SACRAMENTO — A front-page Washington Post investigation provides, as reporter Kyle Swenson promotes it in an X post, “an inside look at a well-funded effort on the political right to target, vilify, and defund a key piece of the social safety net, the ‘housing…

SACRAMENTO — After Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1228, raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers and creating a council to regulate working conditions, the bill’s author issued a typical highfalutin statement. “We did not just raise the minimum…

SACRAMENTO — Those of us who know and love San Francisco have a pretty good idea why the city continues to become less livable as rampant crime and homelessness turn its streets into (literal) cesspools of public disorder. Despite a…

SACRAMENTO — With federal spending topping $6 trillion and the national debt approaching an impossible-to-fathom $34 trillion, it might seem petty to pick on a relatively small federal program designed to help the nation’s farmers insure their crops against natural…

SACRAMENTO — I’ve been spending time engaging with urbanists on X (formerly Twitter) so that you, dear American Spectator readers, can avoid doing so. By the way, it’s not something I’d recommend unless you have a large stash of blood-pressure medication. Obviously,…

SACRAMENTO — The 2005 dark comedy Thank You for Smoking tracks the efforts of three lobbyists known as the MOD Squad (Merchants of Death) who shill for the tobacco, alcohol, and gun industries. The lead character, an endearing but cynical tobacco…

SACRAMENTO — Let’s start with the obvious. The best way to ensure that Americans have enough money to pay for their groceries is to create a booming economy, keep a tight lid on inflation, and empower Americans to take care…

SACRAMENTO — In my American Spectator column last week, I complained about the Republican Party’s descent into protectionism and its move away from free-market policies — in the name of becoming a populist, working-class party. I urged Republicans to emulate Ronald…

SACRAMENTO — Conservatives used to be united in their understanding that free markets are the best way to ensure prosperity and freedom. Perhaps it’s outmoded — in a time when right-wing populists are promoting tariffs, complaining about capitalism, and supporting…

SACRAMENTO — Since COVID-19 emerged as a public-health threat in 2019, the federal and state governments have embraced a wide range of policies that were designed to “protect” us but instead have unleashed a fury of unintended — but easily…