Author: Peter Roff

Washington, D.C. – Since the end of World War II, the federal government has grown in size and scope beyond what most of the founding generation did not consider legitimate. The regulatory impulse of the modern state has produced a permanent, unaccountable meta-government that often ignores the people’s sentiments in the name of protecting them. Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has made this problem a central issue in his campaign. An Ohio-born first-generation American, Ramaswamy is explaining to people why the administrative state, his term for it, needs to be reined in. It’s an…

Washington, D.C. – About 20 years ago, the belief that commercially-significant quantities of fuel blends containing organic materials would soon be available led to the passage of alternative fuel requirements. Yet, because science failed to deliver on its promise, America became more rather than less dependent on ethanol. That growing dependence affects the price of fuel and feedstocks adversely, making each trip to the grocery store more costly than the last. The bureaucrats responsible for the idea, flush with taxpayer dollars as the result of congressional green energy largess, made a bad bet. It’s going to happen again. Just look…

Washington, D.C. – Sometime after the war in Vietnam began to wind down and Richard Nixon entered the White House, American workers began to notice with increasing alarm that the American labor movement’s leadership was taking positions more and more at odds with their interests. Slowly, the rank and file rebelled. They changed the way they voted and often voted with their feet, relocating to states with open labor markets and at-will hiring practices. As a result, union membership began to decline steadily across every part of the workforce the public sector. Now it too appears to be in decline according…

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan is under investigation by a congressional panel that will explore charges she has abused her power while in office. The inquiry announced Thursday by House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is an outgrowth of consistent concerns about Khan’s conduct as head of the federal corporate regulatory body. The committee will look into charges that Khan abused her power and showed disregard for the rule of law during her time in the agency’s top position. It will also consider whether her conduct has violated federal ethics standards. These concerns…

Washington, D.C. – If you expect something to happen, can you honestly claim to be surprised when it does? Like when Donald Trump won the nomination and the presidency in his original run for the White House? Unlike most columnists, I saw Trump’s path to victory widening – even after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape – while Hillary’s narrowed. The reason for this I thought then (as now) is that Trump talked about creating jobs and the future of America while Hillary talked increasingly about how unfit Trump was to be president. The former argument, it seemed to…

Washington, D.C. – With a stroke of his pen, Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz can make his state the seventeenth to join an interstate compact in which members promise to award their presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote for president. (RELATED: Claim: Minnesota Democrats Open Door Wide To Using Sexuality As Criminal Defense) The measure, which passed out of the Minnesota Legislature on May 19, is the brainchild of wealthy Californian John Koza and was conceived in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election won by George W. Bush despite then-Vice President Al Gore having won more…

Washington, D.C. – To the extent anyone thinks about it, most people probably credit Mark Twain with having been the first to say that while everyone talks about the weather, nobody seems to do anything about it. Though that may be changing following the passage of the bipartisan Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act. No matter who first said the quote long attributed to Twain, it’s true. The same can be said for the problem of waste and fraud in government. It’s a hot topic for politicians and reporters and interest group leaders and taxpayer advocates and business…

Washington, D.C. – No one knows when the United States will run out of money – or to be more precise – the authority to borrow more – but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s suggesting it may be as soon as June 1 has turned up the heat on the debt ceiling dumpster fire. What’s going on now is more about politics than it is about the U.S. economy. Joe Biden doesn’t want to be the president on whose watch America first defaulted on its debt. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to pull back on any of his spending proposals.…

Washington, D.C. – Putting an end to months of speculation about his intentions, Joe Biden gingerly stepped into the 2024 race for the White House Tuesday. At 80, he becomes the oldest major party figure ever to seek the presidency – something that is sure to be an issue in the upcoming campaign. His age, however, is not the only thing that has voters worried about what a second Biden term might look like. According to data released the day before the announcement by Rasmussen Reports, nearly a third of U.S. voters “would consider” voting for a third-party candidate in…

Washington, D.C. – Tucker Carlson, the host of one of the Fox News Channel’s highest-rated primetime programs, has left the network it was announced Monday. “FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the network said in a statement. Carlson’s last program was Friday, April 21st, the network said. A new “Fox News Tonight” program will replace Carlson in the 8 p.m. time slot. It will be hosted by a rotating group of network personalities until the slot…