Op-Eds

Oct 13, 2009

Mozilo’s Friends on the Hill

Angelo Mozilo has lots of friends. Or at least, he used to. The former chief executive of Countrywide Financial now faces a series of federal lawsuits, including one brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud and insider trading. Suddenly, some of the most powerful Washington politicians are eschewing the shameful appellation “Friend of Angelo.” Back in the early 1990s, when Countrywide was climbing to the top of the mortgage industry, Mr. Mozilo was looking to make ...

Oct 13, 2009

A Bipartisan Health Care Proposal that Makes Good on Officials’ Promises

When it comes to healthcare reform, most Republicans and Democrats agree on many of the key issues: protecting patient choice, promoting portability and providing tax incentives for small businesses and the self-employed. There is another bipartisan proposal that, if enacted, would make good on the campaign promises of President Barack Obama and numerous congressional leaders — both Republicans and Democrats. Clearly, the time has come to give every American the opportunity to access the ...

Sep 25, 2009

Acorn, Lies and Videotape

A dark cloud, years in the making, has fallen over ACORN. This left-leaning syndicate of labor unions and political agitators is fighting efforts to shine light on its structure, finances and political activities. Public outrage has reached fever pitch, and last week both the House of Representatives and the Senate voted in overwhelming bipartisan majorities to cut ACORN's funding altogether. ACORN officials want you to think they are the victims of a vast right-wing conspiracy or, at least, ...

Sep 22, 2009

Obama’s Missile Defense Decision Weakens America

In an increasingly familiar display of Carter-era defeatism, President Obama has acquiesced to Russian demands and dismantled long-standing U.S. plans to counter the threat of Iranian missile attacks. The cancellation of military deployments in Eastern Europe that were designed to protect both the U.S. and our allies from Iranian aggression has, in fact, weakened our global position. In response, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called Obama's decision "brave," which gives many ...

Sep 17, 2009

Waste and Fraud Hard to Root Out

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama predicated a $900 billion government expansion of health care on a promise to eliminate waste and abuse in Medicare. “[W]e’ve estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system — a system that is currently full of waste and abuse,” Obama said in his televised address to Congress. In one regard, the president was right. Waste, fraud and abuse in government-provided health care are very ...

Sep 15, 2009

Presidential Lip Service to Choice and Competition

President Obama wanted to set the record straight on his health-care agenda, so he made a trip to Capitol Hill last week. During his primetime address to a joint session of Congress, the president explained that his “guiding principle is, and has always been, that customers do better when there is choice and competition.” I couldn’t agree more. The integrity of American democracy rests on customer choice and market competition. But many Americans are ...

Sep 10, 2009

TARP and the Demands of Democracy

The concern among the American people about the size and cost of government continues to grow, and the Obama administration is beginning to experience a crisis of confidence doubtlessly owed to its aggressive expansion of the federal bureaucracy and deepening of the national debt. Members of Congress -- who have the power of the purse in our constitutional democracy -- know that we answer, ultimately, to the voters for the way that taxpayer dollars are spent. That's why Congress created the ...

Aug 9, 2009

Americans Should Get Affordable, Dependable Care

Between the rising cost of heath care and the expanding role of government, Americans are frustrated. Economists predict that we will be spending 20 percent of our gross domestic product on health care by 2017. Now the president wants Congress to approve a scheme that effectively repeals Medicare and puts the treatment of seniors in the hands of a "federal health board" with absolute authority to approve procedures and cut payments for essential quality-of-life care. But we can find a ...

Aug 3, 2009

Affordable Coverage, Dependable Care for All Americans

Between the rising cost of heath care and the expanding role of government, Americans are frustrated.  Economists predict that we will be spending 20 percent of our gross domestic product on health care by 2017. Now the President wants Congress to approve a scheme that effectively repeals Medicare and puts the treatment of seniors in the hands of a Federal Health Board with absolute authority to approve procedures and cut payments for essential quality-of-life care. But we can find a ...

Jul 21, 2009

A Dangerous Retreat on “Real ID”

When the independent, bipartisan Sept. 11 commission issued its report in July 2004, an alarming fact was emphasized: Terrorists need valid identification to board an airplane. The commission asserted that "for terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons." Congress subsequently passed the Real ID Act, which was quickly signed into law by President George W. Bush. Under that act, states must shift to "secure" driver's licenses and identification cards by verifying that anyone who ...