Blog Feed: Politics and policy without the partisanship

The Hitman Presidency

Published on 2012-03-09 09:00:13

Over the course of the last few years, President Obama has been accused countless times of trampling on the Constitution. It got to the point that somebody actually depicted him doing so in this wonderfully paranoid work of art. Ironically, now that a real case can be made for Obama doing just that, those critics are silent. Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder gave a speech in which he defended the administration's policy of targeting American citizens for execution as part of the War on Te [..] > read more

The Lesser of Who Cares

Published on 2012-03-07 20:04:07

Remember Ms. Teen South Carolina? The beauty contest girl who gave a wonderfully inarticulate answer to a basic question (coincidentally) about why some Americans are horribly uneducated? The video is from 2007. Today, that same girl could be a legitimate contender for the Republican presidential nomination. Yesterday was Super Tuesday, a night when multiple states held their primaries at once. There are countless analyses and political calculations out there, all of which are irrelevant. It's [..] > read more

Santorum Comes Out For Gay Marriage

Published on 2012-02-26 16:04:59

In a surprising reversal, former Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum (R-PA) has come out in favor of gay marriage. The following are quotes from a recent interview: What makes me throw up is someone who is now trying to tell people that you will do what the government says,” Santorum said. “That now we’re going to turn around and impose our values from the government..." and “That’s what America is all about -- bringing in that diversity,” This is a stunning change for [..] > read more

Health Care Freedom

Published on 2012-02-24 08:00:35

Yesterday, for the third year in a row, the Kansas Legislature failed to pass the Health Care Freedom Act. This idea is the brainchild of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). You might remember them from other legislative boondoggles, like drug testing for welfare recipients. Among other things, the bill declares that no Kansan can be required to purchase health insurance. This is directly contrary to the Federal Health Care Reform law (Obamacare), which mandates exactly that. Wha [..] > read more

Tough on Crime

Published on 2012-02-23 11:40:46

When compared with other countries, the United States doesn't perform too well in some key ares. Health Care? 37th. Education? Average. But there's at least one area where we're ahead of everyone else: prison population. We have 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any other country. The United States makes up 5% of the world's population, but is home to 25% of the world's prisoners. The 2.3 million figure is only people who are actually in prison. If you include people who are on parole o [..] > read more

The War on Religion

Published on 2012-02-20 07:46:55

For the last few weeks President Obama has been accused of waging a war on religion because of a proposed rule that requires church-affiliated groups to cover birth control for their employees. What's gone unnoticed is that many political figures have been stoking this fire for months before this controversy erupted. Last year, Governor Rick Perry decried the fact that we live in a country where "gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in sc [..] > read more

Obama's War on Medical Marijuana

Published on 2012-02-18 23:00:52

There's a brilliant article today, exploring the Obama administration's flip-flop on medical marijuana policy. Only a few short years after the Justice Department said they would not raid legally-operated medical marijuana dispensaries, Obama is well on his way to surpassing the number of raids conducted by the Bush Justice Department in its entire 8 years. I won't speculate about the reasons for this, but I want to point out a few excerpts from the DOJ memo and the article: From the article: [..] > read more

Why Obama Will Win

Published on 2012-02-14 09:57:03

Let's be clear. No matter who the Republican nominee for president is – whether it's Romney or Santorum – he will lose the general election. This is not due to Obama's prowess as a candidate or as president. It's due primarily to the lunacy that is now the mainstream of Republican politics. There are many valid criticisms that can be hurled Obama's way. • He reversed his stance on granting immunity to phone companies who broke the law and handed over their subscribers' private informati [..] > read more

Another Nail in the Coffin of Gay Marriage Bans

Published on 2012-02-09 09:39:48

Yesterday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. This may not mean much for the issue of same-sex marriage overall, but since it's in the news again, let's cover a few things. Practically speaking, this issue is settled – we just don't know it yet. Demographically, younger people either don't care about this issue, or think same-sex marriage should be legal. This means it's only a matter of time before the states reverse their bans, or ( [..] > read more

