There is an old joke about how every morning there are 100 U.S. Senators who wake up in the morning and look in the mirror at the person who they think should be president. I’m not saying it is funny, but it has a certain resonance these days. When it comes to the presidential candidates [...]

Dick Armey responds to me below, but does he really believe this? On health care, Americans can go the route of markets, innovation, flexibility and efficiency, or we can turn to government agencies, one-size fits all programs, rigid payment schedules, formularies and wasteful rent-seeking. Actually, no–that’s a false choice…and if you don’t believe me, go [...]

There are two ways to organize economic resources in a society. On one hand are market forces guided by millions upon millions of individual decisions made by consumers. This type of social organization rests on freedom, as the late Milton Friedman said, the freedom to choose. On the other hand, we have collective decisions. Absent [...]

I, too, would like to welcome Mr. Armey to the Land of Swamp and I look forward to trying to mediate some kind of discussion between him and our faithful commenters during the week. But my first duty is to put a tiny condition on Joe’s point to Dick (in an altogether delightfully feisty post): [...]

I know people are saying Hillary “won” it, and she does seem to be growing more comfortable in this setting–and taking some lessons from Bill, who always loved to give answers like this one when standing on a stage with a passle of Democrats in debate: Everybody on this stage, we are all united, Wolf. [...]

From John McCain’s immigration speech today: But the choice is between doing something, imperfect but effective and achievable, and doing nothing. I would hope that any candidate for President would not suggest doing nothing. And I would hope they wouldn’t play politics for their own interests if the cost of their ambition was to make [...]

This kind of stuff may work at CPAC rallies, but not here: On the Democratic side, we see an abundance demagoguery and proposals for the largest expansion of government since the 1930’s and 1970’s, with socialized health care and severe regulation of the economy, especially the energy sector. Great for sound bites, but a complete [...]

Michael Cooper has Michael Cooper and Marc Santora have a piece in the Times today previewing the same McCain speech I did, though he frames it more explicitly as a knock on Romney. McCain himself denies that the paragraph or two he devotes to his unnamed rivals was intended to knock on Romney; he, correctly, [...]

As I settle in as a guest blogger here at Swampland, I’d like to thank Time and its readers for inviting me to share my views. I hope I can raise the debate about the direction in which the conservative movement and the nation are heading. I welcome questions and comments. For those who read [...]