Think Tank West

During his long tenure in the Senate, Joe Biden of Delaware has compiled a mixed record on votes affecting our freedom to participate in the global economy. The record of the Democratic vice-presidential hopeful is more pro-trade than Barack Obama’s but much less so than John McCain’s. According to our “Trade Vote Records” feature on [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

Barack Obama and Joe Biden both get a perfect 100 from the big-government liberal Americans for Democratic Action, which probably tells you all you need to know. But I remember a dramatic moment back in 1991 when Biden made his commitment to unlimited government clear and dramatic. Clarence Thomas had been nominated for the Supreme [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

I want to thank Mike Petrilli for trying to answer the big national standards question: Why would national academic standards be any less vulnerable to political forces dumbing them down than currently rock-bottom state and local standards? Unfortunately, Mike’s answer is far from satisfying, but since he wrote it while playing Jim McKay, he can [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell have a great article in the Wall Street Journal that argues we should be very concerned about the current mania for preschool. In response, USA Today editorial page editor and president of the Education Writers Association Richard Whitmire pens this gem on Eduwonk: I don’t see the need to defend [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

If you think the United States has an “open border” policy toward immigrants, check out this immigration flowchart put together by our friends over at the Reason Foundation. In one graphic sweep, it explains better than mere words why we need comprehensive immigration reform. Of course, if you are one of those people who like [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

The new 2008 PDK/Gallup poll on education is anti-school-choice advocacy masquerading as responsible research. In 1999, the last year PDK/Gallup asked about education tax credits, 57 percent of the public supported credits to cover the full cost of private school tuition and 65 percent of the public supported tax credits for part of the cost. [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

When you hear that E-Verify and REAL ID databases will be secure, be sure to ponder this. (Via FREEDOMand[STUFF].org)

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

If and when trade and globalization come up at the Democratic National Convention next week, I can almost guarantee that the take will be negative. It has become part of the party’s core message these days that free trade favors the rich at home and our unfair trading partners abroad. Just yesterday, in a tour [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

My buddy Matt Yglesias takes up Thomas Friedman’s NYT column yesterday pointing out the role that NATO expansion played in creating the climate of tense relations between Washington and Moscow.  Matt concludes “you can’t draw a straight line from the initial NATO enlargement decision to war in the summer of 2008.” Well, fine.  It’s true, [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »

I’ve blogged previously about how Medicare avoids administrative costs by permitting waste and fraud.  Now it appears that Medicare avoids public scrutiny about fraud by covering it up.  Today’s New York Times reports: Medicare’s top officials said in 2006 that they had reduced the number of fraudulent and improper claims paid by the agency, keeping [...]

Filed under: American Domestic Policy, American Foreign Policy by
No Comments »