Drug Testing Poor People

Published on 2012-02-03 09:28:41

Several years ago a new idea promoted by a think tank called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) began to circulate around the country. The supposed problem was that people on welfare were using the money they received from the taxpayers for nefarious purposes - namely to buy drugs. The proposed solution was simple: drug test anyone applying for welfare before giving them money. In 2010 this law was proposed in Kansas and defeated, (but was successfully passed in Florida). At the ti [..] > read more

Keeping it Simple

Published on 2012-02-03 09:28:02

We are fond of poking fun at our politicians. Look how ridiculous they are! Look at the silly laws they propose! Root canals have higher approval ratings than Congress! And elected officials' opinion of their constituents is no more flattering. They're ignorant. They have short attention spans. We have to dumb everything down for them to understand. It's hard to know which side started it, but the effects are obvious. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Voters lose hope in candidates, so they [..] > read more

Legalize the Debate

Published on 2012-02-03 09:27:21

Yesterday President Obama conducted an online Q&A. Out of 133,000 publicly submitted questions, 18 of the top 20 were related to marijuana policy. Obama didn't receive any of those questions, because they were apparently filtered out by Google's moderators. Had he received them, though, his answer would not have been inspiring. In 2004 Obama expressed his support for decriminalization. In 2009, he laughed at people for even asking the question, and the opposition he expressed to the drug war 5 y [..] > read more

Where do we Draw the Line?

Published on 2012-02-03 09:26:37

Every ten years states are required to re-draw their legislative districts to account for population changes. The re-drawing is done by the same legislators who run for office in those districts. If that sounds fishy, it's because it is. Imagine an inmate who gets to draw the blueprint to his own jail cell. Do we trust him to have integrity, and to design his cell for maximum security? No, we have someone else do it, because his temptation to act in his own self-interest is apparent. Political r [..] > read more

Mo' Marriage, Mo' Problems

Published on 2011-07-04 14:33:44

Only 6 months into his term, Governor Brownback is on track to set a record for WTF's. Apparently he now wants to develop a government program to increase marriage rates and decrease divorce rates. First, the governor convened a meeting of experts t > read more

Kansas Got it Wrong on Abortion

Published on 2011-07-01 10:26:29

Again Kansas has made national news, and again not for anything deserving praise. Recently the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) issued a set of regulations that caused several abortion providers in Kansas to shut down. The legislat > read more

Big Government Conservatism

Published on 2011-06-24 10:55:22

Reps. Barney Frank (D) and Ron Paul (R) have introduced a bill that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. Essentially the bill would let the states regulate marijuana without interference from the federal government. The bill would fir > read more

No Country for Heathens

Published on 2011-06-21 10:23:49

Gallup just released an interesting poll about whether American voters can support a Mormon for President. The poll finds that 76% of Americans could support a Mormon nominee for President while 22% would not. That number has remained virtually uncha > read more

The Herman Cain Strategy

Published on 2011-06-14 11:27:54

Each 2012 GOP candidate has his own strategy. Mitt Romney's depends on the idea that YouTube doesn't exist. Tim Pawlenty's is to win the youth vote by looking strikingly similar to Big Bird. But Herman Cain's is different, and right to the point: you > read more

Weinerfence

Published on 2011-06-09 19:36:08

I'm sure everyone has already had enough of the Anthony Weiner saga. If you're new to it, the short of it is - the Congressman flirted with a number of women over the internet and sent sexually explicit photos of himself to them. He accidentally twee > read more

War on Drugs Failure

Published on 2011-06-04 09:00:00

Printed by the LJWorld President Obama should heed the report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy that declares the War on Drugs to be a failure. In short, the report states what we already know from history and common sense: The war ties up po > read more

