reform

Fyodor Dostoevsky once purportedly wrote that the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.  As many in the mainstream media have reminded us since his April 21 death at age 80, Charles W. Colson first did so in 1973, as President Nixon’s “hatchet man” sent to prison for seven months after his role in exposing Daniel Ellsberg.  His subsequent contributions to improving the lives of prisoners—and to setting in motion entirely new prison paradigms—will endure for decades to come.

Robert Samuelson has a strong column today on how one of the biggest obstacles to Social Security reform might be psychological. Though FDR's original vision for the program was a "contributory pension plan" and most Americans are still under the the impression that this is what it is, the reality is that it's structured much more like a welfare program:

While the spending side of the House Republican budget plan is getting most of the media attention, the revenue portion of the plan deserves just as much attention for what it achieves—the resumption of a healthy debate over just what tax reform should entail.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is moving ahead with education reform--but it isn't without controversy.

Today’s jobs report is all good news for the country, and bad news for Republicans who are hoping that a failing economy is all they need in order to unseat President Obama.

Today, on Meet the Press, Paul Ryan responded to a question in which David Gregory asserted that the Medicare reforms proposed by the House are unpopular.

On a conference call with bloggers and reporters from conservative media outlets today, Newt Gingrich continued to do damage control in the wake of his comments on Meet the Press, in which he used the terms "radical change" and "right-wing social engineering" when discussing the House Republicans' plan to reform Medicare.

As Republicans contemplate what sort of budget they should propose (real budget solutions, not continuing resolutions), it's important to realize that they are in a somewhat enviable position: What is clearly best for the country is also likely best for them politically.

The incentive structure of our present health care system is fundamentally flawed, and the legislation signed by President Obama will exacerbate the problem. It will increase what we spend on health care, or lead to rationing, or both. Perhaps most important, it will undermine the self-reliance and character of the American people. 

It's not hard to see why Dan Coats was able to survive the anti-establishment wave this year. Sure, it helped that the former Indiana senator and U.S. ambassador to Germany had two GOP primary opponents who split the anti-establishment vote, enabling him to grab the nomination with about 40 percent of the total vote.

Congress has always had its flaws. All too often, the road to the enactment of legislation has been fraught with corruption, stupidity, threats, bribes, and other sordid practices.

But as bad as that is, what transpired during the passage of health care reform was different and even worse. The process by which this bill was passed didn’t just feature corruption and violate traditional ethics. It revealed a president and a congressional leadership that in concert have shown more callous contempt than any in history for the will of the American people, the safeguards against the tyranny of the majority built into the Constitution, and the parliamentary rules by which Congress operates. And there’s every indication that, if need be, the same will be true of cap and trade, immigration reform, or whatever else Obama, Pelosi, and Reid may deem the next morsel they plan to cram down the recalcitrant throat of the American public.