Nina Easton writes about so-called reform that’s both anti-speech, and deeply hypocritical: One narrative of election year 2010 was shaped long before any votes were tabulated. President Barack Obama penned the first chapter with his January condemnation of a Supreme Court ruling that lifted government prohibitions on spending by corporations in elections. The 5-to-4 decision…
Politics
Politics
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters Candidate Forum for the 15th Senate District (Cullen/Richard)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Politics
5 Johnson workers on state BadgerCare Plus health insurance plan
by JOHN ADAMS •
Five employees at the company run by U.S. Senate hopeful Ron Johnson are on a government-funded health plan for low-income people, according to information obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold said the news is more evidence that his Republican opponent supports government aid when it helps his company, but not when…
Politics, Wisconsin
John Nichols: Oshkosh recognizes the ‘plastic packaging of Ron Johnson’
by JOHN ADAMS •
If you don’t know much about Ron Johnson, you’re not alone: No Wisconsin candidate in modern times has been so inaccessible to the press or to the voters of Wisconsin. Who says? Johnson’s hometown paper. In a column published Sunday, the Northwestern’s managing editor, Jim Fitzhenry, wrote: “Despite the millions spent on these precision strikes…
Liberty, Politics
Jeremy Lott on William F. Buckley Jr.’s Faith and Politics
by JOHN ADAMS •
I have never been a great fan of National Review, but over the years I have come to admire its founder’s principled, diligent, often iconoclastic, and (over time) increasingly libertarian political views. He made mistakes, surely, but he acknowledged them. Buckley was an honest, serious, and courageous man. Here’s a description that accompanies Reason’s interview…
Politics
Mayor Endorses U.S. Senator’s ‘Stunning’ Looks
by JOHN ADAMS •
Politics
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters Candidate Forum for the 43rd Assembly District (Hixson/Wynn)
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters hosted a forum with the candidates for Wisconsin’s 43rd Assembly District, Kim Hixson and Evan Wynn. I have embedded the video of the discussion below. The 43rd district includes Whitewater and other communities to south and west. 10/25/10 — updated with district map: Additional information on the two candidates…
Government Spending, Politics, Taxes/Taxation
Coolidge as the ‘Great Refrainer’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Amity Shlaes, author of the fine The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, has an essay originally published at Forbes in which she praises Calvin Coolidge as The Great Refrainer. Shlaes writes that When Harding died suddenly in 1923, Coolidge knew he was going to need another pair of hands to launch…
Government Spending, Politics
Draining the Swamp of Red Ink
by JOHN ADAMS •
Congressman Paul Ryan’s office released the text of a speech he delivered in Oregon. Ryan’s noted for a budget roadmap he’s drafted, but it says much about our politics that budgetary reform makes both many Democrats and many of Ryan’s fellow Republicans uncomfortable. The address appears below. Rep. PAUL RYAN: Like my home state of…
Politics
Poll: Senate candidates Feingold and Johnson in dead heat — Walworth County Today
by JOHN ADAMS •
Economy, Government Spending, Politics, Taxes/Taxation
Number of the Week: Slow Growth Adds to Deficit – Real Time Economics – WSJ
by JOHN ADAMS •
If, for example, the U.S. economy grows at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 1.7% — about the rate it’s currently growing — government debt will reach 122% of annual economic output as of 2015, up from 93% now. Annual growth of 2.7% would cut that estimate to 110%. The difference equates to about $2.2 trillion,…
Politics
Kim Hixson / Evan Wynn 43rd Assembly Forum 2010 — WCLO
by JOHN ADAMS •
I posted yesterday on a Wisconsin State Journal profile of the candidates for the 43rd Assembly District, Kim Hixson and Evan Wynn. See, Wisconsin State Journal – Candidate Profiles: 43rd Assembly District. Nearby station WCLO has a podcast of interviews with both candidates: “WCLO News Director Stan Stricker spends 30 minutes with each of the…
Government Spending, Politics
Opinion: A step toward curing Washington’s spending disease – eliminating earmarks – Rep. Eric Cantor – POLITICO.com
by JOHN ADAMS •
There is no question that earmarks – rightly or wrongly – have become the poster child for Washington’s wasteful spending binges. They have been linked to corruption and scandal, and serve as a fuel line for the culture of spending that has dominated Washington far too long. These reasons alone would justify completely eliminating earmarks,…
Politics
Wisconsin State Journal – Candidate Profiles: 43rd Assembly District
by JOHN ADAMS •
In the Wisconsin State Journal, reporter Deborah Ziff has a profile of the candidates for the 43rd Assembly District, Kim Hixson and Evan Wynn. See, Candidate profiles: 43rd Assembly District. Each candidate supplies information about his age, family, address, political party, current occupation, community service, education, and website. The profile also includes a map of…