Strippers and Smaller Government

Published on 2011-05-11 21:21:25

The deceptively titled “Community Defense Act” (HB 2107) recently passed by the Kansas House seeks to restrict nudity at strip clubs. 91 out of 125 members of the House voted in favor of the bill. Many of these legislators ran on mantles of small > read more

Oops

Published on 2010-09-16 20:04:37

Arnold Schwarzenegger recently made a comment about not being able to see Russia while flying over Alaska. Even though he was about a year late with that joke, it elicited a response: Get it? Alaska manages money better than California. Except Alask > read more

Freedom and Fire

Published on 2010-09-10 08:15:16

So there was this crazy guy in Florida who organized a Koran bonfire. Then he canceled it. Although now it sounds like our very own Phelps family will take up the cause instead. If there's anyone you can count on to do the wrong thing with impressive > read more

Credit Where It's Due

Published on 2010-08-25 09:00:01

I'm not a supporter of Kris Kobach for Secretary of State. But I'm a pretty firm supporter of good ideas. That's why I was pleasantly surprised to find this on Kobach's website when I visited today: 3. Improving Civics Education As a law professor > read more

A Mosque, If You Can Keep It

Published on 2010-08-19 09:00:06

Enough has been said in the debate over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York City. Whether it's built or not, it will have almost no impact on anything of consequence. But it will have a tremendous impact on our politics. Some Republic > read more

The Power Trip

Published on 2010-08-16 09:00:05

I stumbled onto this fascinating article and wanted to share. I recommend a full read, but here's the Sparknotes version for the less patient: Contrary to popular belief, "good" people are more likely to rise to power. This conflicts with the age-ol > read more

Politics As Real Life

Published on 2010-08-09 09:00:02

I often wonder why we accept in our politics the sort of blatant, almost comical absurdity that we'd never tolerate in other areas of life. So I took a stab at what that might actually look like. In road construction, for example: Or in a job inter > read more

Prop 8 Dies Another Death

Published on 2010-08-05 09:00:02

Yesterday a federal judge in California ruled against Proposition 8, which was a voter-enacted amendment to the CA constitution. The amendment declared only marriages between a man and a woman to be valid. Without a lot of legal argument, let me addr > read more

Primary Results

Published on 2010-08-04 09:00:02

Here are some key take-aways from last night's primaries in Kansas. Complete results are here. U.S. SENATE: Negative ads work. Jerry Moran won his primary against Todd Tiahrt, and will now face Lisa Johnston in November. But it was much closer than > read more

A New Republican Platform

Published on 2010-08-03 09:11:00

To accomplish its primary goal of winning elections, a political party has to have ideas. The Republican Party as an entity has been light on ideas in recent history. The last time they had a coherent, ambitious platform - in 1994 - they took control > read more

Contractual Obfuscations

Published on 2010-08-02 09:00:05

Every now and then, during the course of a political campaign, candidates realize that they should talk about issues. Obviously it's only as a last resort. So, let's give credit to the Tea Party, which has come out with a Contract from America - a l > read more

Where Math is Fun and Facts are Fungible

Published on 2010-07-28 09:00:05

I've never been good at math. But until recently I thought I at least understood how percentages work. This year the Kansas sales tax increased from 5.3 cents to 6.3 cents per dollar. This led the Kansas Chamber to claim that the increase was 19%. > read more

The O-pocalypse

Published on 2010-07-26 09:07:00

This election season I've heard a lot of apocalyptic rhetoric. It used to be that Republicans would just tell you that the Democrats will raise your taxes, and the Democrats would tell you that the Republicans will take away your Social Security. But > read more

Is Kevin Yoder Worried?

Published on 2010-07-23 09:00:00

Typically you don't attack your opponent in a campaign unless you're behind. And you don't swing wildly unless you're really behind. But I just got this piece on Patricia Lightner (R candidate for Congress in the 3rd district) courtesy of the Yoder c > read more