Recently in the Wall Street Journal, Paul Ryan had a touching, personal story about his changed attitudes on American poverty. Ryan discusses how he came to realize that rhetoric around welfare that reduces people to “makers and takers” is narrow-minded, inaccurate and offensive. It’s an important thing for Ryan, and the GOP, to realize. But … [Read more…]
“Know thine enemy.” Uttered most famously a millennia and a half ago by famed warrior/philosopher Sun Tzu, the advice holds up well, even, and especially, when the battles are ideological. So what is the thinking behind the right’s utter refusal to actually engage with the left’s actual position on inequality? The Federalist’s Ben Domenech wants us to know that … [Read more…]
Not content to regulate their uteri, the government of South Dakota wants to get in women’s heads as well. The South Dakota House passed a bill on Wednesday banning “sex-selective” abortions. The law, now before the state Senate, requires physicians to ask patients whether their reasons for abortion relate to the fetus’ sex. Affirmative answers will require … [Read more…]
When Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema publicly claimed that “gay men only want universal health care because they’re dying of AIDS,” no one expected an outcry from the GOP. But Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) is defying expectations of Republican leadership right and left. He recently joined other Michigan GOP leaders in calling for Agema to step down from his … [Read more…]
Last Wednesday, State Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) finally conceded the Virginia attorney general’s race to State Sen. Mark Herring (D-Loudon), after his requested recount increased his margin of defeat by 800 votes. The loss highlights Virginia’s ongoing demographic change, which very closely aligns with that of the country at large. If the GOP receives the message Virginia voters have … [Read more…]
Girl, when it comes to sex, we have really been getting screwed lately, am I right? We were promised free birth control, only to find out it came with canceled insurance plans and higher premiums. We looked at our other political option, only to see legally mandated transvaginal ultrasounds for committing the crime of miscarrying. … [Read more…]
With the clock ticking on the legislative session, President Obama held a Roosevelt Room meeting on immigration reform, even as House Speaker John Boehner dismissed the idea, at least for this year. At issue is the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” bill. It offers many of America’s 11 million undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship while still requiring them … [Read more…]