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Knowing Rights Versus Wishes

Sen. Bernie Sanders said: “I believe that health care is a right of all people.” He’s not alone in that contention. That claim comes from Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives. It is not just a health care right that people claim. There are “rights” to decent housing, decent food, a decent job and prescription drugs. In a free and moral society, do people have these rights? Let’s begin by asking ourselves: What is a right? In the standard usage of the term, a “right” is something that exists simultaneously among people. In the case of our U.S. ...

Recognizing The Voice Of Leadership

We’re traveling in a crowded subway car somewhere under Manhattan when, without warning, the car comes to an abrupt halt in a tunnel in between stations. The subway car is plunged into darkness, and our own growing anxiety, along with that of our fellow passengers, is almost palpable. After a while, a measured, authoritative voice comes over the public address system and calmly tells all us stranded, semiscared passengers a) what has happened; b) what is now being done to fix the problem; c) that we will be safe and on our way within a finite amount of time; and d) what we can do in ...

Identity Politics Didn’t Work For Warren Either

Was being a woman Elizabeth Warren’s problem? That’s the wrong question. Here’s a better question: Was playing the protector of all damsels from that infamous rake, Mike Bloomberg, her problem? It was one of them, for certain. Look what’s happening in the world. Warren was a candidate of ideas with a strong understanding of the financial system. Her candidacy could have thrived in today’s chaos. But she threw her advantages away to work the inquisitional end of the #MeToo movement. We saw it unfold. In early February, the former New York City mayor was surging in the ...

Will Joe Biden Kick It Away Again?

A week ago, the candidacy of Joe Biden was at death’s door. On a taping of “The McLaughlin Group,” this writer suggested it might be time to “call the rectory” and have the monsignor come render last rites. Today, Biden’s candidacy is not only alive. He is first in votes, victories and delegates, and is favored to win the nomination and, by most polls, to defeat Donald Trump in November. “The World Turned Upside Down” was a song the British army band is said to have played at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. That title applies to what happened in the ...

Biden’s 2nd Chance Is One For The Record Books

Sweet relief. Super Tuesday was the worst setback for left-wing populism since Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party crashed and burned. But while the voters have handed Joe Biden another chance, it’s important to recognize why they’ve had doubts. From the start of this election cycle, majorities of Democrats had signaled that their highest priority was beating President Donald Trump. Not “Medicare for All.” Not the Green New Deal. Not a federally guaranteed $15 an hour job. A March 2019 USA Today/Suffolk poll was typical: By 55 to 35, voters said they preferred a candidate who could ...

Repeal The Patriot Act

I have been writing for years about the dangers to human freedom that come from government mass surveillance. The United States was born in a defiant reaction to government surveillance. In the decade preceding the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the villains were the Stamp Act and the Writs of Assistance Act. Today, the villain is the Patriot Act. Here is the backstory. In 1765, when the British government was looking for creative ways to tax the colonists, Parliament enacted the Stamp Act. That law required all persons in the colonies to purchase stamps from a British ...