SACRAMENTO — Around this time last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom toured the Southland —that is, Southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama, as opposed to communities in Southern California — as part of his Campaign for Democracy. It was…
California’s progressive Democrats like to present themselves as boundary-breaking advocates of, well, progress as they advocate policies that reject the desiccated notions of the past. This rarely turns out well, as they generally push for more government regulations, spending, and…
As a libertarian, I accept that any relatively free society will tolerate certain disreputable business models and inadvisable personal choices. As a general principle, adults should largely be free to make their own decisions, even if they’re unwise. And prohibitionist policies…
SACRAMENTO — The best way to avoid a life of poverty is to develop work skills that are marketable. That seems pretty obvious. Although I’m financially dependent on the companies that pay me, my job security stems not from whatever…
SACRAMENTO — Thanks to the wonders of social media, it’s easy to find large communities of car-loathing, bicycle-riding, transit-loving urbanists who view cars as “death machines” and insist they are the cause of every woe known to mankind. Many of these…
SACRAMENTO — California’s environmental-friendly lawmakers were quite proud of themselves when, in 2014, they passed a first-in-the-nation ban on stores from handing out so-called single-use plastic bags as a means to turn back the tide, so to speak, on an ocean-pollution…
SACRAMENTO — A Washington state Senate committee last week passed legislation designed to bolster democratic engagement by requiring eligible Washington voters to not only register to vote but to turn in a ballot for every primary and general election. Nothing…
A week before the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan closed his debate with President Jimmy Carter with some of the most memorable questions in campaign history: “Are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go…
Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court ended racial preferences in higher education. This year will feature a battle to reinstate those preferences, in the state that first eliminated them nearly 30 years ago. The California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), Proposition 209 on the…
Our major cities struggle with increased crime, sprawling homeless encampments, overcrowded jails, sky high taxes, and exploding budget deficits. Yet most government officials ignore the one factor that contributes significantly to each of these problems: the lack of acute psychiatric…