sick over the possibility that corporations just don’t have enough power over our government. If so, let me soothe your fevered brow by showing that election spending is just one path that corporations take to buy our government. Many other lanes are also open to them. There, feel better now?

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Racism Just Isn’t Funny

A few weeks ago some frat boys at the University of California, San Diego, pulled what they thought of as a prank–just a fun thing. In mock honor of Black History Month they held an off-campus “Compton Cookout,” named after the largely black suburb of Los Angeles a few dozen miles up the road.

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Did America’s Founders Want Government Small?

The pillars of American conservative thought and action–top officials from over a dozen national groups–assembled along the Potomac last month. At Northern Virginia’s historic Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, these luminaries met to “recommit” themselves to the one ideal they believe all conservatives can share. That ideal: small government.

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